Chinese Learning Centers
When you work for private learning centers you can expect to work the weekends (all day long) from 9 am till 5 pm and have some evening classes 3 days a week which probably start at 5 pm and finish at 8 pm. The number of kids is much smaller than in high schools so you can easily handle everything. Foreigners working for learning centers often work more hours, between 20 and 35 hours, but they are paid much more. There are plenty of holidays during the first semester (September – February) so you can do a lot of traveling.

Chinese Kindergartens
Teaching English in Chinese in Kindergartens can suit you perfectly with your blogging and travelling schedule (if you are a blogger and a traveller). You can expect to have 4-6 x 30-minute classes every day from Monday to Friday and most of the afternoons are off. You will have to stay in the office till 17:00 from time to time though. You are entitled to have 10-minute break between your classes and there is an afternoon nap break which lasts 3 hours (12:00-15:00). Every class lasts 30 minutes for K1,2 and 3 students and 15 minutes for nursery students.

Your job as an English teacher in China will be to have a lot of fun with kids, play games with them, introduce new words to them by using colorful flashcards, sing songs and prize them with some stickers. Your lesson plan must be prepared in advance and then approved by the principal. You will be given plenty of CDs and DVDs .

How can you make money teaching English in China and what are the best teaching jobs?

The salary for English teachers in China vary a lot depending on your teaching experience, references, gender, nationality and location. Inexperience teachers can earn between RMB6.000 ($984) and RMB 15.000 ($2500) per month. RMB 6.000 is the absolute minimum for 16 x 45-minute classes so if you ever get offered less, you can start laughing (ironically). This amount of money can be offered in small towns and rural areas where you don’t need to spend much on food and transportation. If you are TESOL/TEFL certified teacher in a bigger city, your salary should be between RMB8.000 ($1300) –RMB20.000 ($3000) (again per 16 x 45-minute classes). The more hours you work, the more money you can get. For instance, an average salary of experienced foreign teacher working up to 35-40 hours (including office hours) would be RMB14.000 ($2300) or more.
Additionally, you can do some private teaching charging between RMB150 ($25)-RMB300 ($50). Let’s say you work 2 extra hours on Saturday and 3 extra hours on Sunday and you charge RMB150/h, you can earn up to RMB3.000 ($500) per month.

During the summer and winter you can also work as a teacher. There are summer and winter camps held in all provinces in China. You will be teaching for 14 days in a row, 4-5 classes a day and your salary can be between RMB8.000 and RMB12.000 (just for this period). These courses are very intensive, but you can earn more money in 2 weeks than usually in a month and still have another 2 weeks off.

Okay that sounds pretty money, so how can one actually get a teaching English job in China?

There are two ways of applying for a teaching job in China. You can either do it online using various websites such as:

• ESL Cafe
• AsiaXpat
• Craigslist
• JobChina
• ESLJobs

Or, alternatively, you can fly here with all necessary documents prepared and apply for a job in local language agencies or ask people around. Once you come here, you will notice that locals will stop you in the street and ask if you would like to do some teaching. Moreover, it’s good to be surrounded or keep in touch with fellow bloggers and expats living in China who can recommend reliable schools and learning centers. Either way, you can be sure you will find something within 2 weeks. The best time to apply is late August and beginning of February when the new semesters begin. Some schools start looking for foreign teachers at last minute so there is a great chance for you to get employed with a decent salary if you know how to negotiate.

What is the lifestyle like living in China?

There is always something new happening every day. You try new food, you meet new people and you learn a new language which is much easier to comprehend than many people think. You will never get bored in China and there is also something to discover and get familiar with. Thanks to our job, which is absolutely stress free, we can enjoy China experience every day by traveling to different provinces, making new friends with Chinese and working a lot on our blog.

You can easily keep yourself busy with weekend trips to Hong Kong or Beijing and exploring places ordinary travelers are not very familiar with. Life is easy filled with chill and happiness.

What did your free time look like living in China?

When we are off work during the day, we share our China experience with our readers by writing and publishing posts on our blog. Moreover, we meet with our Chinese friends to have a lunch and dinner, visit local KTVs (Chinese karaoke), ride our bikes around famous in Dongguan Songshan Lake and study Chinese (mainly Cez at the moment). When weekends or national bank holidays come and we have more than 2-3 days off work, we pack our bags and go explore unknown parts of China.



We pick up one destination, pack our cameras, take a train and start another unforgettable China adventure. It does not matter if it’s gonna be another famous UNESCO World Heritage such as the Floating Zhangjiajie Mountains, breath-taking Yangshuo River or undiscovered by ordinary travelers Fenghuang. It’s all about the journey and having a great time.

And to address what is on everybody’s’ mind, what is the dating and sex life scene there?

We are not experts in parties – we do it rarely, but we hear that it’s rather easy to get a date – whether you’re male or female. If you want to find someone and you like Chinese girls or boys – you won’t be lonely here. A word of advice though: Chinese girls expect guys to pay a lot on dates (food, drinks, cinema, and SHOPPING!). Chinese guys have to spend a lot of money to get married… Nevertheless, some girls are more Western in approach to dating and they don’t need men to burn money on them.

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And…I think it is safe to say that I am – sold – on teaching in China as a not only a sweet cultural experience with this delightful food but also as a viable way to make money while traveling. I think the better question is: Why the hell have I not been to China yet to teach English? ADD damn you.