 Teaching English in China, The Salary and Budget Guide This guide will help you answer the question, How much can I earn and save teaching English in China? You'll also find information on the local cost of living in order to figure out how much to budget for when making the move to China. The typical salary for English teachers in China. Throughout the country, there are a large variety of jobs available, but the salary depends on which schools and institutions you work for as well as your own qualifications and experience. English teachers in China can expect to make between 6,000-16,000 RMB, currently $890, $2,400 USD. Those teaching at an international school, however, can make up to 30,000 RMB, $4,400 USD. If you are a first-time teacher, you can expect to earn between 6,000 RMB and 12,000 RMB per month which equates to around $890 to $1,800 USD. The salary also depends on where you are based. The Big Three, Beijing, 107,000 Dexpits, Shanghai, 209,000 Dexpits, and Guangzhou, over 200,000 Dexpits, pay the highest salaries but also have a higher cost of living compared to other cities around China. Other benefits to expect when teaching English in China. Besides this salary, most teachers receive free housing or a housing allowance from their employer. On top of that, most schools also pay for the round-trip airfare for their teachers. How to earn extra cashed while teaching English in China. Many teachers in the country take advantage of the high demand for private language tutors. The growing middle class in particular routinely hire tutors for extra English study for their children outside of school hours. In doing so, it's not uncommon for teachers to double their income by taking on a couple of students in their free time. Most of these private tutoring lessons are paid by the hour with prices ranging from 180 to 250 yuan minby per hour, $26.36. The cost of living in China. While prices are on the rise, the cost of living in China is still favorable compared to most industrialized nations. So much so that in some parts of the country the cost of living is half of that in the USA. That's why teachers in China can live very comfortably and have a strong purchasing power. Many teachers can afford a lifestyle they wouldn't be able to enjoy back home. This includes luxuries like hiring a housekeeper, travel every month, regularly eating out at restaurants, relaxing spa sessions and enjoying nights out with friends and colleagues. Let's break down the cost of living in China for individual areas below. Cost of living in China, food. Eating out at local restaurants and purchasing produce and ingredients at Chinese supermarkets not only gives you an amazing insight into the Chinese way of life but also leaves you with money in your pockets for fun and adventure. Milk, 1-0. 7 Rinminbi. Eggs, 12. 7 Rinminbi. Carrots, 1 kg. 5 Rinminbi. Chicken breast, 1 kg. 15 Rinminbi. Rice, 1 kg. 8 Rinminbi. Bottle of water, 1.5 litres. 3 Rinminbi. Bottle of Chinese beer, 0.5 litres. 4 Rinminbi. Cost of living in China. Leisure activities. Leisure activities in China are very affordable. And Chinese people love spending time out. This starts with frequent meals out with colleagues, friends and family. Try your way through the wide range of regional dishes China has to offer. Then, you can hang out with friends at clubs and karaoke bars, work out at the gym or get a massage and relax. China's leisure activities have something for everyone. 3-course mid-range restaurant dinner. 8 Rinminbi. Quick restaurant meal of rice or noodles. 25 Rinminbi. Large dumplings, a common street food. 3 Rinminbi. Housekeeper, 2 hours. 30 Rinminbi. Massage, 30 min. 40 Rinminbi. One month fitness club membership. 150 Rinminbi. Movie ticket, international release, 65 Rinminbi. Cost of living in China. Transportation. The public transit network in China has gotten a lot of attention from the government in recent years who have constantly expanded and improved it. Today, it's one of the most advanced and vast in the world. Taxi prices are very affordable and pimes and subway rides are also inexpensive. Metro ride. 3 Rinminbi. Taxi rate per km 2.2 Rinminbi. Start fare 10 Rinminbi. 20 min taxi ride across town. 25 Rinminbi. City bus point to Rinminbi. 3 hour bicycle rental. 8 Rinminbi, plus 100 Rinminbi deposit, returned. Fairy crossing point to Rinminbi. Cost of living in China, travel in China and beyond. Travelers on a budget love China. The trains are fast and numerous and ticket prices are very affordable. Domestic flights are usually inexpensive except for price rises during national holidays like Chinese New Year or the Mid-Autumn Festival. One night in a mid-range hotel, 350 Rinminbi. High speed train, Shenzhen to Wuyuan, 3 hours. 490 Rinminbi. Slow train, Guangzhou to Wuyuan, 10 hours. 120 Rinminbi. T'Flight, Shenzhen to Beijing, 2 hours. 800 Rinminbi. T'Flight, Shenzhen to Bangkok, 3 hours. 1300 Rinminbi. Sample monthly teacher budget. To give you an example of how an English teacher in China spends their salary, here is a sample monthly budget. Gross income, salary. Up to 13,500 Rinminbi. Rent. 3,000 Rinminbi. Utilities, electricity, gas, water. 