CRI听力: Challenges for Foriegn Teachers in Beijing

It is becoming harder for foreigners from English-speaking countries to get jobs as English teachers in Beijing. The government is now considering establishing new standards that are much stricter than before.

Let's find out more from reporter Liu Min. 




 If you think speaking fluent English automatically assures you a position as an English teacher in Beijing, think again.

Soon after the English School for Children in Beijing placed a recruitment ad for teachers, 50 resumes arrived. But in the end, the school offered jobs to only four.

Liang Hui, the school's human resources manager, says:

"The first requirement is the teacher has to be a native speaker from an English-speaking country. Second, they have to have rich experience in teaching."

Two decades ago, foreign teachers were permitted to work only in universities and a few foreign language schools. They came to China as visiting scholars or on exchanges programs. Today, they work in almost every university across China.

In some big cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, they are even working in kindergartens. In many privately-owned foreign language schools, small classes and individual tutorials with foreign teachers are highly sought after.

"I left England when I finished my degree, and I had job with a company called Lehman Brothers, but unfortunately they crashed in the economic crisis. And I wrote lots of e-mails to multiple countries, and China was the first one to come back, so I came here."

Rachel has been working as an English teacher in Beijing's Shunyi District for a year. Now she is being interviewed by the English School for Children. She is seeking a salary of 18 thousand yuan per month, and hopes the company can provide accommodations. But teaching children could be a challenge for her.

Liang Hui says the job applicants who pass interviews face other challenges.

"We frequently find many of the interviewees don't have sufficient teaching experience, and they don't know much about children's education."

After the face-to-face interview, the job applicants must give trial lessons to the students and became a teacher intern.

Xiao Ruonan, Director of the Foreign Human Resource Service Company, says it's not so easy now for foreigners who want to teach English in Beijing to gain a foothold here.

"Only those who have a masters' degree or above and two to three years' of work experience can receive a teaching expert's certificate in China. But currently there are not many people who meet this requirement. Now the basic requirement is to have a bachelor's degree and a TEFL certificate."

TEFL, Teaching English as a Foreign Language is an international credential for those who want to teach English in foreign countries. (www.hXen.com)

English First is a private educational company that specializes in English training. Its president Bill Fisher says his school needs more qualified foreign teachers.

"We have over 120 foreign teachers in Beijing right now, and we are constantly looking to hire more, so it's a big scalability challenge and growing business in Beijing."

There are more than three thousand foreign language education schools in Beijing with a potential market demand for 15 thousand foreign teachers.

For China Drive, I'm Liu Min.