Teaching English in Xi’An, China
Report submitted on 13 January, 2022 by Bria Anderson.
Teaching English in Xi’An, China:
How can teachers find teaching jobs in Gap ming, China?
Teachers can find jobs through most any teacher placement organization, or through PandaGuides. However, I found that the best way to find a reliable job at a good school is through your connections and word-of-mouth.
The main English teaching jobs available are:
Full time English language school positions, part time English language school positions, teaching at kindergartens / pre-schools, teaching at state schools, teaching at private international schools.
What are the minimum teaching requirements?
Minimum requirements for legally getting a job in China are:
1. A bachelors degree.
2. An ESL certification.
3. English fluency is required.
4. A passport from Canada, USA, UK, South Africa, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand. However, if you don’t have a passport from those countries, there are other ways to get teaching jobs here too.
5. Teaching experience is preferred, but not necessarily required.
What teaching requirements would you recommend?
I would definitely recommend getting your ESL certification. Yes, it is a requirement to work here, but it will also give you a lot of experience and opportunities to learn how to teach. I would also recommend volunteering as a teacher in a classroom longer than the required teachers for your program. Taking a class and then working in a classroom is a great way to put the teaching skills and theories to practice.
What are the levels of payment?
I don’t know what the going rate is per hour, but I know that teachers full time teachers can make anywhere from 13,000-20,000 RMB a month (depending on experience and how long you have lived in China.)
How many teaching days a week is normal?
5-6 days a week days per week.
How many face-to-face teaching hours a week is normal?
20-25 hours per week.
What is the normal arrangement for holidays?
Teachers in China usually get 1 week for National Day in the beginning of October, New Years Day, and 1 month off for Chinese New Year (January to February.) The important part to know beforehand though is that the National Day holiday and Chinese New Year dates are not pre-set, and they start/finish at different times for different schools.
What advice would you give to someone considering coming to Xi’An, China to teach English?
Overall, I really like living in Xi’An. People here are very warm, friendly, and curious about other cultures. The food here is outstanding. It’s also one of the cheaper large cities to live in in China.
I’ve taught English in 5 different countries now (The US, Morocco, Peru, Korea, and China), and this advice can be applied to all of those countries (and others, I’m sure.)
1. Know your contract like the back of your hand.
2. There are varying levels of organization within each school and each country, ranging from highly organized/efficient to downright chaos. For example, in China, I’ve experienced many last second schedule and classroom changes that no one told me about. Sometimes classes were canceled by the administration a couple hours before they were supposed to begin.
Just try to remember that not everything is in your control, and try your best to let go and go with the flow. Your blood pressure will thank you.
3. Eat ALL of the food here in Xi’An!
4. Learn a little bit of the local language before you come here. People will be pleasantly surprised if you try to talk with them in Chinese!
5. There are always helpers around (whether you like it or not) and they are your greatest assets if you are willing to ask, accept, and take their help or advice to heart.
6. Local teachers are always right, and they are almost always willing to help teachers who are new to China (or whatever country you happen to be teaching in.)
What are the positive aspects of teaching English in Xi’An, China?
Again, this list can be applied to all of the countries I’ve taught in – not just China. This is also just my experience – other teachers here have different stories from mine.
1. I’m new to teaching in China, and the local teachers I work with are always willing to mentor/provide feedback/support me and my classes.
2. If I want to try a new activity, I always ask my Chinese English teachers colleagues for their advice first. They tell me honestly if it’s good, or if it will not work, and why. So far, they’ve always been right.
3. Here I work with many highly trained Chinese English teachers, and I found that nonnative English speakers are essential language teachers because they provide the foundation that native English speakers (like myself) can build on. They can also be excellent teacher educators as well. I have learned more from observing and working closely with local teachers here than I ever have reading a book for class.
4. Chinese people (and people all over the world in general), are kind, curious, warm, welcoming, and good. They are excited to share their home, language, and culture with you if you treat it with respect and dignity.
5. You will work hard, but you will also save money . Working in China has allowed me to travel, experience new cultures, and has offered me so many opportunities that I could not envision for myself when I was working in the US.
What are the negative aspects for teaching English in Xi’An, China?
It’s really hard to maintain a healthy work-life balance. With my job, I teach at many different schools in 3 cities, and I don’t have a separate office, work space, or my own classroom to leave my work things in, so I always have to take work home with me.
What are some of the teaching challenges for English teachers teaching the local people in your area?
1. There is a common theme of people hating English because they are/were forced to learn it in school, so they come to class with a bad feeling about it beforehand. The question for me becomes, how can I as a teacher and student bring it to their attention that learning a new language can open up their world to new possibilities or opportunities? How can I make lessons that are interactive, fun, and useful?