200 Rinminbi. Phone and internet. 300 Rinminbi. Food. 1500 Rinminbi. Insurance. 295 Rinminbi. Remaining disposable income, 8,205 Rinminbi. How much you can save when teaching English in China? As you can see from the sample budget above, the added benefits and high salaries in China allow you to save substantial sums of money during the length of your contract. Depending on lifestyle, an ESL teacher in China is able to save anything from $500 to $1,500 per month. Are you ready to teach English in China? Apply now for your TEFL TESOL certification course and start teaching in a matter of months. Speak with an ITTT advisor today to put together your personal plan for teaching English abroad. Send us an email or call us toll-free at 1-800-490-0531 to speak with an ITTT advisor today. Top 4 Tips How to Find a Teaching Job in China China is a great destination to start your ESL teaching career as the country offers a lot of job opportunities, high salaries and employers usually don't require many years of teaching experience. However a lot of teachers wanting to teach there have no idea how to look for a suitable position in China. Here are the top 4 tips how to find a teaching job in China. Where to search for job openings. Since Google is not accessible in China, you won't find many available jobs there. Therefore, I suggest you create a profile on LinkedIn and indicate that you are looking for a job in China. Chinese agents and HR managers will quickly reach out to you and will invite you to talk on Wechat, a popular Chinese messenger. Secondly, sign up on Wechat. This app is the most helpful and widely used app in China as it is not only a messenger but a social network as well. Many many programs and official accounts can be found there so you do not need to download anything else onto your smartphone. Right after you install Wechat follow these official accounts and create your resume on their websites. You will be able to check vacancies and read useful topics for ESL teachers. Other than that, you can find job offers on ESL Wechat groups or through friends. How to find a job directly. The majority of job offers you find on the internet are published by intermediaries. There are two types of these intermediaries. Freelance agents who find candidates for companies and agencies which hire teachers and send them to particular places of work. What's important to know is that most agents get paid by the schools for their services but the company agencies often take a cut of your salary and take their percentage. Teachers often don't even know this happens and would actually be paid a higher salary when working directly with the schools. Be prepared for offensive job offers. It is difficult to talk about this but I want you to be ready in case this happens to you. Chinese culture is very direct and at the same time the majority of the population is uneducated. I have seen many offers with racist requests concerning particular skin colors or nationalities. Usually such requirements are set by employers from smaller towns or remote provinces. It goes without saying that non-native speakers get paid less than if they have a university degree and experience in teaching. Choose a job that suits your preferences. There are four main types of teaching positions in China. A kindergarten teacher, a training center teacher, a school teacher and a university teacher. The most convenient place to work is a kindergarten. Usually teachers have several classes in the morning and in the afternoon from one classroom to another to carry out 15 to 30 minutes lessons depending on the children's age. Some kindergartens have a different system where teachers spend the whole day in one classroom but in those cases there are less students in groups. Work in a training center is quite flexible. Typically classes begin in the afternoon and finish late in the evening. The schedule is completely packed and sometimes teachers have a very short break plus they often work weekends and are off on two weekdays instead, often Monday and Tuesday. They also offer classes to students of different ages and have a particular program for every level to teach. To get a job in a public school or a university one needs to have a lot of qualifications and need to do some networking as such positions are rare. Are you ready to teach English in China? If you are interested in teaching English in China be sure to check out our comprehensive teaching English in China the salary and budget guide and step-by-step guide to legally teaching English in China for more information. Apply now for your TEFL TESOL certification course and start teaching in a matter of months. Speak with an ITTT advisor today to put together your personal plan for teaching English abroad. Send us an email or call us toll free at 1-800-490-0531 to speak with an ITTT advisor today. The three most important Chinese policies to know for teaching expats in China Work in China is very appealing for several reasons like traveling, good salary and working conditions. However, there are some pitfalls expats should know If you desire to work in China as an ESL teacher here are some things to take into consideration visa status, passport country of issue as well as age, education and experience. 