China Fucks Over Online TEFL

[Small Man Big Horse]

I know there's a few of us here who teach English online, but thanks to China being cunts that's coming to an end as they've made it illegal to teach English unless you actually live in China. And I know, I know, it's hardly up there with the worst things China has done but it does directly effect a lot of people I know. The news broke back in July, too - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-07/china-education-firms-to-end-most-classes-with-foreign-teachers - but no one knew when classes would end, whereas now it appears it'll be from September 1st.

I'm not completely fucked as I still have lessons with French adults with a different company, but will need to find another part time job, though the downside is that they rarely pay as well as the Chinese companies do.

So has anyone else here been screwed over? Or did you all secretly move to China at some point without mentioning it?

[the science eel]

I'm presently doing a pre-sessional for Edinburgh Uni - mostly online even though we're all actually here in the city. They're saying they've had the highest number of Chinese students EVER enrol this year - so things aren't tailing off on this side.

Sign up for online EAP if you can. There's a shitload of work through the summer and a fair bit going on the rest of the year. It's hardly a barrel of laughs but I've had some lovely students this summer.

[Small Man Big Horse]

I'm presently doing a pre-sessional for Edinburgh Uni - mostly online even though we're all actually here in the city. They're saying they've had the highest number of Chinese students EVER enrol this year - so things aren't tailing off on this side.

Sign up for online EAP if you can. There's a shitload of work through the summer and a fair bit going on the rest of the year. It's hardly a barrel of laughs but I've had some lovely students this summer.

Thanks for that, I'd not heard of online EAP before but it's something I'll definitely look in to.

[bgmnts]

Well I suppose all that's to be done now is to teach every class dressed as Winnie the Pooh for the next week.

[the science eel]

Thanks for that, I'd not heard of online EAP before but it's something I'll definitely look in to.

No bother. These sites might help.

https://www.baleap.org/jobs

https://www.jobs.ac.uk/search/?keywords=&location=&placeId=&activeFacet=subDisciplineFacet&resetFacet=&sortOrder=1&pageSize=25&startIndex=1&academicDisciplineFacet%5B0%5D=education-studies-inc-tefl&subDisciplineFacet%5B0%5D=tefl-tesol

[Small Man Big Horse]

No bother. These sites might help.

https://www.baleap.org/jobs

https://www.jobs.ac.uk/search/?keywords=&location=&placeId=&activeFacet=subDisciplineFacet&resetFacet=&sortOrder=1&pageSize=25&startIndex=1&academicDisciplineFacet%5B0%5D=education-studies-inc-tefl&subDisciplineFacet%5B0%5D=tefl-tesol

That's great, thank you for that, it really is hugely appreciated.

[Icehaven]

Am I being thick here or is that law impossible to enforce? Or are they making it illegal to take the classes too?

[imitationleather]

Am I being thick here or is that law impossible to enforce? Or are they making it illegal to take the classes too?

All the schools that act as middlemen can no longer employ foreign teachers, and this definitely can be enforced. My school shut down overnight without warning last week, after telling us we'd be able to see out our contracts with the students who'd booked months of classes. A bit of a ballache.

You can still seek out parents privately but to be honest it seems like a fucking minefield of neverending price negotiations, emotional manipulation and extreme difficulty in getting Chinese money out of the country. Not worth me bothering my nuts for. The attraction of online TEFL for me was always how stress free it is, and private tutoring just don't seem like that at all.

[Icehaven]

Is it likely/worth the bother for middlemen schools outside China to set up and market themselves to Chinese customers? I know nothing about it but if China can only control what schools/companies based there are doing and it's all online anyway it should be possible for businesses outside China to offer the same services to the same customers.

[Retinend]

This must really suck if you are employed by a school that is hit by this. My condolences. But in a private capacity, surely Chinese people who attain a decent level in English can use their skills to search the English internet for help outside of the official channels? If you had a client contact you and you gave them your Skype handle, then surely they could still call you? Would fear prevent them from doing so?

