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Teach English in Tanxi Zhen - Bazhong Shi

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The area of education employment is rather wide. There are many different career opportunities for teachers to choose from. They can, for example, decide to work in a school, preparing students for an exam. Within it, one may pick whether to teach young learners or teens. They can also go to a language center, where in most cases they will be teaching general grammar and everyday conversation to adults. Another option is working with groups that have a specific interest, such as Business English, Tourism/Hotel English, etc. Last but not least, they can work privately one on one. Each of these work environments has a set of requirements that sometimes overlap but more often than not, are very much different. In the essay below I will describe some of the similarities, but more importantly - discrepancies between the two of the four aforementioned career opportunities: employment at school and work in a language center. First, let’s start with working in a school. Working in a school is probably the hardest yet most rewarding career option for a teacher. Nothing is greater than seeing young children learning the world around them, and in our case – language/communication skills. There is a multitude of factors, however, one has to consider and deal with. Number one, the teacher has to evaluate his own personality and understand whether he or she is suited to work with kids and teenagers. Not every teacher has it in him to deal with classrooms of twenty youngsters. You need a lot of patience, self-control, time management and ability to instill discipline. When dealing with kids age four to eight, the teacher will have not only to teach them but take care of other necessities, such as making sure kids eat their lunch, escort them to the bathroom, make sure they have their bags packed, clothes are presentable, etc. Working with older kids, such as teens, is easier in this regard as they can take care of themselves; however, one has to be aware that it is easier to control a class of kids than a class of teenagers. Teenagers are more rebellious. Having been hit with puberty, students exhibit all sorts of social and psychological issues the teacher might need to work with when teaching teens. Another point to consider is the parents. Sometimes it can be difficult to deal with the disgruntled mothers and fathers who feel like they have paid a lot for education, but the teacher is not doing his or her job. On occasion, awkward and undesirable situations arise and the teacher needs to have the correct tact and ability to deal with these confrontations. Working in a school does offer a number of perks though rarely found in other fields of employment. Teaching in a school provides many holidays, often more than ten weeks per year and all of it is paid. Moreover, the working days finish early. Not many jobs can offer such benefits. Lastly, working in a school is probably the most secure employment for a teacher, unlike in other fields of teaching. The demand for teachers in a language centers, private sessions and specialized courses fluctuates greatly according to different seasons of the year as well as overall financial situation of the population. Next, let’s move to language centers. In most cases, when working in a language center, one will teach adults or university students. As a result, their motivation to study is much higher than that of children at school. Adults need the language to get a better job, a promotion at work, pass IELTS exam, study abroad or migrate to another country. They have paid their own hard earned money, so be sure most of them (there are always exceptions though) will be eager to learn. Explaining new material to adults is often easier as their cognitive abilities as well discipline are high. That being said, adults, on the whole, are not as receptive to using new information as kids are. What it means is that although they can understand things better than kids, remembering and utilizing that information is often harder for them than it is for children. Not only that, but sometimes they come with already ingrained incorrect usage of the language that they have been practicing for years, so the teacher has the job of ‘deleting’ the faulty habits/information and then build a new correct foundation. Since both the teacher and the students are grown up, mature people, it becomes easier to understand each other and relate to certain experiences. Depending on the character, the teacher might enjoy dealing with his peers more than working with kids. The atmosphere in the language center is much more relaxed. There is less pressure both on the teacher and the student. As a rule, preparation for a class in a language center is often smaller than that for a class in school. When it comes to career growth, however, it is very difficult to make one in a language center. The turnover of staff is very high and the nature of the business doesn’t allow for a high earning potential. In most cases, no matter how good the teacher is, he or she will reach a proverbial ceiling when it comes to his salary in the center and he will stay there indefinitely. As I have mentioned before, workload and the related income in the centers fluctuate greatly in accordance to the time of the year and people’s pocket. Some months one might have many classes whereas other months there will barely be any. Due to this reason, language centers are the primary choice for teachers who are on the move and don’t intend to stay in the city or the country for too long. As a rule, it is easier to get hired by a language center than a school and the demands for experience, qualifications and certification are not as stern as they are in schools.


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