1. Visa status Many people think that it is appropriate to arrive in China on a tourist or business visa and start working in a company. In fact, it is not any type of visa but the working one is considered to be illegal by the authorities. Police officers regularly check schools and if they find out that an employee is not on a working visa he or she can be fined or even arrested. An employer must pay around $7000 fine for a violation in such a case. What is even more important to know is that sometimes companies may not have a permit to hire foreign teachers so they offer an applicant a working visa for other specialists like managers. That is also illegal. Are you a student? Don't think about working with this visa type either. Last but not least, your working place must be the same as it is stated in your documents. Even if you work for the same company but stay in another campus is a reason to arrest you. 2. Country of your passport In 2018, the Chinese government restricted the policy toward non-native English-speaking teachers. Since the time, only native English-speaking countries passport holders are qualified for a work visa. There are 7 native English-speaking countries recognized by the Chinese government, UK, Ireland, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Many HR agencies still seek teachers in other countries although they know that it is almost impossible for non-native teachers to obtain a work visa. The reason they do that is simple, it is cheaper and faster to hire a person from a non-native English-speaking country because there is no need to process the documents from both sides, plus, non-native teachers get paid less. 3. Other restrictions We have already learned that to teach English in China one needs to be from a native English-speaking country and hold a work visa. Things to consider to be able to get that work visa, age, education and experience. A potential candidate for the Chinese work permit is under the age of 60 and has at least 2 years of experience after graduation. If your education is related to teaching it gives you more chances to get the visa. Otherwise, you should get certified. If you are not from a native speaking country and still are interested in teaching in China, my advice is be very careful and look for bigger international schools instead of language training centers because they usually have connections with the authorities. Are you ready to teach English in China? Apply now for your TEFL TESOL certification course and start teaching in a matter of months. Speak with an ITTT advisor today to put together your personal plan for teaching English abroad, send us an email or call us toll free at 1-800-490-0531 to speak with an ITTT advisor today. What to watch out for before signing your TEFL contract in China? Signing any contract can be daunting. However, if you know what to look out for as you go through the papers you have no need to be scared. We have compiled a checklist for you to keep with you as you read through your contract. Is the contract written in English and easy to understand? Is the name of the school the same as the one you were told during interviews and has it been spelled correctly? Is your name and passport on the contract and are they correct? Is the salary the same as that promised to you in interviews and is it written down correctly? Are the start and end date written down correctly? Please note, these dates may not be the same as your arrival and leaving dates to China but they must be there nevertheless. Go through the package details carefully. Is everything with regards to your package, accommodation, medical etc. written down in the same as previously agreed upon? Are your work hours stipulated correctly? Are the following details with regards to the contract stated? How to terminate the contract early and the penalties for doing so? How to extend the contract and any benefits for doing so? The offenses which may lead to your dismissal and contract termination? Does the contract specify how you may go about voicing any grievances? There's more. Those are the most important things you will need to look out for. There are a few things you should also keep in mind when signing your contract. Even after going through the contract with the checklist above, get someone you trust to read through it before you sign it. You will sign two contracts, one before you leave for China and one when you arrive in China. Please make sure that these two contracts are identical and that no facts have changed. Now you are ready for your adventure. If there are any discrepancies with the contract, contact the school or ask your agent who will contact the school for you. With the help of these guidelines and your recruitment agency, you should have no problems at all. Apply now for your TEFL TESOL certification course and start teaching