Teach English in China

Quick Facts

Eligibility Requirements

You don’t need to have any teaching experience to teach English in China. You do need:

Required

• A passport from the UK, USA, Canada, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. (South African candidates will be considered on a case-by-case basis)
• A bachelor’s degree in hand in any field – no teaching experience required
• A Native English Speaker

Preferred on case-by-case basis

• Between 22 and 55 years of age
• No major medical or mental health diagnosis or medication in the past 5 years
• No communicable diseases
• No criminal conviction whatsoever (even misdemeanors)
• No visible tattoos, such as on the face, neck and hands

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Submit a quick application and we’ll let you know your eligibility and best program fit.

Program Options

What’s included for each Program Option

Full Program Highlights

• Highly competitive salary and benefits

  • Earn between $1700 and $2300 USD per month.
  • Get a performance bonus of $1000 USD.
  • Housing allowance.
  • Flight reimbursement of $1000 USD paid in two halves for your entry and exit flights.
  • Renewal bonus.

• Comprehensive pre-departure support and guidance

  • Getting the necessary documentation prepared prior to departure.
  • Assisting you with all planning, packing, visas, costs, budgets and booking flights.
  • Answering your questions to help ease any anxieties you may have regarding your trip.

• Logistics and safety when arriving

  • We’ll provide guidance on obtaining a sim card upon your arrival.
  • We’ll provide guidance on how to get a taxi from the airport directly to your accommodation and we’ll reimburse your taxi fare.

• A toolkit for navigating Chinese culture

  • A mentorship program for you to learn from and lean on.
  • 5 days of intensive training to help you with classroom management, lesson planning, as well as other cultural aspects to help you navigate your new life abroad.
  • Monthly excursions with fellow teacher travellers.
  • Cultural orientation twice yearly.
  • Social events and meet and greets.

• Guaranteed Job Placement

  • At carefully vetted schools.

• 1 of 10 positions available.

  • Once your application has been pre-approved, you will move onto the interview stage with the team in China. If you are successful in your interview, TravelBud and the Bureau of Education will assist you in all the next steps. If not, you will be refunded your enrollment fee.

• An Internationally Accredited TEFL/TESOL certification

  • The knowledge required to teach english successfully.

• A support network of fellow teachers

  • Dedicated current foreign teacher acting as your personal mentor throughout your placement.
  • Monthly professional development meetings throughout the year to improve your teaching craft and meet other like-minded individuals.
  • Mental health forum meetings.
  • Annual foreign teacher meetings.
  • Annual Christmas Party to share the festive season together.
  • Lifelong friendships, networks and travel opportunities.

• 24/7 In-country support

  • Dedicated current foreign teacher acting as your personal mentor throughout your placement.
  • Ex-foreign teachers and local, on the ground support staff provide you with personal assistance throughout the duration of your teaching experience.
    Teacher meet-ups.
  • We check in with you regularly and keep up to date with your teach abroad experience.

• Self-development and advantageous future employability

  • Add teaching abroad to your CV to stand out from the crowd.

Guaranteed Job Placement

We find you a teaching job or jobs to ensure you have the maximum work hours allowed under your visa.

• Teaching philosophy and environment
• Teaching materials
• School code of conduct
• Local staff support and English proficiency
• After school activities and requirements
• Disciplinary processes
• And many more considerations!

So you might find a job but you’ll be unprepared from a teaching, cultural, financial and emotional perspective.

Teaching Placements

Teaching Placement Overview

Teaching Placements

Our partnership with the China International Personnel Training Center (CIPTC), a government owned company recruiting foreign teachers for the Education Bureau, places teachers in the bustling and beautiful city of Shenzhen.

The overarching goal of the program is to internalise Education in the public sector by creating a relaxed and friendly environment enabling students to gain confidence in their spoken English.

With over 300 foreign teachers throughout the school network there is a big focus on meeting goals set by the Education board and thus there are constant monthly collaboration sessions in which there is an in-depth focus on instructional strategies to meet the learning levels of students and instructional diversity of teachers.

The working structure is typical of a normal working week being Monday to Friday with morning and afternoon splits.

There is a hard working culture in China so participants are required to put in the hours but are rewarded for doing so.

Public schools are well resourced with top notch facilities for lesson planning and teaching.

• Class sizes are between 40-50 students.
• Teachers have access to internal systems to share teaching resources such as lesson plans.
• Teaching hours 8am – 12pm and 2pm – 5:30pm. Weekends off.
• Weekly working hours of 18 hours in the classroom teaching with extra time set for lesson planning and other administrative tasks.
• There is generally more than one native English teacher per school.
• Monthly cultural excursions. One day excursions as part of the course curriculum.
• Training: Free monthly Professional Development Training and support from mentors.

What are the age groups that I will be teaching?

Primary, junior middle school and senior middle school (High school) So ages will vary accordingly.

