Why you should NOT teach ENGLISH in China (2022)

My reasons why you should NOT teach in China. This is from my own personal perspective and can be wrong, or right. But I hope that my thoughts and opinions can give you some insight into teaching in China and maybe help you learn more or come to a conclusion.
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0:00 Intro
0:40 My Story
3:23 Reasons Begin
3:40 Career Trajectory
5:56 Education System
8:42 Workload
10:34 Lifestyle
11:18 Mindset
13:13 Salary tips
#TEFL #Teaching #China

[@DLL1211]

I’ve taught in China for 3 years and it’s been the best experience of my life. I’ve worked at great schools which always helps 👍

[@ilyasmasker4242]

are there any chances for non native english speakers ? can i impress them enough during the interview that they'd hire me ?

[@evebrown7977]

Let's be clear on this one, if you plan to work in a country you do not speak the language, you always will be limited to either the people that speak your language or you just be alone and miserable. It really doesn't matter if it's China, Japan, Thai, or Germany. Language is communication and language connects.

[@AaroninChina]

Totally agree with you

[@ahhhjin-iy7qc]

It's totally depend on your determination.Teach English in China doesn't mean the all skill you have to handle is speaking English.You oight to have strong leaning skills,the ability to solve problems independently etc.

[@evebrown7977]

@@ahhhjin-iy7qc it's about your own limitation if you're not willing to learn the language of the country you're living in. Sure, 'European' countries might be much easier when it comes to English, or if you stay for a year or two. It might not even matter, but I figured, if you stay over a long period of time, why not taking the advantage to learn a new language? You don't need to be perfect if even fluent. Most people appreciate the effort. It's a good feeling, too. And for English (others) teachers, I mean.... You're teaching a foreign language but you're not willing to learn a new one?

[@CodyWright-pq3eq]

Absolutely wrong. I've lived in about 15 different cities in China over the course of 10 years. There are huge expat bubbles in every city where foreigners carve out their own little worlds not having to learn a word of the local language. Average foreigner living in China who can't speak Chinese usually spends an average of 3 years there living it up with others like themselves having a good time. And as for English, if you speak it then wherever you go in the world you'll be able to get everything done that you need to.

[@user-qp5dk5qn8u]

I loved being away from westerners and love not knowing what they were saying...... Felt so free and away.

[@m.a.118]

Great vid! I worked in China for 2.5 years. Your analyses are pretty spot on. I graduated with a B.A. and worked in Korea then China and loved the work! However because of the pandemic I returned to Canada and I'm doing a B.Ed so I can continue to climb up that career ladder and be a "real" teacher because China really made me love teaching. However, advice to people here reading- After working in Chinese training centers- Which the one I worked in has gone belly up since I left thanks to the "reforms"... I wouldn't have recommended working in one. It's a crapshoot. I got lucky and loved the centre I worked in but many many others were very subpar and the senior management, both Chinese and foreign, were underexperienced, unprofessional, underqualified, and generally awful. I do suggest that people do the teaching abroad thing for a couple years, but not indefinitely. I have some wayguoren pongyos back in China that insisted on staying behind despite Covid and the reforms because their employment prospects back in their home countries are dim and they comparatively enjoy a much higher standard of living in China. The dangerous thing about that is, there will 100% be a time where you will be too old or too expensive to keep as a teacher in private companies and you will have to leave. Then what? As you said, many companies in the west don't care and if you were there for 5,7,10,12 years- That is backing yourself into a corner. So, I recommend do the teaching ESL thing for 2-5 (tops) years. If then you discover that you enjoy teaching: go back home, get your teaching cert or B.Ed depending where you live, then go back abroad. You'll be in a much stronger position to negotiate contracts, respected, and the number of countries you can work in greatly opens up and you can continue to grow instead of capping as some "Teaching Advisor" in a training centre that will likely go under in 2-3 years. Just my advice for those seriously thinking about the education as a profession.

[@Farias657]

This is profound

[@shengsvlog9939]

I’ve been working in a training school here in China for 15 years already. I don’t know if you have heard of Gateway Language Village (GLV). Though it is just a training school but GLV is different from other training schools. We teach 9:00AM-12:00PM. Then 2:00-4:00 PM. Monday to Friday. We have Sunday classes, too and you will be scheduled to do it only if you want to. You teach from 10:30AM-12:30 PMthen 2:00-4:30PM. You’ll get overtime pay for that. It’s only for students who work on weekdays. This is an English Only training school. Students are not allowed to use electronic devices during class time to prevent them from translating English to Chinese. Students are trained to think only in English. We teach based on 4Cs “Communication, Collaboration, Creativity and Critical Thinking”. We don’t use Chinese to teach. It is purely in English. Our students are 18 years old and above but mostly professionals. We provide dorms for them as well. If they come here to study it’s either they take leave of quit their jobs. Newly hired teachers will be trained for two weeks or a month depending on how fast you can adapt to the teaching methods. Foreign teachers won’t be hired unless they have tefl or tesol or celta. Chinese teachers should atleast have experience of living and working abroad. The pay is okay🤭🤭🤭

[@isaiahmcclure8894]

Bro... 15 years in a training school? I refuse to step foot back into a training center, life is so much better in Public, Private schools

[@harrisonpothecary5594]

Excellent video, would be interesting to see the differences and similarities between the British and Chinese systems. Like work load, pay etc.