in a matter of months. Speak with an ITTT advisor today to put together your personal plan for teaching English abroad. Send us an email or call us toll free at 1-800-490-0531 to speak with an ITTT advisor today. Why Beijing is the ideal place to teach English? China is the largest EFL market in the world. Beijing is not only the country capital, but also one of the fastest growing cities in Asia and the world. Beijing is a commercial, educational and cultural hub in China and has a lot to offer to anyone coming to visit. On top of that, Beijing is home to thousands of foreign English teachers, many of whom are not ready to leave and have made the city their permanent home base. Vibrant culture and history. Beijing has been the capital throughout many of China's dynasties resulting in a great number of historic attractions and sites to be explored in the city. The most important historic attraction is probably the Forbidden City, one of the largest palace complexes in the world. Visitors and locals alike also enjoy walks through the iconic Beijing hutongs, alleys formed by lines of Sahayuan, traditional courtyard residences. Beijingers are very proud of their culture and love sharing it with foreigners. A visit to a traditional Peking opera play or one of the many impressive temples in and around Beijing gives you great insight into local culture and customs. UNESCO sites galore With Beijing's fascinating history, it's no surprise that there are a number of important attractions under the protection of UNESCO. In fact, China has 52 UNESCO sites and is, thus, the country with the second most UNESCO World Heritage sites in the world, after Italy with 53. Many of the UNESCO sites in China are located in its proud capital Beijing. Some of the sites you shouldn't miss in Beijing include the Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven and the Ming Dynasty tombs. All this and more makes Beijing an exciting place to live in. Unique food options Chinese dishes are famous all over the world and comfort food for many. What many don't know, however, is that Chinese cuisine is very varied because of the many regional differences in cooking, it is actually divided into what's known as the Eight Culinary Classics. Lucky for those living in Beijing, they can sample their way through all of these regional styles and surprise their taste buds with incredible flavors. Beijing also has its own distinct cuisine, heavily influenced by its history as a capital and thus, a mixture of flavors from all over China and the world. Some of the most traditional Beijing dishes include hot pot, peaking roast duck, boiled mutton and zhejiang noodles, education paradise. When moving to China, you will soon realize the enormous emphasis that is placed on education in local society. With the rising Chinese middle class, Chinese parents are more eager than ever to send their children to English language classes and camps. In fact, English education is a billion dollar business in China as parents spend thousands of dollars on their children's education with the aim of sending them to the best universities in the country and abroad. Besides working for public or private schools, English teachers in China can make a lot of extra money with private tutoring. If you speak any other languages fluently and feel that you can teach students in that language, you can find an additional niche market to earn extra money. Spanish, French, German, Russian and Korean are the most popular foreign languages besides English and many students are eager to learn and improve their skills. Competitive salaries allow teachers to save money. The low cost of living and attractive salary and benefits allow English teachers in China to save a lot of money. A typical teacher's salary in China is around US $1,200 to US $1,800 after taxes. Those with teaching experience can often make around US $2,000 a month. On top of that, most schools in China offer housing and round-trip airfare to their teachers. Compared to the local cost of living, teachers are able to save US $700 and more a month on that kind of salary. Get started by taking our in-class TEFL certification course in Beijing and learn more about living and teaching in China in our country guide. Are you ready to live and teach in Beijing? Apply now for your TEFL test all certification course and start teaching in a matter of months. Speak with an ITTT advisor today to put together your personal plan for teaching English abroad. Send us an email or call us toll free at 1-800-490-0531 to speak with an ITTT advisor today. How learning Chinese made me a better English teacher in China. The following blog post is about an ITTT graduate who shares his story on how learning Chinese helped him to become a better English teacher in China. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Joseph S. What do you call someone who speaks only one language? A common saying imparted to me by one of my professors goes like this. What do you call someone who speaks two languages? Trilingual. What do you call someone who speaks two languages? Bilingual. What do you call someone who speaks only one language? American. I have found this to be extremely true for the majority of cases and as a young student it spurred me to want to learn as much of other languages as I possibly could. I grew up in a monolingual home working on my cousin's farm. His wife is from Bavaria. Given my family's distant German heritage and our close relationship, much of my early teens and throughout high school were devoted in part learning the German language. As I grew, my interest in languages expanded, a little bit of French, a little bit of Spanish, a little bit of that, etc. I wouldn't consider myself to be one of the languages I've studied but I can speak in red various amounts from being able to do a little more than red basic French to being able to speak Chinese well enough to live in Taiwan on my own. My insights into their language and culture were incredibly helpful. As my language studies, particularly in Chinese, ultimately took me to mainland China and Taiwan, I found that my insights into their language and culture were incredibly helpful when tutoring Chinese Taiwanese students who wish to learn English whilst spending a day with a local teacher in the United States who serves as my area's only ESL teacher, I found that my understanding of the Chinese language was incredibly helpful in understanding for example why a Chinese one layer would guess that the English term for a certain object might be X, Y, or Z. If someone with no background in the Chinese language, it would seem incredibly silly to hear a student guess that the English term for a computer might be electric brain or some variation thereof. However, if the Chinese word for computer is translated directly to English, then that is exactly what the word translates to. Many Chinese are anxious about speaking English with natives more so than is to be considered Likewise, with this understanding, a certain degree of insight is gained into what areas of English will be the most difficult for a Chinese one lyric to pick up on, tenses and certain pronunciations tend to be the absolute most difficult aspects of the English language for a Chinese one lyric to grasp. If an English teacher has some background in the Chinese language, they will know that it is precisely because the tense structure is so vastly different than our own as to almost resemble being non-existent. Similarly as well, certain sounds made in the English language are totally non-existent within Chinese, which makes it incredibly difficult for a Chinese one lyric to properly and thoroughly learn certain phonemic expressions present within the English language. I say incredibly difficult, but it is most definitely not impossible. One issue that I have found with the calling nature of ESL classes offered to Chinese students in China is that, despite these glaring difficulties, the proper usage of tenses and pronunciation are usually two of the least emphasized areas of the curricula. This has, in my experience, led to many Chinese L1s being very anxious about speaking English with natives more so than is to be considered normative. I believe very strongly that by having some rather moderate understanding of their language and culture beforehand lends me no small amount of insight into what areas might be in need of extra attention and much care. The best ESL teachers are the ones with experience with the native language of their students. Likewise, in my travels and experiences tutoring I have found that many of the best performing ESL teachers were the ones who had at least acquired a moderate amount of familiarity and experience with the native language of their students, that is not to say that it is appropriate to use the student's native language in a classroom though. While difficult at first to avoid speaking to a Chinese one lira in Chinese during an English lesson, it is for the best to avoid mixing the one lira and two lira languages as much as possible, it has been very well noted that it may lead to quite a bit of confusion and learning process. Now it's your turn to get TEFL certified. Apply now for your TEFL TESOL certification course and start teaching in a matter of months. Speak with an ITTT advisor today to put together your personal plan for teaching English abroad. Send us an email or call us toll free at 1-800-490-0531 to speak with an ITTT advisor today. English speaking and writing errors made by Chinese primary students. I have been an online ESL teacher to Chinese students for over 13 years, mostly with primary students but also with secondary and adult students. I am also a father and have homeschooled my daughter over her primary years. Like many teachers, I've enjoyed teaching at this level of education as it lays the foundation in English. As it set the foundation, my teaching helped students to overcome common errors in production skills, speaking and writing. Teaching both my daughter and Chinese students at the primary level also helped me also to understand the different expectations between first language and second language students. Since English