Do schools provide lunches?

Schools will provide you with school breakfast and lunches.

Can I be placed with my friend or partner?

We can accommodate couple applications, provided you both meet the requirements. The placement team will do their best to place you in the same school/ area, but we cannot guarantee that with 100% certainty. However, you will both be placed in Shenzhen city.

Holidays

Teachers will receive 8 paid public holidays off with additional holidays based on religion/nationality. * Religious holidays will comply with specific holiday arrangements with the school and will require some notice to be given prior to holiday.

Teachers will also receive a paid winter=or summer vacation pending the start time of their contract.

The winter vacation is usually from mid-January to mid-February (including Chinese Spring Festival).

The summer vacation is usually from July to the end of August.

Are there sports activities after school which I will need to attend?

Not normally after school hours but there will be other work designated by the school during working hours. These could be extra-curricular activities or organising student events.

How long is the teaching contract?

1 year with the option to extend with a renewal bonus!

Any other bonuses?

There are performance based bonuses paid out in two halves at the end of each semester teaching.

There are strict performance and attendance criteria which need to be met and you will receive a percentage based bonus compensation based on your performance.

What is the dress code for teaching?

Dress code is smart-casual – collared shirts for men and conservative for women. Covering the shoulders is especially important for women but the length of skirts and dresses is less of a concern.

Is transport provided from accommodation to work?

You will receive a metro card with an initial balance of 80rmb.

You can use the metro to get to and from school.

You will be guided on how to use the system prior to placement.

Each trip costs between 2 and 10rmb. Once your initial amount runs out, you can easily top up for future trips.

Medical services and insurance?

There are excellent medical services in China but sometimes services can be expensive.

Schools will apply for social insurance once the Residence Permit and work permit have been issued and takes effect upon receiving the social insurance card from the social insurance bureau.

Do you get paid overtime?

Yes, if you work more than 8 hours a day or if your designated teaching hours exceed 18 classes per week, you will be paid an overtime rate.

Cultural Preparation

Part of the success of your experience comes from understanding the culture that you’re going to be living and working in.

Our Program Includes:

Pre-departure Support

We assist you with all planning, packing, visas, costs, budgets, booking flights and any questions or information you need. 

Pre departure Support

• We’ll outline the entire process you’ll follow to realise the teaching abroad dream.
• You’ll be provided comprehensive information relating to each step in the pre-departure process and you’ll have the opportunity to ask as many questions as you like, no matter how silly you may think they are!
• We’ll explain and help you get the necessary documentation prepared prior to departure.
• We’ll assist you with all planning, packing, visas, costs, budgeting and booking flights.
• We’ll ease any anxieties you may have regarding your trip and share the positive and life-changing adventures of the teach abroad experience.

Logistics and Safety when arriving

We’ll pick you up from the airport and introduce you to your support team in-country.

Logistics and Safety when arriving

• We’ll provide you with all the information and guidance you need to get a taxi from the airport directly to your accommodation. And we’ll reimburse the fee!
• We provide guidance you with your SIM card setup so that you can contact your loved ones back home and your new friends you’re about to make on your epic adventure!
• We provide guidance setting up a local bank account so you can save money on international withdrawal fees. Your salary is paid into your local bank account.
• You’ll get to meet and greet fellow teacher travellers.

A toolkit for navigating your new country

The perfect foundation for adjusting to life in your new country and meeting your fellow teachers and in-country stafff members.

During the course of your stay in China, you will be exposed to many different cultural experiences:

• Traditional tea ceremony
• Dumpling making classes
• Calligraphy training
• Porcelain ceremony

You will also partake in monthly tours to a Chinese cultural subject.

There are two organised new teachers orientation each year with monthly professional developments throughout the year including a mentor program, Christmas Party, Mental health forum, annual foreign teacher meetings and more.

The mentor program begins when you arrive in Shenzhen where you will be assigned a mentor who will guide you through how to teach in the public school system, what kind of tools you can use, set up 1-1 training sessions and invite you to watch them in action in the classroom.

During the yearly teacher meetings you will receive guidance on Chinese law and security where you’ll learn about entry and exit regulations and all laws and regulations which pertain to foreign teachers working in China.

You’ll also form part of the mental health forum where you’ll focus on relaxing from the stresses of working.

Learn foundational Chinese language

Learn to speak the world’s second most widely spoken language with Free weekly language classes on Wednesday afternoon’s for beginner to intermediate levels.

Support Networks

In addition to the personal assistance and 24/7 in-country support we provide, you’ll also have a support network of fellow teachers.

A support network of fellow teacher travelers

In addition the personal assistance and 24/7 support we provide, you’ll also have a support network of fellow teachers and a mentor program to help make your experience teaching in China successful and rewarding.

