Teachers wanted for Nanjing, China

Some Chinese business contacts of mine recently asked if I could help them find some teachers for a new school down in Nanjing.

It's a tough task - almost, I fear, hopeless.

A majority of the English teachers already working in China have been forced to leave over the summer by the introduction of paranoid new visa restrictions for the Olympics. Those that are still here are mostly tied into the jobs that helped them get their visas.

And recruitment from overseas? Well, that's going to be tough to arrange over the next month as well - but we're going to do our best.

Job details below. If any of you out there reading this happen to be ESOL teachers (or know people that are), please drop me a line.

4 or 5 English teachers are needed for a well-established school in Nanjing. They will be teaching on a new undergraduate foundation program to be established this year by a well-regarded college from the east coast of Canada. A TEFL/TESOL qualification is required, and some previous teaching experience is preferred. Any suitably qualified native English speakers will be considered, although North Americans are likely to be given preference. This sort of position might be especially attractive to recent graduates of an 'Oriental Studies' discipline who wish to get 1 or 2 years' experience of living in China and improve their Mandarin skills.

Nanjing is a medium-sized city (for China! Around 6 million.) on the Yangtze River, near the east coast. A former capital, it is an attractive and prosperous city, with many sites of historical interest. It still has a relatively small foreign population, compared to Beijing or (nearby) Shanghai.

The school has a well-equipped campus in the heart of downtown. It is one of the best-run ventures of this kind I have seen in China (I visited twice last year, when I was working for a British education company that had a partnership with it). There is an experienced foreign teacher running the academic side of things (almost unheard of in China!). Moreover, the Canadian college will provide an experienced teacher of its own to act as the Director of Studies overseeing this program.

The students will be young Chinese - teens or early-20s - looking to study overseas in Canada. Their initial English level is likely to be low intermediate (or pre-intermediate); but it is hoped they will be able to make rapid progress in an English immersion environment. Class size should be 15-20. No more than 20 contact hours per week.

The basic salary will be 8,000 RMB per month (c. USD 1,200, GBP 600: rather better than average for this kind of position; and the cost of living in Nanjing is lower than in Beijing or Shanghai). Free accommodation and other standard benefits will also be provided.

The initial contract duration will be 11.5 months, to run from mid-August this year to the end of July 2009. This period will include around 2 months of fully-paid holiday.

Please note that these positions need to be filled immediately: teaching will probably start early in September, but the Canadian partner college would like to provide orientation and induction training for teachers in the second half of August.