[@robertochina343]

Nice video and the points you made validate the wisdom you gained from your lengthy experience in China.

[@jerkyscientist3333]

hey man i'm chinese descent and from indonesia currently in 4th year med school stud in china (in china med school is 6 year then 3 year of residency) those 3 year will cost me 10.000 rmb (edited: per month) which i don't have and plan to get by teaching in china. i don't have tefl. but i'm still able to afford toefl test can i get the job at least in rural village of china?

[@jonblaha1898]

The training centre schedule at places like EF is a nightmare. The hours are crazy during the holidays leaving very little time to actually explore the country.

[@AaroninChina]

That's true. The only chance you will get to explore the country is during the time that everyone else is off, and travelling during that time is a nightmare.

[@Iisdabest889]

Very valid points. I think it totally depends on your reasons for moving. My sole purpose for moving was to learn Chinese. Earning money and travelling for me was secondary. If I was expecting a piss-easy job and living in a top-tier city I'd have been very disappointed, and if that's what you're expecting of a basic English teaching job in China then I've got bad news for you. However, I have a decent salary, a free apartment and plenty of free time during office hours and days off. I know other teachers have different experiences so it really depends on which school you go to and how reliable your recruiter is. If you plan on returning to your home country to build your career then at the very least make sure you gain a new skill of some sort or build connections.

[@teachercaroline273]

I liked it a lot:)

[@chiptankgirl]

I don't think you can trust any training center to be a good place to work in 2022.

[@xiyi4764]

I've always wanted to yeach English in China while travel/experience the culture at the same time. This video is very helpful for me :>>>

[@AaroninChina]

Glad it was helpful!

[@DiLiNiTi]

Hey man, thanks for the honest video, nice to get some insight and variables to consider before going

[@Sunshine-pv5zv]

How did you switch careers in China?

[@lastreligiondfw]

So what do you do for work in 2022, since you no longer teach?

[@lucyfromSunnyHouse]

Great advice! Aaron

[@AaroninChina]

Thanks LuciaCat!

[@Rdburnzy]

I worked 7 days per week, 20K RMB from a training centre evenings and weekends. 23K RMB from a kindergarten weekdays daytime. There is money to be made if you grind and live like a local. No waimai and western imports.

[@unsulliedthe832]

Even for young adults above 18, what a few learners can gain from any full-time English Conversation program of a few weeks in a private school is very minimal. For the far greater majority, it's an utter waste of time dabbling in a foreign language they don't really need. They could better spend their time elsewhere or in other pursuits.

[@palmpalm5131]

Do they still have training centres for English? I thought they shut those down?

[@AaroninChina]

Yeah there are still quite a lot of after school training centre for kids

[@cowfly8662]

Shenzhen is the most open mind city in China，enjoy it😁Public school is the better choice，trainning center is very struggle and in hard mode because of the file from the gov.

[@AaroninChina]

Yeah, I've seen a lot of training centers losing teachers that are struggling with new visa regulations too.

[@yiquny]

Being able to speak a language does not mean one can be a decent teacher. Learn some real skills instead.

[@CodyWright-pq3eq]

I've done so many training centers. It was alright for me. There was one guy I remember at one of my schools who was a really good teacher, as well as a "yes man" to the core. They had him coming in an hour and a half early every day and constantly talking to the parents. Anyways, I'll bet you get a lot of play from Chinese girls just from your eyes alone.

[@Scarrrz]

How many people are still moving to China without degrees but have a TEFL finding jobs? I would love to move to China but fear the risks of not having my Type Z visa. Can you shine any light as to the odds of this happening?

[@AaroninChina]

I think there are still a lot of people here without TEFL. So I think your odds are quite nice. Especially if you are from a native English speaking country.

[@Scarrrz]

@@AaroninChina Awesome! If you have any recommendations as to how to find a good place to live and work and get a long term non Z-type visa, I'd love to hear more! I'd love to get in contact with you if possible! Really have been enjoying the videos as of late!

[@rodrigolopez9485]

What do you do in China at the moment, then?