[dissolute ocelot]

Am I being thick here or is that law impossible to enforce? Or are they making it illegal to take the classes too?

It seems to be mainly restricting companies and agencies in China that provide tutors/teachers. A Chinese person can maybe still hire someone overseas or use an overseas agency, although probably the Chinese have ways of stopping that too (firewalls, restrictions on payments, etc.)

[Small Man Big Horse]

All the schools that act as middlemen can no longer employ foreign teachers, and this definitely can be enforced. My school shut down overnight without warning last week, after telling us we'd be able to see out our contracts with the students who'd booked months of classes. A bit of a ballache.

You can still seek out parents privately but to be honest it seems like a fucking minefield of neverending price negotiations, emotional manipulation and extreme difficulty in getting Chinese money out of the country. Not worth me bothering my nuts for. The attraction of online TEFL for me was always how stress free it is, and private tutoring just don't seem like that at all.

I'm sorry to hear that you were affected too, we were initially told that we'd be teaching the lessons which had been paid for in advance as well, meaning I'd still be employed until early next year, but then I received an email this morning say it's going to come to an end on the 31st of August.

This must really suck if you are employed by a school that is hit by this. My condolences. But in a private capacity, surely Chinese people who attain a decent level in English can use their skills to search the English internet for help outside of the official channels? If you had a client contact you and you gave them your Skype handle, then surely they could still call you? Would fear prevent them from doing so?

It's a good question, and it's something I'm sure some Chinese parents will do, there are a number of sites out there where you can advertise yourself as an online teacher. I'm not sure if they're something that is accessible from China though, and you'd need to create your own lessons, which would take a fair amount of time and they'd lack the interactive nature of the ones that I teach which incorporate games, videos and songs.

[Pavlov`s Dog`s Dad`s Dead]

No bother. These sites might help.

https://www.baleap.org/jobs

https://www.jobs.ac.uk/search/?keywords=&location=&placeId=&activeFacet=subDisciplineFacet&resetFacet=&sortOrder=1&pageSize=25&startIndex=1&academicDisciplineFacet%5B0%5D=education-studies-inc-tefl&subDisciplineFacet%5B0%5D=tefl-tesol

That's really helpful, thank you! I should mention, though, that I've applied for two EAP jobs near me, and didn't even get shortlisted even though I have years of experience teaching EAP in a private language centre overseas, 2 postgraduate degrees and experience as a university lecturer (so I've lived it from both sides), and a Delta. It seems to be a really competitive market just now, presumably because Covid has devastated the industry, and lots of people have had to come back to the UK. The collapse of the Chinese online TEFL market is a double whammy.

To the OP and others in similar situations, British Council are currently recruiting UK-based online teachers. The rate isn't outstanding, and my experience of BC was of extraordinary levels of institutional BS and death-by-powerpoint, but the basic materials should at least be pretty good.

For those of you looking for in-person work, try your local FE colleges - I've been offered a few hours by one local to me, and I've got a stage 2 interview next week with another.

[Small Man Big Horse]

That's really helpful, thank you! I should mention, though, that I've applied for two EAP jobs near me, and didn't even get shortlisted even though I have years of experience teaching EAP in a private language centre overseas, 2 postgraduate degrees and experience as a university lecturer (so I've lived it from both sides), and a Delta. It seems to be a really competitive market just now, presumably because Covid has devastated the industry, and lots of people have had to come back to the UK. The collapse of the Chinese online TEFL market is a double whammy.

To the OP and others in similar situations, British Council are currently recruiting UK-based online teachers. The rate isn't outstanding, and my experience of BC was of extraordinary levels of institutional BS and death-by-powerpoint, but the basic materials should at least be pretty good.

For those of you looking for in-person work, try your local FE colleges - I've been offered a few hours by one local to me, and I've got a stage 2 interview next week with another.

Thanks for the link, I'll definitely be applying for that, £15 an hour is a lot more than I get with the French school and thats essentially a bland powerpoint affair as well.

