Teach children in Tongren, Guizhou - 8,000 RMB
What Qihang and Tongren Offer:
Tongren has approximately 250,000 people. Tongren is a rural city in the Karst Mountains with little Western influence. The countryside is a 10-minute bike ride out of town. The city is pedestrian friendly and inexpensive. There are few non-Chinese restaurants, and the nearest McDonalds is a five-hour bus ride away in Guiyang, the provincial capital. Foreigners are not a common sight for local people. Older people will often stare, and children will point and giggle. Foreigners are low in numbers. Most people do not speak English but are generally very friendly and want to help you. Many people speak the local-dialect that is different from the standard Mandarin Chinese. This position is very rewarding for someone who wants to experience the real China. Unlike Shanghai, Chengdu, or Beijing, Tongren has few places that will seem just like your home country. The language and cultural situation provides many benefits, but it also poses many challenges. An open mind and willingness to try new things go along way. Please note these things when considering this position.
Job Description:
We would love to hear from anyone interested in teaching English in a small, well-resourced school located in Tongren, a prefecture in eastern Guizhou Province, located in southwest China.If you are an outgoing person and would like to teach children, please join our school as a foreign teacher. We offer full-time teaching positions. Foreign teachers should have between 15 and 20 teaching hours per week, Foreign teachers are paid 100 RMB per class.
Your students are between five and seventeen years old. English skills range from non-existent to advanced, depending on each student’s age and ability. Classes consist of a maximum of 26 children within three years age of each other. Students regularly have Qihang English classes twice a week with their Chinese English teachers.
Teaching Requirements:
1. Your teaching role is to review and improve material previously taught by the students’ Chinese teacher. The Chinese teacher explains class material to students prior to your class. You encourage continued learning and improved pronunciation by reviewing the material and then using the material for games. Your main task is to encourage the students to practice speaking and listening in English. You help correct students’ pronunciation and create conversational English inspired from the textbooks.
Chinese teachers provide teaching plans for each class detailing the units and concepts you are required to review. Teaching must be exercised in a playful manner. Be prepared to dance, sing, and make a fool of yourself. The Qihang method of teaching English to small children relies heavily on gestures and body language. You are required to learn the gestures, songs, and chants prior to each class. The favored method of teaching is by playing games. The use of picture cards, videos, and singing is preferred. You are required to play educational games with the students for half of your class time. You determine what games or activities work best for each lesson and class.
2. Foreigner teachers have many different classes, and they meet with individual classes once every two or three weeks. For example, in a three-week cycle, you will meet once with 45 or more different classes.
3. On Friday evenings, for one hour, you are required to participate in English Corner. Children come with their parents to practice their English speaking skills. You are paid for one half hour (50 RMB) for each English Corner.
4. Every Friday afternoon, you are required to attend all-school meetings that generally last one hour. You are not paid for this time. These meetings are the only time that all Qihang staff are in the same room – teachers, administrative staff, etc.
5. Your normal working hours are as follows:
• All day on Saturdays and Sundays, up to seven classes each day
• Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday evenings, with one or two classes each evening (you have your days to yourself)
• Wednesdays, all day trips to branch schools (see point 6)
• You may or may not have a day or two off once per week, depending on the three-week cycle and number of foreign teachers currently at Qihang
• At the end of each semester, there is about one week of intensive teaching, with multiple classes per day for multiple days
6. Weekly one-day trips out of Tongren to teach at Qihang branch schools in nearby towns will be required. Each town is about one and a half hours away from Tongren. You leave Tongren around 10 am and return between 8 and 10 pm. You will teach two classes and possibly an English Corner. The school pays for transportation, and lunch and dinner is usually provided. You generally take a bus or taxi for to and from each city.
7. Teachers are expected to act in a kind and professional manner. Working with children can be
stressful, especially for the foreign teachers. There is usually not a Chinese teacher in the foreign teacher’s class, except during the training period and when requested by the foreign teacher. To be a successful teacher to these young kids, you must be able to bring a smile and a playful attitude to each new class. Adaptability and creativity is a must!
8. Five levels of English courses are handled in this school:
• Play Way to English is for children between five and eight years old.
• Cambridge Young Learners English is for children between nine and eleven years old.
• Super Kids is for children between eight and twelve years old.
• New Concept English is for students twelve and older.
• A new kindergarten program recently opened. You may be required to teach a few classes a month for 30 minutes to three or four year olds. The kindergarten teachers are present with each class. These classes are taught during the daytime during the week.
9. Foreign teachers must also attend trainings as required and school promotional opportunities as they arise.
10. A one-year (two semesters) teaching commitment is required. Semesters run September through January and February through July. You have about one month between Fall and Spring Semesters for Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) and about one month off for the summer break.
Other requirements of you upon arrival:
• Medical Exam
– Upon your arrival in Tongren, you are required to complete a medical exam. Per Chinese government guidelines, any medical exam from your home country is not valid once you arrive in China. The school assists with the arrangements, but you are required to pay the medical cost, about 300 RMB. This cost is deducted from your first salary payment.
• Insurance
– The Chinese government now requires medical and emergency insurance of all foreigners. The school handles all paperwork for the policy, but you are required to pay the policy cost, approximately 600RMB. This is cost is deducted from your first salary payment. Qihang provides the following to its foreign teachers:
• Accommodation
– You live in an apartment provided by the school in Tongren. You are about 25 minutes away from the school on foot, about 10 by bus and 5 by taxi. Your apartment includes basics like a television, DVD player, refrigerator, basic furniture, shower, kitchen tools, etc. The school pays your monthly rent.
• Utilities
– the school pays 100 RMB per month for phone, electricity and water. The foreign teacher pays for costs over 100 RMB. This balance is generally taken out of your monthly salary.
• Travel
– The school arranges an optional two- or three-day trip around the local province every six months, all expenses paid.
• Holiday
– During your holiday breaks (winter and summer, depending on when you arrive), you are paid 1,000 RMB.
• Return Flight
– At the end of your contract, the school provides a subsidy of 6,000 RMB for your return flight ticket. You are responsible for your flight to China and travel to Tongren at the beginning of your contract.
• Salary/Teaching Hours
– You are paid on a monthly basis, at the end of each month. Foreign teachers should have between 15 and 20 teaching hours per week,with a minimum of 50 teaching hours per month.
Foreign teachers are paid 140-200 RMB per class.While you are paid 140-200 RMB for each class, Qihang withholds 20 RMB per class that is paid out at the end of your contract.
• Other
– Qihang can help you find activities in your new home. You can be provided with a Chinese tutor to learn Mandarin Chinese for four hours a week in a learning partnership where the foreign teacher also helps the Chinese teacher improve his or her English. The school can organize other activities – calligraphy, Kong Fu, or Chinese cooking lesson – but the foreign teacher must pay the tuition/costs for these lessons. The costs vary by activity but are generally 100 to 200 RMB per month.
