Becoming an English Teacher in China

  This may come as a shock to you, but in china, it is not required to have any kind of degree to teach English. They are literally desperate for native english speakers (if you’re not from a native english speaking country they probably won’t consider you). And with job prospects in the US dwindling, you might want to consider giving it a  shot in China. There are a number of sites that will help you find these positions “Dave’s esl cafe” (http://www.eslcafe.com/jobs/china/) comes to mind, or you can even go to the chinese section of craigslist and type “English” under the jobs category (http://geo.craigslist.org/iso/cn). The benefits that come with these positions are excellent as well. The way it works is you do some searching in an area you’d like to teach/live in. Alternately you can post a short resume in the esl cafe and wait for them to contact you. If you find something you like, contact the employers and make sure you have your passport in order. Upon finding a suitable place/position you will sign a contract (generally 1 year), and they will do all the work of getting you a “Z visa” which is required for a foreigner to work in China. Here’s where it gets good. 99% of them will give you free airfare upon signing the contract, so you don’t have to pay a thing to get there. They will almost all provide you with a fully furnished apartment, so any money you make is yours to do with as you wish. Your starting salary will also be many times higher than a chinese person with the same credentials. Combined with the low cost of living, and free housing, you should have plenty of expendable income to travel, buy gifts, eat at restaurants etc. Most only require 20-25 hours of work a week as well, so free time will most likely not be a problem. You will also have a “teaching assistant” present to translate at all times, so knowing mandarin is not even required. It is definitely advisable that you pick up some basic mandarin just for daily life, but a huge portion of the chinese have been taught some English so you will be able to get around either way.  Some provide free health insurance/chinese lessons, but you will have to look for those if thats what you’re interested in. So lets say you finish your 1 year, and you decide you just want to come home. They will pay for your plane ticket, so long as you’ve completed your contract. But hey, you might decide you like it so much you’d rather stay. In that case you might want to look into getting a degree while you’re there, I know for a fact that Beijing university offers courses in English, and I’m sure many others do as well. So all in all if you’re stuck in a rut and don’t know what to do with your life, or maybe you just like the idea of traveling alone to the other side of the planet for a while, this might be just the thing for you.