[the science eel]

That's really helpful, thank you! I should mention, though, that I've applied for two EAP jobs near me, and didn't even get shortlisted even though I have years of experience teaching EAP in a private language centre overseas, 2 postgraduate degrees and experience as a university lecturer (so I've lived it from both sides), and a Delta. It seems to be a really competitive market just now, presumably because Covid has devastated the industry, and lots of people have had to come back to the UK. The collapse of the Chinese online TEFL market is a double whammy.

It's getting a little more competitive, yes, but student numbers are steadily increasing too. It's VERY big business - no exaggeration to say Chinese money is keeping many of our universities afloat.

Give Sheffield Uni a go next summer - they have one of the biggest courses going and they do general English as well as EAP. It's where I did my first pre-sessional, they look after you OK, I was in the same situation as you and they took me on. Once you've got a year under your belt (maybe needless to say) you can get the same sort of work anywhere.

And by the way - 10 weeks here at Edinburgh means I don't have to work the rest of the year.

[touchingcloth]

it does directly effect a lot of people I know.

The China lads might have a point.

[Mister Six]

I was going to make the same gag but it seemed a bit tone deaf.

[touchingcloth]

That's what I like about it. I am delighted that the livelihoods of CaBbers might be in peril.

[Small Man Big Horse]

The China lads might have a point.

Yeah, sorry about that, was crying a lot yesterday and not paying a lot of attention to my spelling.

[Pavlov`s Dog`s Dad`s Dead]

It's getting a little more competitive, yes, but student numbers are steadily increasing too. It's VERY big business - no exaggeration to say Chinese money is keeping many of our universities afloat.

Give Sheffield Uni a go next summer - they have one of the biggest courses going and they do general English as well as EAP. It's where I did my first pre-sessional, they look after you OK, I was in the same situation as you and they took me on. Once you've got a year under your belt (maybe needless to say) you can get the same sort of work anywhere.

And by the way - 10 weeks here at Edinburgh means I don't have to work the rest of the year.

That's all great information, thank you. Sheffield is just about in striking distance for me, too. I'm especially intrigued by your final paragraph - definitely worth working towards, by the sounds of things.

[Pavlov`s Dog`s Dad`s Dead]

Thanks for the link, I'll definitely be applying for that, £15 an hour is a lot more than I get with the French school and thats essentially a bland powerpoint affair as well.

Best of luck with it, I hope they come through for you.

[the science eel]

My Chinese students get their final grades for the summer course in a couple of days - they need to pass all four language skills if they want to proceed to their Masters courses.

The problem is the trend to submit ghost-written essays. We're almost completely sure of this, but there's no way to prove it. What happens is - some students submit work which is clearly beyond them (having spoken to them), but there's no evidence of plagiarism because the anti-plagiarism tool TURNITIN can't recognise anything that was written by a non-published author.

We don't mark our own classes' work, but a couple of my stronger students have apparently failed the written component because they handed in work which they'd written themselves which was weak when compared with their classmates' ghost-written work.

It's a sad state of affairs but I don't think there's anything I can do.

[touchingcloth]

My Chinese students get their final grades for the summer course in a couple of days - they need to pass all four language skills if they want to proceed to their Masters courses.

The problem is the trend to submit ghost-written essays. We're almost completely sure of this, but there's no way to prove it. What happens is - some students submit work which is clearly beyond them (having spoken to them), but there's no evidence of plagiarism because the anti-plagiarism tool TURNITIN can't recognise anything that was written by a non-published author.

We don't mark our own classes' work, but a couple of my stronger students have apparently failed the written component because they handed in work which they'd written themselves which was weak when compared with their classmates' ghost-written work.

It's a sad state of affairs but I don't think there's anything I can do.

Some form of viva based on the submission?

[the science eel]

Yeah, ideally that's what should happen. But all I can do is suggest those kinds of changes and I doubt they'll implement them because they know so many will probably fail the viva. Failing students is bad for business.