That's a shit offer. They're really low-balling you. Even with the inclusive rent/housing allowance. Saying that, I signed on for 12k plus housing 8 years ago (Zhongshan, Guangdong). My tastes were too expensive and I ended up borrowing from my friend at the end of the month. Mind you I was drinking with him 6 nights a week. đ
Hell no. Everything in tier 1 cities is more expensive than in Scandinavia, especially rent and food (and I mean decent restaurants, not some slop). The only thing thatâs cheaper is taxis and haircuts. Oh and public transportation of course. Even a normal shampoo is 3x the price.
Depends on your preferences, but if you would be looking for Scandi-quality housing or actually nice western food in a place like Shanghai Iâm afraid thatâs accurate.
Then again this is about Suzhou, which is not T1 price level.
Thatâs still nonsense. Iâve seen plenty of nice apartments for half the price of London (and therefore Scandinavian top tier cities as well) and Iâve been to plenty of good restaurants for much less than Iâd pay for in London. The apartments in Shanghai are like two thirds cheaper than their London equivalents
London is also super expensive to Euro norms lol. Look until recently we lived in a large Swedish city, so kinda can compare and Shanghai is definitely NOT cheap (except for stuff that rely on cheap manual labour, like haircuts, taxis or also aiyis).
Lol.Some foreigners don't know that the price in the first-tier cities in China is even cheaper than the second and third-tier cities because the market competition in the first-tier cities is fiercer, the logistics cost is lower and there are more choices
Just keep lying !\~đSome foreigners don't know that the price in the first-tier cities in China is even cheaper than the second and third-tier cities because the market competition in the first-tier cities is fiercer, the logistics cost is lower and there are more choices, you don't even know that you can check the price directly in the APPđ
China's cities are so big that there are many kinds and prices of goods to choose from, not to mention China's super-developed online shopping. Just open the mobile app Meituan or E Le Ma and check the prices of goods near you, even the prices of online supermarkets are cheaper than physical stores. You don't even know?đ Take Shanghai as an example, why is the basic food in Shanghai cheaper than the second and third tier cities? First of all, because there are many farms around Shanghai, there is enough material supply. Secondly, the restaurant industry in Shanghai is very competitive, whether it is Chinese or Western food, it is possible to have a good meal at an affordable price
Maybe you are from the US or something. If I compare normal Chinese restaurants in Beijing, or Western restaurants in Beijing, both are more expensive than the same food in Sweden. Especially when you compare quality, then itâs not even close. Of course, on Meituan you can find some shady oily dishes thatâs cheaper, but then itâs comparing apples to oranges.
as someone who use taxi service daily I can predict that cheap taxi days will be over soon. starting from january/february my taxi bill for the same route raised on 15% and it seems like it will continue to raise more and more.
Stick to chinese food while you are in china, I.e.xiao loong bao, sheng jian bao, congee, youtiao, da Bing, beef soup noodle, fresh water fish, shrimps etc.
Sweet baby jesus, I've never seen an industry tank so hard as TEFL in China. I bet all these recruiters are giggling their asses off about this in their private WeChat groups and message boards.
Now that COVID is over, schools and agents are getting really brazen in exploiting clueless foreigners. The fact that you're even considering taking this job is shocking to me.
This may not apply for the original poster, but a lot of young people don't come here for the pay. It's more like a working holiday after graduating. Get some experience while exploring a new culture.
I was gettin 6k at my first job in a tier 3 city over 10 years ago. Didn't mind back then, only planned to stay for a year.
I was jus respondin to the 'considering taking this job is shocking to me' comment. For me it's not a surprise since a lot of us who have been here for a while probably once did somethin similar - comin in through an agent and gettin paid 50 - 60% of the market rate.