2. One challenge I have here is classroom management. There are teachers in China that still use some forms of corporal punishment to keep students in line in class, and there are many students who behave well in class because they are scared of their Chinese teachers. However, I’m not fluent enough in Chinese to speak to students in their home language when they’re misbehaving, and they usually don’t have enough English to understand me. Because of this, some of the students aren’t scared enough of me to not act out in class. So I’ve had to figure out other ways to encourage positive behavior.
Living in Xi’An, China:
Are there any visa or other legal requirements to live in China?
First, you should apply for your work visa in your home country. Once you have your work visa, then you can come to China. However, once you are here you must also apply for a residence permit, work permit, and health certificate. You must also check in with the local police station as well within the first 30 days. All of this takes about 2-3 months to finish.
What is the cost of living like in China?
Depends on your contract with the school. Mine for example covers roundtrip airfare to and from my home country, housing, school meals, transportation, health insurance – everything except the property management fee (537 RMB every 3 months), phone and internet (136 RMB a month,) and heating (about 600-2,200 RMB flat fee for the winter.) The 600 RMB option is the one that uses your A/C unit to heat your apartment, and 2,200 RMB one is where the apartment company controls your heating, and the apartments get really hot. Many foreigners I know here turned off their heating because it got too warm. I recommend the 600 RMB option.
Going out to eat Chinese food can cost anywhere from 10 yuan to 200 yuan per person, with the average being about 20-25 yuan. Western food is more expensive. Same with going out – Chinese alcohol is about 20 yuan, but western alcohol can host 100 yuan or more.
All in all, I live very comfortably on about 5-6,000 yuan a month, and I put the rest of my paycheck in savings.
What are the usual accommodation arrangements and how can you find accommodation?
Schools usually search for and provide housing. OR, they will provide a housing stipend and assist you in finding an apartment.
Other than teaching, what positive aspects are there for living in Xi’An, China?
1. The ability to save money and travel.
2. Xi’An is a very multi-cultural city.
3. It’s easy to make Chinese friends here.
4. Public transportation is awesome.
5. The food is outstanding.
6. It’s a big enough city that there is a lot to do, but it’s not super overwhelming (like Beijing, Shanghai, or Hong Kong can be.)
7. The hospitality here is out of this world!
8. People here are very warm, curious, welcoming, and generally good souls.
Other than teaching, what negative aspects are there for living in Xi’An, China?
1. It’s easy to make Chinese friends here, but I’ve had a really hard time meeting other foreigners and making friends with them here.
2. The air quality here is terrible.
3. The banking system in China is very complicated, confusing, and downright ridiculous.
4. The internet is very slow and unreliable.
5. Setting up internet is also a pain here. It took 3 months to get internet in my apartment.
6. The Great Firewall makes communicating with friends and family outside of China very difficult (but not impossible).
7. Many people use VPN’s here to communicate, but those are also unreliable.
8. Free speech is not allowed here in China. As someone who is passionate about politics, activism, current events, etc. not being able to really talk about those things has been eye-opening in many ways.
What advice would you give to someone considering coming to Xi’An, China?
Do it! Xi’An, China has been an amazing place to live and work. I’ve only been here 4 months, and I feel like I’m not the same person I was when I left the US.
What things do you miss most (other than family and friends) from your home country?
I miss my dog, being able to talk about politics and be active in it, being surrounded by things that are familiar, being able to understand everything that’s going on around me, being able to fully share who I am, having a much better work-life balance, baking pies and drinking cider/margaritas 🙂
What do you think you will miss most when (or if) you leave China?
The friendships I’ve made here, and biangbiang noodles, roujiamoa, and dumplings!
What things would you recommend to new teachers in your area to bring with them from their home country?
1. Hand sanitizer.
2. Tampons (if you use them.)
3. New clothes. It’s difficult for American women at least to find clothes/shoes here that will fit properly.
4. Shower shoes.
5. Cold medicine. If you get sick, chances are it will be with a cold because of the air pollution.
6. Gifts for local teachers. I’ve found that chocolates work well.
7. International chargers.
About Me and My Work:
My Name: Bria Anderson
Nationality: USA
Students I’ve taught in China: Elementary (6-12 years), junior high school (12-15 years), high school (15-18 years).
Where I teach: Shaanxi Foreign Languages Academy in Xi’An. Teaching here for 4 months.
My school facilities: Very good – I rated my school facilities as very good because the teachers are super helpful, and if I ask for something I usually get it. The classrooms also have plenty of desks, chairs, usually a computer with a projector or screen, and enough blackboards.
However, many times I arrived in a classroom and it was completely trashed out, had technology glitches (like classroom lights becoming disco lights, the computer not working, flash drive ports destroying flash drives, puffs of smoke coming out of the hot water heater during class, etc.) So not excellent.
Do you teach English in China?
Tell us about your experiences – click here to submit your report about teaching English in China.