is very different from China, many Chinese ESL students have difficulty in mastering English. The differences between Chinese and English cause Chinese students to make many errors while learning English. In fact, the interference of the student's first language, Chinese, and learning a second language, English, is known as a cross-linguistic influence. Bien, 2013. Derison Ching, 2009. Other errors, which are common in the first language and second language students, i.e. better in my Chinese students derive from development. Derison Ching, 2009. While teachers can understand Chinese to better correct errors caused by cross-linguistic influence, teachers should provide more practice and exposure in order to correct developmental errors. When I started out as an English teacher, I was overzealous and tried to correct as many mistakes as I could. My intention was to make students conform to the prototype of a native speaker, Nair, Krishnasamy, and Amelo, 2017. To uphold young Chinese students to such the prototype was frustrating for both the teacher and the students who could live up to such expectations. Training my daughter in English helped me to set more pragmatic benchmarks. In this way, my new focus, in consensus with English pedagogy, moved from native accuracy to eligibility of communication, Shaq, Li, and Steven, 2016. Speaking Errors. Speaking is one of the production skills developed in many Chinese ESL classes. Speech production consists of three parts pronunciation, grammar, and message. In my experience, practice in English speech starts with pronunciation and grammar then later built into simple conversations. Due to the differences in Chinese and English phonics, Chinese students may have difficulty in mastering English phonetics. Not only do students have to overcome the difficulties of individual sounds and suprasegmentals, but they must also overcome anxiety to speak in class. Phonetics. Vowels. Chinese students may make many mistakes in pronouncing vowel sounds in English. English has many more vowels than does Chinese. While English has seven short vowels, A-E-A, as in sat, E-Sat, Sat, Sat, Sat, R-Sat, S-Sat, and Y-Sun, and five long vowels, A-Bake, I-Bake, I-Bike, U-Broke, U-Boat, Chinese has eight pure vowels, A-R-E-O-I-U-U and only one long vowel, I.Chinese ESL students often interchange long and short vowels as well as E and A sound. Thus, young Chinese students may pronounce minimal pairs, such as cheap chip, food foot, and cot-cot code almost the same. In early primary, my daughter and Chinese students both practice minimal pairs, sight words, and phonics readers. As students advance in primary school, pronunciation exercises may focus more on reading aloud in speech acts. In these activities, students may slow down, stop, or substitute the wrong vowel sound when coming across unfamiliar words. Dark L The letter L takes on two forms in English, the clear L, light, and the dark L, ill. Luckily, most consonant and semi-vowels are easy to pronounce for the Chinese primary student because they are similar in both languages. Because Chinese does not have dark L, Chen and Li, 2000, Chinese students will have difficulty with the dark L and will often leave it unpronounced. For example, they will shorten call to call, or they will substitute R for the dark L, bar for ball. Sometimes young Chinese students will also have difficulty with L and substitute N for clear L thus, light will be pronounced as night. Aspiration. Most consonants are similar in Chinese and in English phonics, but their position in the word or syllable may differ. Chinese do not aspirate consonants at the end of a word or syllable. So, aspirated consonants such as P, T, and S will sound like their non-aspirated counterparts B, D, and C, respectively. For example, rope will sound like rope, the letters T D and G start many Chinese words, but do not appear at the end of syllables. Thus, Chinese student may have difficulty ending words with these sounds, especially if they follow another consonant as an attempt in fold. Consonant clusters. Chinese students can pronounce individual consonants very accurately. Since consonant clusters are absent from Chinese, these consonant clusters prove challenging for Chinese students. One way students deal with consonant clusters is through deletion. In this way, left is pronounced left. Because of this, students may often lead off the final ed sound and final s sounds. Another way Chinese student try to pronounce consonant clusters is by adding an extra vowel at the start or between connected words which is called a penthesis. For example, students may pronounce free as free with an added schwa after the initial f. Because of the deletion of consonants and the addition of vowel sounds, the student's speech can become unintelligible. Suprasegmentals. Intonation. Not only are we as teachers supposed to correct the individual sounds, but we must also pay attention to suprasegmentals such as intonation and stress. Intonation is very different between the two languages. Whereas in Chinese, a tone language connects the meaning