Teaching other subjects

[lordnikon]

How difficult is it to find job doing things other than english? I am currently finishing my master's in computer science in the US and was planing on going to china this summer. Is it possible to find job teaching other subjects? Is it possible to find better jobs suited for me other than teaching english?

I have no problems teaching english, I plan to go to Beijing specifically for other reasons and need to get a job so if english is it then I am fine with that. I will be staying for at least a year if not more.

[g1izmo]

You'll nearly always need a teaching qualification (e.g. PGCE, or M.Ed) or Ph.D to teach a specific subject in English.

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[anonymoose]

It's possible, but most teaching jobs for subjects other than English will be regular school subjects such as maths, physics, chemistry, economics, and so on, and for these, you need a degree in the respective subject. If you look around, you might find something in computing, but I don't think the chances are very high.

[WilsonFong]

If you have a Bachelor of Education you can work at an international school. I have a friend teaching Chemistry in Fujian right now.

[eatfastnoodle]

Realistically, not very likely if you ask me. Think about it, you teach English, your students are supposed to learn English, whatever problem they have with English are just things you can help them overcome and natural part of the class. But teaching other subject means that the focus should be on that particular subject, language barrier would be unbearable overhead that no responsible school, unless their students are all fluent with English or you're fluent with Chinese, would subject their students to.

[roddy]

There's an increasing number of opportunities with overseas universities running foundation years and 1+2 courses here (where the students do the first year of a degree in China, and finish it off overseas). There are also (sorry, Mr Noodle) plenty of irresponsible schools that will let you stand in front of a class of people who don't understand you and claim it's bilingual education.

[eatfastnoodle]

I think what you refer to is private school which, frankly, and as far as I can remember, only takes in bad kids. I don't know, but if any of the high school I went to decided to hire an American to teach us math, the parents would revolt and probably would trash the school president's home. Never ever underestimate the potential response if somehow parents were let to believe that your policy is impeding their kids from getting into top schools.

In college, it's possible and very likely to have subjects taught in school. But in high school, I don't say they don't exist, but I believe the percentage of Chinese high schoolers with English fluent enough to have subject taught by Americans is very very very very low, even in Shanghai, even in the best schools in Shanghai.

[chrix]

WilsonFong did mention international schools. To be a student there, you have to be able to follow the lessons taught in English, so I think that's fair enough....

[eatfastnoodle]

As for the so called "cooperative education", I'm sorry, I might not see the big picture here, but from my limited experience with these kids, they're not the best China has to offer, in their major, or in English.

[roddy]

Are we still helping this guy find a job teaching computing, or is it now just about the poor quality of schools you didn't go to?

[eatfastnoodle]

Unless you can refer him to some specific school, I don't think anybody here can "help" him get a computing teaching job.

[anonymoose]

Speaking from my own experience, there are several schools in Shanghai, and also other cities around China (for example Suzhou, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Wuxi and Beijing that I know of) that offer high-school courses in English to Chinese students, with the aim of them being able to go directly to university abroad without having to do a foundation year.

As for the quality of student, I think the only common factor is that they all come from relatively wealthy backgrounds. (School fees aren't cheap, not to mention going on to university abroad for three or four years.) So that includes kids who've got successful and motivated parents, who have obviously passed this onto their kids who do well in such a school. It also includes kids who have no motivation what-so-ever, probably because they've had everything handed to them on a silver platter their whole lives, and see no reason to put any effort in. Most kids are inbetween these extremes, but overall I'd say they work harder on average than kids in the west, and get comparable grades in their exams, in spite of the exams being in English. (I wonder how many high school kids in the west could do maths, science, economics and so on in Chinese, or even Spanish or French which they are usually taught at school.)

As for the OP's question, as I already mentioned in a previous post, jobs teaching a subject in English are available, but I don't know of any schools that include computing as part of the core curriculum, so finding a job in that area would be somewhat harder.

[lordnikon]

Yeah my question was really just a shot in the dark to see if anyone had any information or advise. I figure it is going to be quite difficult to find a job in my field because I dont speak fluent mandarin so IT jobs would be difficult to get and most schools dont teach IT/computing classes in english. So really my question is, is my only option to teach english?

[roddy]

It's not your only option. Keep an eye on job sites and if you see anyone running foundation or 1+2 courses, drop them a line - even if they aren't advertising for a computing teacher, they might need one or might suddenly like the idea. But English teaching work is by many multiples easier to get.

[yonitabonita]

How about corporate training? I don't know much about what you do, or how experienced you are but perhaps there's something you have that you can package and pitch to a corporation. To do this, you'd approach a corporate training company who acts as a middle guy, and they'd in turn refer you to whichever company needs a training workshop on X.

Trainers need to look good on paper and present well obviously. The remuneration can vary between be excellent to OK. I personally know someone that often makes 1000rmb an hour doing this type of work, although it's not always like this. With some jobs he might only get 300 an hour. The rate depends on the subject matter and the company's purse. It's generally better than English teaching although it's not nearly as regular.

It's not 9-5, it's not generally a sure thing and there can be a bit of frustration involved waiting for companies to make up their minds when they want to be trained etc.. But this is also teaching and maybe something you'd like to explore.

Hope this helps

I

[clevermae]

I have some follow-up questions. Is teaching the only option? Is it possible to get some technical jobs given lordnikon's experience? How about you lordnikon, are you considering working for some company who might need your technical or computer-related experience?

[lordnikon]

I am open to doing IT jobs but figured my chances of finding work with my very limited chinese is nil so I thought teaching would be the only option for me.