The mentor program begins when you arrive in Shenzhen where you will be assigned a mentor who will guide you through how to teach in the public school system, what kind of tools you can use, set up 1-1 training sessions and invite you to watch them in action in the classroom.

24/7 In-Country Support

• Dedicated current foreign teacher acting as your personal mentor throughout your placement.
• Ex-foreign teachers and local, on-the-ground support staff provide you with personal assistance throughout the duration of your teaching experience.
• You can rest assured knowing that any queries will be answered such as translation help, culture shock, legalities, emergencies, travel options or school queries. Someone is on hand.
• Teacher meet-ups.
• We check in with you regularly and keep up to date with your teach abroad experience.

Have some fun and embrace your new adventure!

Internationally Accredited TEFL/TESOL Certification

There are so many options when it comes to TEFL/TESOL courses that it can be quite overwhelming to understand what’s legitimate and what high quality schools require from teaching staff.

A quality TEFL/TESOL course helps teachers avoid the frustration and pitfalls of being unprepared in the classroom and provides all the necessary knowledge and tools to effectively teach English.

Course Components

Each module will prepare you for different aspects of the teaching experience and build up your skills to respond to every curveball the classroom might throw at you.

The course takes place over 4 weeks, starting on the first Monday of every month with assignments due at the end of each week (Sunday evening).

Your final exam takes place in the 5th week.

Peer Participation

The course offers mandatory interaction via forums, peer feedback and one-on-one instructor feedback. 

This allows students to see multiple perspectives on their assignments as they design fun and creative lessons.

Students receive peer feedback for each assignment and you will also have to give feedback to other students.

You might be planning to teach in the same country as some of your peers, so this is also a great opportunity to forge connections and make friends.

• Get valuable feedback from fellow students
• Share resources and ideas
• Improve your lesson plans

What you’ll get:

• Comprehensive Lesson Resources
  Students receive a 202 page course workbook and comprehensive resources, downloads, lesson templates and printable graphics they can use for their teach abroad experience.
• Personalised Gradebook
  Students receive a personalized Grade Report PDF which summarizes and presents all weekly assignment grades with personalized feedback to create a complete portfolio of all of the feedback they received from the course.
• Letter of Recommendation
  Students receive a signed letter of recommendation from our Director of Education. A personalized recommendation assures future employers of a student’s reliability and assists them in securing a job.
• Accredited Certification
  Our 120-hour Online TEFL course is internationally recognised, and is accredited by TQUK.
• High Quality Video Tutorials
  The courses make extensive use of video tutorials which includes footage of real classroom scenarios from Thailand, South Korea, Myanmar and Vietnam, and expert advice from Instructors and other English teachers in the field.

 International Accreditation

With an accredited course you know that there is a system of checks being made by the moderators on the course provider to ensure that standards, procedures, and materials are appropriate, fit for their purpose, up to date and regularly updated, and that there are systems in place to monitor and give feedback on student progress.

In order to maintain this accreditation status, Accreditat provides external moderation as a means of ensuring that our courses and their assessors are assessing consistently to the industry standards, in an efficient and effective manner.

Accreditat’s external moderators are highly experienced in the education field, know the TEFL / TESOL learning area well, have undergone training for moderation, and have genuine credibility among assessors and within their area of knowledge and expertise. External moderation involves:

• Checking that our systems required to support the provision of learning and assessment programmes are appropriate, high quality, and working effectively
• Providing advice and guidance to us in relation to further development
• Checking that all of the team involved in assessment are appropriately qualified, experienced and competent
• Checking the credibility of our assessment methods and learning procedures
• Checking our internal moderation systems through sampling, monitoring and observing assessment processes and candidates’ evidence to ensure consistency across providers
• Checking assessors’ decisions, providing feedback and recommendations as required

Accommodation

Your first month in Shenzhen

Your accommodation for your first month in China is all pre-booked and included in your fee. Thereafter you will receive a housing allowance.

Your first month of accommodation is included in your program fee. These studio type apartments are small by western standards but are clean and tidy.

Another view of your apartment during your first month in Shenzhen.

Accommodation after your firsth month

Most teacher apartments in China are one-room or studio type apartments and can be rather small by western standards.

Bathrooms in China are also Asian style wet-bathrooms and the shower,sink and toilet will likely not be separated. Expect your showerhead to be above the sink. This is completely normal.

How much will rent cost?

Rent will vary depending on where you are living, but is subsidised by your school so it is affordable.

Will I be living with someone?

If you are placed with a friend or partner, you will hopefully be able to live together. Otherwise, your school will organise a bachelor flat for you.

Let us know what your needs are in terms of accommodation and we’ll assist with finding the best living environment for you.

Dates

• Only 10 spots are initially available for the first start date:  in February 20th, 2024
• Participants need to be fully enrolled by December 2023 to make the documents for February departure.

Budgets

Fees

The following costs make up the program fee and are payable to TravelBud before you head over to Teach English in China.