of a word to the tone, English, an intonation language determines only the attitude of the speaker by the tone my daughter like Chinese students learn intonation through listening to their parents. In Chinese, there are said to be nine distinct tones which are practiced. At first, Chinese students may sound staccato or sing song as they focus on individual words. However, they may develop English intonation through constant practice. This means students may speak with a monotone intonation before acquiring staircase intonation by learning stress. Stress may also cause difficulty in the speech of Chinese students. Either in Chinese or English, stress is caused by the change of pitch or elongation of a vowel sound. My daughter learned that stress is important to the meaning of words and that most words have a fixed stress pattern. She also learned that words in a sentence are not given the same stress. English has sentence stress to distinguish the more meaningful words, nouns, verbs and adjectives from function words, auxiliary verbs, prepositions and conjunctions and so brings more meaning to the sentence. In Chinese, all words and segments are spoken at the same length. At first, Chinese students will not know word stress, so they will have a hard time in differentiating between stressed and unstressed syllables. Both will be pronounced the same. Students have not practiced reducing function words will read and speak slowly and in a staccato manner which may lead to unintelligibility. Psychology. Anxiety speaking is not only a mechanical practice in getting sounds and tones correct, but also a psychological act which focuses on the meaning of a message. As a psychological act in a social group, speaking in class and learning a foreign language can be anxiety provoking to Chinese students. Chinese students may be too shy out of the fear of being negatively evaluated by peers or the teacher. To help students overcome anxiety, teachers have to build rapport and help students feel safe from criticism. Since more and more Chinese students begin learning English phonics at an earlier age, students have been more relaxed when reading aloud but more anxious with new activities. In groups, it is important to get students to interact and co-operate with each other but even then some students may shut down if they feel other students are teasing, criticizing or not listening. Writing Errors. So far, we have discussed the difficulties and errors of Chinese students when it comes to speaking. Chinese students also make errors when it comes to writing. At the primary level, Chinese students move from practice in writing sentences to writing basic compositions. English lessons in China maintain focus on vocabulary building and sentence level writing, only developing the students' skills in descriptive and narrative composition in the later primary years. Similar to Chinese students, my daughter had to study both sentence level grammar, essay composition and vocabulary. Though there are similarities, the differences in grammar and composition may cause many students to make errors. Grammar. Articles. Chinese students make several errors in the use of articles. Students may not know the rules on how to apply general and specific articles. In English, general articles, such as abandoned, are used to mark most countable nouns, whereas specific articles indicate that the speaker or writer refers to a unique case. My daughter learned the use of articles with countable nouns and Apple before primary school and then later as she studied nouns and adjectives. Since Chinese does not proceed nouns with articles, so, He ate Apple can translate to He ate the Apple and He ate an Apple. Thus, Chinese students often forget to apply articles when it comes to English nouns. In overcorrecting the error, they use articles because they have difficulty in differentiating countable, uncountable, and zero article nouns. Prepositions. Chinese students also find prepositions tricky. English and Chinese both have prepositions, words that tell how nouns relate to each other. The use and amount of prepositions differ between Chinese and English, with English having more distinct prepositions than in Chinese. For example, the word Chinese words I can be translated as in, at, under, or on in English. Most mistakes made with prepositions are those of omission because prepositions are not used less often in Chinese. In my daughter's study, prepositions also challenged my daughter and were not emphasized until grade 3. In the higher primary, sentence diagramming helped my daughter to use prepositions to connect clauses. Although Chinese students may be introduced to prepositions through reading, Chinese students may have a harder time using them in such manner which is not used in Chinese. Subject verb agreement. Chinese students make errors with subject verb agreement. Part of this problem may stem from the issue with the pronunciation error with final s sounds. In this case, they may not hear the sound in the internal voice when writing. Whereas my daughter was taught to conjugate