Many expats who come to China to teach English catch the bug and consider taking up the profession in their home countries. But how useful is teaching experience in China when it comes to landing jobs back home?

While you will need far more formal qualifications to teach in the West, don’t underestimate what you’ve learned in China and what that can do for your career progression. Here are six ways teaching in China will help you in the classroom back home.

Source: Ilmicrofono Oggiono

Demonstrated interest

In many countries in the West, particularly the US and the UK, there's a distinct lack of trained teachers. This means there is plenty of opportunity for those who want to teach, so much so that many even find themselves lured with generous bursaries for training.

The criteria for acceptance into a teaching career in the West is, of course, based on tangible qualifications and training as opposed to intangibles like experience in China. This is not to say, however, that it’s totally useless. Once you have the official training under your belt, experience in China will certainly bolster a resume by adding an extra “interest factor” that could perhaps sway recruiters down the line.

Experience with large class sizes

Even today, many state schools in China groan under the weight of classes of 40+ children. Classes in the UK and US, on the other hand, are much smaller, typically not reaching more than 30 students. Those with experience teaching in China, therefore, should underline their experience of dealing with large class sizes of mixed ability on their CVs and in job applications.

Working with limited resources

The majority of state schools outside of the most highly-developed areas of China would look decidedly basic when compared to Western classrooms. We’re talking a blackboard, a row of old wooden desks and little else. Luxuries like interactive whiteboards – or even regular white boards – are almost unheard of. Teachers in China will therefore have learned to get by on fundamental teaching skills without relying on technology or other fancy props.

Dealing with skills disparity

As a nation of over a billion people with an education system that is far from focused on foreign languages, China has a huge base of lower level students wanting to learn English. However, with university students keen to study abroad and major cities like Beijing and Shanghai attracting so much foreign investment, there are also many students at the other end of the scale who need to learn advanced English. Foreign teachers in China, particularly those who have worked in the ESL sector, will be able to demonstrate that they can deal with students of all abilities.

Sensitivity when giving feedback

The idea of mianzi or “face” is a major factor in Chinese education and society as a whole. Avoiding public embarrassment is so important that some students may quit their studies or change schools if they feel they’ve lost face in front of their teacher and fellow students. Successful teachers in China will, therefore, have developed sensitive feedback techniques to help them point out students’ mistakes without damaging morale.

Dealing with demanding parents

As Chinese students need to pass the deaded goakao test to go to university in China and English tests to go to university in the West. Foreign teachers in China, therefore, may find their students' parents demand a lot and have very little patience. Teachers here will no doubt have acquired the ability to deal with parents’ high and often unrealistic expectations.

Stamping out bad habits

China is a culture with thousands of years of academic history. The problem with such a long-established education system is that it has created habits that are not always conducive to learning new skills, particularly languages. These include the idea of mianzi mentioned above, which often sees students too fearful to practice speaking, as well as a focus on rote learning and direct translation. Teachers in China will therefore have worked hard to break these bad habits and push their students in directions more conductive to language learning.

While teaching in China may not lead directly to a teaching job back home, there’s no doubt the experience will greatly benefit those who choose to pursue the profession. Remain realistic about what a career in education back home requires, but don’t forget to promote and utilize the skills you learned here every step of the way.  

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Keywords: Teaching in China