[@lzreacts]

I gotta ask, what else can we do to stay in china (obtaining a residence permit), with a BA in english... As you so kindly put it, being in China is lovely, and I would most definitely love spending my life here, but I wouldn't necessarily wanna continue being an English teacher.. what other options are there?

[@aaronfeldsteen5325]

I lived in China for 5 years, I did social media.

[@harveytina8678]

why do you want to live in China? the chinese government is so evil. more and more chinese people want to escape from the control of China government

[@sarakiazadeh9064]

@@aaronfeldsteen5325 Hi, I have experienced Vietnam, I didn't like it, as a teacher. Is it possible to help me to decide? I have a job offer from Handan City to work in a company in the sales section. I have an offer to teach English! After Vietnam, I don't know what to do!

[@aaronfeldsteen5325]

@@sarakiazadeh9064 Sure. Hebei isn't a place anyone wants to be. It's right next to Beijing, but there's nothing there except a couple of twin Pagoda's that Mao forgot to tare down. If you're going to work in a training center or going alone, I wouldn't trust the Chinese. Do you have any specific questions?

[@imdee9024]

This was helpful - my daughter is in her final year of school and she has been talking about this. Thank you

[@nuvamusic]

So US$1600 a month will be enough to live a good lifestyle in Shenzhen? That sounds pretty affordable for a tier 1 city

[@AaroninChina]

If you have no rent to pay you can live okay with $1600. But if you have to pay rent out of that $1600 then you won't be that comfortable.

[@robharris5467]

The new rules are called 'Ease the Burden'. It is a 'below the line' support for families to have more than one child.

[@zensultCHINA]

You can teach English, save money, learn the language, open up your own company in China …that looks good on a CV

[@shuyuanliu9797]

The Chinese subtitles - they are bad. They constantly switch between 你 and 您 (the casual and respectful forms of 'you'), split sentences at incorrect places, translate filler words such as 'like' literally to mean 'enjoy', turn 'make a pay check' into 'give out pay checks', ... Presumably this video is for non-Chinese people - why are there Chinese subtitles in the first place? And if it was necessary to put them in, shouldn't more effort have been put into making sure they actually make sense?

[@AaroninChina]

Yeah, you're totally right. For some videos, I would just translate the EN subtitle file into Chinese. For my last couple of videos, and the one I will release today I had a Chinese person write the subtitles to improve the quality. Thanks for the feedback!

[@jakegraham7265]

@@AaroninChina Don't take their criticism to heart. They came down on you quite harshly. You learned an incredibly difficult language for Native English speakers and made an effort to translate everything you said to mandarin in the subtitles. The commenter should be appreciative that foreigners are trying to embrace their writing system and culture. Good job mate, keep it up.

[@tomreid3864]

Privately run Kindergartens are still a big thing in China, and where a lot of foreigners end up - as many of the training centres are now closed.

[@unsulliedthe832]

Yes, the ESL teacher industry is a fading industry hiring "glorified clowns" - your own words :) Ordinary Chinese are indeed fascinated by English so the demand may still be there. The authorities should be more vigilant in this respect. I just wish a new generation of foreigners would teach calculus or do some kind of hi-tech work with skills and expertise that match or even surpass the locals. The new arrivals are still mostly the riff-raff from English-speaking countries, people who aren't anybody back on their home soil. The sobering reality is they don't add value to the Chinese economy teaching uninterested kids apples and bananas or (when they finally quit that) doing their own social media like KZbin videos.

[@eduardochavacano]

For 4 to 5 thousand RMB, a lot of these foreign teachers are overpaid. They get a free apartment which is a mansion compared to where most locals live (at least in some locations). Well, it is a developing country, labor is cheap. At least the white guys make easy money simply for being white. I ain’t gonna call it racism though, because if the ESL industry is a beauty contestant, I’m wearing a sash that reads Venezuela. Which means I can take jobs from white boys half my age. Mostly, the racism comes from insecure ESL teachers who get to be managers. They are like viruses in very naive and immaculate realms. They create the conflicts and the drama, especially when boredom strikes. Teachers should not get delussional about the industry. It is and should be a beauty pageant. They are there to entertain, might as well hire beautiful Norwegian, Swiss, and French teachers to teach English rather than those native speakers who are a dime a dozen from where they came from. (This is with pun intended, the video is cool and I get to give it a like).

[@AaroninChina]

That's what I felt like when I was teaching. I was basically a glorified clown "teaching" to these kids that just wanted to play games or watch cartoons. I am so glad to get out of that industry. Yeah the pay might be nice for someone that is just a white face. The only way you make serious BANK is to be qualified and work at an international school, they make CRAZY amounts, like 50K+ with free housing.

