What TEFL Training Courses Don’t Teach You #6
Qualifications for a TEFL Jobs in China
Today’s post is a communication with another reader of this blog with questions about qualifications and applying for work in China.
The reader wrote:
I found a decent-looking TEFL Course in the United States, the **** from ****. Do you think I could get as good a job with this qualification in China as I could with a CELTA or Trinity?
For China, at the moment, any certificate program will do just as well as any other. All they want to know is that you have 1. Some interest in what you are doing and 2. Some idea of how to do it.
I know just about anyone with a white face can get a job.
That is NOT true anymore.
That face also needs a degree and for the better jobs some sort of TEFL Certification. That face also needs to deliver on the job.
I’m looking for a good job with a large corporation teaching English to employees.
Corporate and Business English employers are even more demanding and those jobs are competitively sought after – only the best candidates will land those jobs and even then they will be expected to deliver a quality product. IF you intend to teach in that setting then you should have at least a few years of real business experience.
Be Careful Now . . .
What I am hearing is a sense of entitlement. The old “I have a white face, so I should have that job” that many people quite mistakenly believe is how things work in much of Asia and specifically in China.
What many newbie teachers FAIL TO REALIZE is that these schools are often paying you as much or sometimes quite a bit more than local Chinese professionals (degrees in education, sometimes advanced degrees and years of experience) and they expect you to DELIVER a good product.
Chinese people are not known for throwing money way – they are known for being thrifty and demanding what they pay for.
And that is fair enough.
TED’s Tips™ #1: If you earn a wage, you should deliver what you are paid for.
TED’s Tips™ #2: Drop notions about entitlement and develop ideas about delivering good quality instruction.
What’s up in China? Learn what kind of jobs are on offer if you would like to Teach English in China
Tags: Requirements for teaching English, Teach English in China, Teaching English in China
Uncategorized | Ted | 
April 6, 2010 2:34 pm
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