Opinion
Is it safe to teach in China in 2021?
Opinion
January 04, 2021 by Mike Cairnduff
Lots of people are asking whether it’s safe to teach in China this year. In this blog, I’m going to summarize teaching in China from a safety perspective and what you need to consider. I’ll keep it fairly concise so you can ma...
My comparison of CELTA vs TEFL
Opinion
July 21, 2020 by Kim Ooi
Are you tossing up between a CELTA or TEFL course? For those wishing to teach English in China, choosing the right teacher training course can be challenging. At one end of the spectrum, we have the ‘gold standard’ of teacher traini...
How university contracts in China are changing for TEFL teachers
Opinion
January 04, 2020 by Kim Ooi
I’ve been teaching in China for several years. Although I’ve taught at many different schools in China, the bulk of my time has been spent teaching at universities and colleges. The wording of the university contract has always seem...
Why are so many English teachers in China single?
Opinion
February 05, 2019 by Kim Ooi
I’ve been teaching in China for nearly six years and in that time I’ve met a great many fellow expat teachers from all over the world. Some are old, some are young and they come from different countries too. But one thing that most...
Why is it hard to make Chinese friends?
Opinion
January 09, 2019 by Nicholas McKay
You always hear how friendly Chinese people are. Teachers who worked in China before me praised Chinese people for being so welcoming. While I’ve found this to be true, it doesn’t mean that making friends with Chinese people, and sp...
Online teaching vs classroom teaching – which one is better?
Opinion
October 19, 2018 by Kim Ooi
For my entire teaching career so far, I've been a classroom-based teacher. However, recently I’ve started tutoring a student online and thought it would be a good idea to compare the two. So which one is better, online teaching or cl...
12 skills you need to be a successful university teacher in China
Opinion
September 11, 2018 by Kim Ooi
Usually, when you enquire about a job, you are sent two documents – a person specification and a job description. The first gives you an idea of the type of person the organisation is looking for and is basically a list of attributes that th...
What is it really like to live and teach in China?
Opinion
May 01, 2018 by Kim Ooi
In August 2013, I left for China to start my first overseas teaching post. I am now partway through my fifth year here. I thought it would be a good idea to write this article so that prospective teachers can find out what it is really like to liv...
What Chinese university students really want from their oral English class
Opinion
January 30, 2018 by Kim Ooi
What do Chinese university students really want from their oral English class with a foreign teacher? First, let me ask you a question. As an oral English teacher, if you had a group of students who are used to being lectured and who have difficul...
Why teaching English in China is better than working in the UK
Opinion
September 29, 2017 by Kim Ooi
As an expat in China, I suffered from a lot of culture shock initially so I’m really surprised to find myself writing this blog today. But, like many people have said, it all depends on the perspective you take. After doing some reflectio...
