Quote: (10-18-2012 08:25 PM)BadWolf Wrote:
Have any of you actually tried teaching English?
I have been doing so since September in China, yesterday was my last day. I used it as a way to support myself whilst I was over here looking for business options. I have now found these, and regret signing a ten month contract as I could have done without the last few months.
In China teaching English is a bit of a joke, what you do is given no respect, you are generally not given a syllabus or required to have any teaching training and are mainly just there as a white face in the classroom so the private school you work for can get for pupils in, or the university can up its rating. I wasn't even interviewed for the job.
The benefits are you get to live a good lifestyle on very little work. This semester I have worked 8 hours a week (plus lesson planning, but this doesn't take to long once you get the hang of it) for 5000rmb per month. 3000rmb is the average salary locally, plus I get a completely free apartment and return flights home. I've also had over two months holidays during those ten months I've been working. So financially its a pretty good deal, but it's not something I would want to do long term though.
If you want to get out of your home country, and to an emerging economy to look for business opportunities or other work options I'd highly recommend it. This has really worked out for me, my import business is in its infancy but so far its things are looking really good. If you want a career
break and want to spend an extended time in a foreign country then its also great. Long term, not so. I can't however speak for countries other than China, might be a different deal there.
As a side note, has anyone read Off The Rails In Phnom Penh? Well worth a read, about the insane and amoral exploits of English teachers in Cambodia during the 90s.