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Affording Teaching in China with student loans...possible?
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葛亞輝（美國人） -
OK, so I'm currently an American college junior. I've been taking Chinese for two years, and this
summer I'm hoping to go to China and do an intensive language program. Then I'll take Chinese
again senior year, of course.
I'll graduate (*knock on wood*) from an Ivy League school with about 4 years of Chinese, good
grades, and a major in East Asian Studies focusing on China. That said, I'll also be graduating
about $20,000 in debt from student loans, and with almost no savings whatsoever. I know that
english teachers can be paid well in China by Chinese standards, but how possible would it be for
me to pay off loans on a typical salary and still be able to afford to eat? Or is there a way to
stave off paying back those loans (and accruing additional interest) while I'm abroad...
Also, how plausible a post-graduation plan is this? I've got a bit of paid teaching experience at
a respected summer program, and at school I have paid work as a tutor for fellow students.
However, none of that was teaching english, so does that make it more or less worthless?
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gato -
Teaching at a public university pays about US$500 a month and at private schools between $500 and
$1000 a month. You might be able to save half of that or more and use it towards your student
loans if you live frugally. But it's not going to be easy if you have to pay off the loans. You
might look into whether it'd be feasible to defer the loan if you enroll in a degree (or
non-degree) program at a Chinese university. That might be the better course, as it seems that
your reason for going to China is to improve your Chinese rather than to have a career in teaching
English. Enrolling in a university program would give you a more structured learning environment.
If you teach full time, you might also find yourself too tired or distracted to study Chinese much.
Finding an English teaching job should be easy, as long as you have your degree. No experience
necessary in most case.
kudra -
Is your goal to teach English in China, or to get over to China for an extended time doing
whatever? If you are spending large fractions of your time teaching, this may not be an optimal
use your skills, i.e. 4 yrs of ivy league Chinese + EA studies major.
I'd enroll in grad school and have them send you to China to further your studies.
Then you can defer the loans, possibly without having to pay interest or even the loan amount
increasing. You could probably get a stipend too.
There is no dishonor of dropping out or going on leave if other opportunities present themselves
(although I might not mention that in an interview).
Not that you have to end up working for the US govt. but there must be lots of scholarships
targeting ivy league grads who want to continue studying Chinese.
All I know is I know someone who studied in the Stanford program in Taiwan as a grad student.
Or see about working for a multinational consulting firm like Price WaterhouseCoopers.
I think they hired Ken DeWoskin who was a EA studies prof at Michigan ( KW is father of Rachel who
stared in Foreign Babes in Beijing).
I'd ask your professors for advice and work the alumni connections.
葛亞輝（美國人） -
yeah, I don't care so much about what I'm doing in China, my agenda is mostly to #1 Improve my
chinese and #2 spend some time in another culture becuase I've spent literally almost my entire
life in the Northeastern US and never even been outside the country except to canada (which hardly
counts)
kudra -
Right, so work the profs and alumni, career center.
When I was an undergrad I was in full academic mode, and I kind of poo-pooed the alumni connection
thing. But when I changed fields from academic science to "industry" late in life, it was pretty
useful. If you go over to China for the summer program, or even now, I'd contact the
see what might be interesting. You don't need to wait until you are over there, thanks to the
internet.
just a note: In preparing to talk to people, you might read "what color is your parachute" or
something similar. It helps a lot if you do some homework about the person and their company or
their area before talking to them. Think of this research about how to get to China and what to do
there after graduation as a shadow sr. thesis.
gato -
I met a couple of people who graduated from college not too long ago, did a year at the Johns
Hopkins international relations program at Nanjing University, which is taught in Chinese (I
believe), and are now working for consulting companies in Shanghai. Their work consists mostly of
doing research and planning for foreign companies that want to come into China. They say they work
mostly in English. The Chinese staff does the Chinese side.
wushijiao -
How much would you have to pay off per month? (I know money is a sensitive issue, but it would be
easier to give you an answer if we knew how much per month it was)
I had a friend who taught in China while paying off student loans. I also had another friend who
made a base salary of RMB10,000, while doing many night and weekend jobs to get up near the RMB
20,000 level. So, with that type of money, you'd probably be able to pay off your student loans
while teaching.
The problem is, teaching a lot will not be good for your studying. Teaching can be very draining,
more so than most jobs. So, it might sound easy, in theory, to teach 30-40 hours a week, but it is
much harder than it sounds, especially if you have to grade homework or do a large amount of
lesson planning.
So, I think kudra's advice about looking into other options sounds appropriate. It is possible, I
think, to learn Chinese, teach, and pay off your student loans, but it could be a delicate
balancing act involving tons of energy on your part.