[@KookCookOfficial]

@@AaroninChina The industry is now over，kids will have more time to do some other stuffs，what you said in the video is pretty relevant. but，actually the new generation is more open-minded than my generation，things are getting better

[@thegeniusofthecrowd354]

Don't some people do 15hrs a week in a university and teach private students on the side?

[@isaiahmcclure8894]

Been teaching in China roughly 4 years, first two years did training center work, first year salary was 13K rmb, 2nd year a new training center I was making 20k, the past two years I have been teaching in a primary school salary is 22k, work load is quite light, 15 classes a week

[@AaroninChina]

That's good for a light workload like that. Working in public school your hours are much more socialable too.

[@isaiahmcclure8894]

@@AaroninChina Yes!! The pressure is significantly less as well, in those training centers they really grind you to the bone

[@isaiahmcclure8894]

@ThePHiLsTeR Private Primary school

[@CultureShockGotchaShook]

@ThePHiLsTeR I’m in a private intl school teaching Junior High and in the same boat …… I’m technically required to be there 35 hours a week for office hours when I’m not in class - but only 15 contact hours and the 20 office hours are easy to skirt as long as you do your job well and know when and where to bug out without causing a fuss for those in charge. As long as those in your chain of command never hear anything bad, and you don’t have an often new, power hungry micromanager you’re golden

[@williamedwardhackman4695]

I have no problem with people teaching Mandarin in my home country the USA.

[@Ii-ex5jr]

I think I could make that happen, dude

[@williamedwardhackman4695]

@@Ii-ex5jr Yeah it's already happening, Mandarin is spoken here in the United States but mostly in the Chinatowns and I believe most of it is in the state that I live in which is California.

[@IanHollis]

You didn't say anything about universities ~ (Famously the worst paying, because they're a govt. run facility).

[@anarki777]

Yeah, that's always been so counterintuitive to me.

[@dancerinmaya6813]

the prestige and benefits associated with being a university teacher

[@Nomad-Poker]

I live in shenzhen, seriously I never thought about english teacher in trainning center makes that much of money, that really shock me.. the average salary per month is around 7k RMB in shenzhen, if you earning 10k/month you will be able to have a decent lifestyle. 20k or plus? Trust me most of those job is slowly killing you, you will be working from 7am to 9pm at least, and only have sunday as weekend. And likely on sunday your phone/wechat will never stop as well. If you are making 20k+/month and still having a good lifestyle, don't let it go..

[@clarkodel8305]

For real. But I am lucky. I’m in Suzhou I teach high School economics A level. I have 2 lessons a day and earn 30k a month I’m keeping this one for at least 5 years

[@derekhayter4879]

@@clarkodel8305 sounds like you're a very lucky white foreign man. All the local Asians and Chinese can only dream of having your salary.

[@clarkodel8305]

@@derekhayter4879 na. I am Latino, brown. Emigrated to the USA with my family when I was 3. Worked hard as the son of a gardener which I am proud of. Went to school got my master degree. Moved to China and have been doing the same thing I have for many years…working hard

[@BaigAndTheCity]

I live in shenzhen too. but the salary is not 7k it's impossible. In Shenzhen they are offering more than 18krmb for non-native, for native more than 25k.

[@DianaSoleil123]

Is it ok to earn 20rmb? I was offered a job there and I have a husband and son, I need some help to get oriented if it is a good choice

[@BaigAndTheCity]

If you are from native country probably more than 25k Rmb a month

[@DianaSoleil123]

@@BaigAndTheCity yeah, but I'm not, I'm from Venezuela

[@annemoses7515]

@@BaigAndTheCity Hi, you seem to know quite a bit, could I chat with you about some more info, please?

[@abbyabroad]

@@DianaSoleil123 my friend is a licensed teacher from Chile and makes more than that

[@hulaguhanozturk430]

What do they think about White people? Is there any discrimination or racism towards us? Or totally the opposite?

[@skn3098]

I disagree with him on one part. You don't need to learn Chinese. Chinese people aren't dumb. The majority of young people in the big cities there can speak English. And in the long run, there's no point putting so much effort into something which will give such little return.

[@robertochina343]

Remember your statement when you end up in the hospital, dentist office or need the police. People don't have time to be playing Charades with you.

[@skn3098]

@@robertochina343 Every hospital, police department, dentist and shop in every major city in China has English speaking translators. Learning Chinese is an epic waste of time.

[@merryinfires5295]

​@skn3098 what are you talking about?! Learning a new language is NEVER a waste of time

[@V-ANews]

I teach English in North Korea at a private school for teenagers. The private school is very ellite and is for the children of high ranking government officials. I did that for about 1year before I was chosen to be the private English teacher for The Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un at their private residence and live at the home for the school year. For last 2 years and I am treated like family

[@milademjayyy]

*DONT TEACH in THAILAND!!*

[@merryinfires5295]

Why?