present verbs according to person, Chinese students do not conjugate verbs in Chinese. In Chinese, students learn that they don't conjugate verbs according to the actor. Thus, he eats and they eat both use the same verb form, chew. Conjugating the verb to be is also difficult for the same reason. In English, the verb to be is conjugated I am, you are, he is In Chinese, the to be verb for each person is the same, shy. Thus, some students may just decide that it is easier to memorize one verb form. Verb tenses. Just as Chinese verbs do not change to indicate person, they do not conjugate to mark the time. In Chinese, time markers consist of particles or auxiliary verbs. For example, he ate, he has eaten, he is eating, and he will eat. Like, shy, you, and we are auxiliary verbs that also do not conjugate according to person unlike the English verbs to be, have, and do. Along with conjugating verbs according to person, conjugating verbs according to time has also been taught to my daughter since the start of primary, especially through reading. My daughter also learned to remember that three main forms of irregular verbs present tense, past tense, and past participle. In overcorrecting this error to not conjugate past tense verbs, Chinese students may overuse the perfect tense or create sentences with double past tense verbs. Rhetoric. Opinions. Writing opinion and persuasive essays are also limited in the primary education of China. As stated earlier, English class is taught by Chinese teachers focus mainly on grammar, reading, and vocabulary. While Chinese students are introduced to narrative and descriptive composition perhaps in mid-primary years, they are not really introduced to persuasive and expository writing. In the case of my daughter, she was introduced to more composition types including persuasive, business letter, expository, and research essays. In these compositions, she learned how to base her arguments on facts, examples, and illustrations. Chinese students often write using poetic words, exaggerations, and quotations from past historical figures. Moreover, Chinese students who lack practice in persuasion may have difficulty in giving and supporting opinions in group work. Directness. Being straightforward and direct may also be problematic for Chinese students. English readers expect paragraphs to be succinct and direct as sentences support the main idea. In Chinese, paragraphs tend to be indirect, exaggerative, and patterned. In paragraph development, Chinese students may use suggestions, indirect language, rhetorical question, analogy, metaphor, and similarly. Chinese students may have difficulty in connecting sentences together as words are often not in the correct order. In developing my daughter's first writing, we first wrote down the main topic sentence before compassing the other sentences to support the idea through cause-effect, contrast, definition, and classification. In Chinese, it seems that the indirectness stems at trying to find exceptions to the main idea rather than finding direct facts which support it. Structuring. In writing essays, proper paragraph and essays structuring strengthen coherence. Chinese and English both conquer that every paragraph requires the main idea and that every essay needs our main thesis. Learning the structure is a process for both my daughter and Chinese students. They first learn how to write sentences, then write multiple sentences based on a given idea, then arrange these sentences based on concepts. Finally, they learn to structure complete compositions. Chinese students often are not trained in writing the three-part essay common in English, but a four-part essay which is more familiar in China. While both essay types start off with an introduction and end with a conclusion, the Chinese essay includes a sub-theme, elaboration, or transition. A Chinese student's essay may seem to lack coherence because paragraphs are not often in a hierarchy according to the paragraph's support of the thesis. Moreover, sentences often lack transition words or phrases. Thus, the writer may seem to jump around in his thoughts. Are you ready to teach English in China? In conclusion, this essay extends beyond an attempt to nitpick at the errors of students in order to explain the difficulties of Chinese students in speaking and writing in English. As teachers, we should not merely identify errors made by students but also be aware of the causes behind these errors. Whether these errors are caused by the transference of language or by lack of development, the student's speaking and writing ability can be developed. Similar to my daughter, Chinese students at the primary level are acquiring language skills that will help them throughout their lifetime. Apply now for your TEFL test all certification course and start teaching in a matter of months. Join our four-week-end class training in China and start your TEFL adventure directly in the Middle Kingdom. Speak with an ITTT advisor today to put together your personal plan for teaching English abroad. 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