If you do decide to teach in China, I'd suggest that you:
A) get an ESL teaching degree (like CELTA)
B) try to get some experience teaching or tutoring people in your local community. You have a good
head start tutoring people (even if it is not ESL-type tutoring, I think it would still be good on
a CV and good to prepare you other sorts of teaching)
Then, I think you could be in a place to get teaching jobs that pay more or at less sketchy
places. Also, if you spend time learning "how to teach" now, you'll go through less shock, and
you'll be able to focus more on studying Chinese when you are off work.
badr -
another issue that you need to consider is transferring your hard earned money in China back to
the USA to repay said loans.
If you teach in a bigger city like Beijing, Shanghai or guangzhou, you can earn enough but
navigating through the banking regulations and money transfer can be a nightmare ( not to mention
costly)
If you an defer your loan payments for 6 months to 1 year, this might allow you to build-up a
small saving base so that you can transfer money out every 3 months or so instead of having to
deal with it on a monthly basis.
Laska -
I was in a very similar situation to yours when I came to China as a teacher four years ago. It's
definitely possible.
My first year in China I deferred my loans and taught at a public university in a mid-sized city.
I arranged my contract directly with the school (avoid recruiters) and I only taught about 11 to
13 hours per week. This left me with a lot of time to read and study. As one of only two or three
foreign teachers in the town, I felt that I got a great immersion experience in the "real China"
that I might not have gotten by going to work right away in a private school in a big city.
If you stay here for a while, you will probably find part-time work for private schools the best
employment situation for paying off loans and studying. It's possible to arrange a situation where
you only teach 9 to 12 hours per week and make enough to pay off loans and live comfortably. Some
schools now offer part-time contracts. You can also do some freelance copyediting or translation.
It will take at least a year, however, to get your feet on the ground in a city and get the best
jobs, since relationshps and word of mouth count for a lot. Getting into corporate training
(business English) is the road I took. The students are smart and motivated. The classes are
small. However, no matter where you teach, you will run into unscrupulous employers. Also, you'll
find that very few of your colleagues share your interest in China. Most teachers are in China
because they can afford a better lifestyle here than they could at home. Some men are here for the
girls. Most of them will spend most of their spare time incessently complaining about China with
their likeminded friends. The worst are the ones who style themselves liberals but are really
unconscious closet bigot know it alls with a very shallow understanding of the culture they are
living in.
For me, I'm not interested in business and I enjoy teaching. It's more a less a stopover for me
before I go to grad school (fingers crossed) in 2008. When you've been in school your whole life
and you haven't lived abroad, I definitely think it's very enriching to get the real, gritty
hands-on experience in the country that you want to focus your academic career on. You may be
burnt out on academics. But after a couple years here, you will definitely find tons of
interesting topics to research.
On the other hand, if you are not so interested in going to grad school, you may be better off
going to the Hopkins program or studying Chinese formally, perhaps with a CIEE. Or take the HSK
and try to get a scholarship to enroll in university here. Just defer your loans for a year, study
Chinese. Then, when you’ve made some progress, start a career. Or write a book and become an
author. After you’ve been teaching for a few years, it will be difficult to switch careers.
The bottom line is this: If you are fully committed to experiencing China and learning Chinese,
you can live on very little here and pay off your loans on the same time. Avoid most other
teachers and stay out of bars. As I said, you’ll run into some bad employers. Be prepared for
that, especially if you’ve never worked before. It can seem really bad sometimes, especially
when compounded by cultural differences. Just take it with a grain of salt and realize it’s par
for the course.
As for the logistics of life, they can also be challenging at first. Remember few Chinese city
people under 30 have a clue about practical matters such as paying bills and using washing
machines, so ask older people. :-)
My unsolicited advice:
1) Step out, take control, be wary, bargain for everything (for example when renting an apartment,
negotiating a salary). Aim high. Have no shame. Feel no pity. Everything is negotiable.
2) Take 黄莲素 (beberine hydrochloride) for diarrhea.
I wish I'd known those when I started. ;-)
With the benefit of aftersight and travel, I would choose to live in a northeastern coastal town.
Great beaches, climate. Nice people. Fairly standard dialect. Can you come over and travel first,
then find a job? You might strongly consider doing it that way if you don't mind the uncertainty.
As for transferring money, it’s really not that hard. There are some cool tricks that can save
you a lot of hassle and money. If you want to talk more, pm me.
p.s. take the GRE now if you think there is a faint chance of going to grad school within five
years. it'll be great to have it out of the way.
p.s.s. get profs to put recs in your dossier and stay in touch with them.
imron -
Quote:
As for transferring money, it’s really not that hard. There are some cool tricks that can save
you a lot of hassle and money.
Care to share those cool tricks with everyone? (perhaps in a new thread)
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