If you're here for the money, it's not the best. If you're not getting your rent and food covered, I personally wouldn't consider it, especially not for a major city like Suzhou (some random tier 3 city, maybe). When I first started, as an ESL teacher with no experience (also Suzhou), I was getting paid 17k rmb per month, and my rent and Internet was covered (the Internet was shit, though, so I mostly used my data), along with a food stipend and a travel stipend. People with actual teaching degrees are starting at 20-25k rmb per month now at some schools in Shanghai, with a bunch of stipends.
many of us are here for the travel and money, if not all....
Horrible offer and we all know it, and you could probably do much better.
This is why you don't go ask on r/tefl....
Thus, that is why the Chinese government needs to implement a double-reduction policy for kindergartens and strengthen the existing double-reduction policy for training centers and tutoring industries. Also, the Chinese government should remove tax preferential for foreigners in certain jobs, such as foreign English teachers.
>Recently I got an offer from a school in Suzhou for 8000RMB (before tax).Â
This is absolutely ridiculous. Please tell me this isn't with a program called AYC.
>I noticed even after tax the salary is gonna be in the 7000-8000RMB range. I'm not too sure if I take it, will I be able to sustain myself with this pay?
FFS - EF will pay you better.
Basically, no. Do not do this. You're being take advantage of, and you don't even know it. Absolutely, do not take this.
Do you have your teaching certificate? If you have a teaching certificate and two years of any work experience you could command twice that minimum. That's with housing included.
No I mean a subject specific certificate that would allow you to teach that subject or level in your home country's schools. That's what they want to see. A TEFL could help but not that much.
You're Canadian? If you go through the process of getting your teaching license there you will make much more money and get better job offers. I believe you can do at least some of it online.
Could you survive? Yes, barely, but why would you take a job even at 10,000 when it's pretty easy to find one at 20,000 and it's likely quite possible to find jobs above that, even without much experience? I mean you didn't say if you're a native speaker, that does make a pretty big difference, but 10,000 just seems insanely low, EVEN with a housing stipend which you didn't mention.
Suzhou is a pretty "high-tier" city, as in pretty famous and with decent economy, in a city like that I don't think you should even consider an offer less than 20,000 plus housing, even if you're a recent university grad. If you're a non-native speaker, maybe you can accept a bit lower but you could still search for higher salaries/better jobs once you've improved your connections.
Are you part-Chinese but with a Canadian passport? It sounds like theyâve costed this in. They wonât like paying foreigner prices and processing visas etc. for what they perceive to be a Chinese face.
I'm also 100% ethnically Chinese but even so, like 7 years ago when I first came to China the offers I received were all like 12k plus in a 4th tier city....
They wonât want to pay you too much because of the colour of your skin. Sorry, but thatâs the truth. They want a white skinned teacher to show off to the parents.
Itâs true. Youâll get lowballed for being ethnically Chinese compared to some Russian dude from bum fuck Yaroslavl with minimal English. Thatâs exactly what I was told when I wanted to pursue teaching in â15. Fortunately, I do not have to work as an education bot. đ¤
Ohh. This changes some things. They donât care too much if you have a foreign passport. If youâre Chinese theyâre going to treat you/pay you like a local.
I agree that this can be an issue with some schools but it's definitely not universal so don't get discouraged. Keep looking OP, good luck.
EDIT: Also, strongly consider K-12 schools not training schools (e.g. night/weekend classes). These jobs are generally much better on average, plus you get way more vacation time. It's probably good for your career too, like a person with K-12 experience should find it easy to join a training school but many K-12 schools will be more skeptical of a person with training school experience. Or if you want to move to another country, the experience will tend to be more transferable.
âŚ10k before tax? Even training centers will start you at 13-15k.
Thats really low to me. Are they providing housing? If not, itâs probably not going to be a fun time.
Don't. I'm going to move to Suzhou soon and from what I could see that's a very low offer. You won't have much money to live if you want to save something.
It really depends on if this is a college job where you are going to work 14 hours a week or a kindergarten where they want you to work 35 hours a week.
Also as a 24F you considered a premium recruit, as most foreign teachers tend to be men, and just the way it is here if you are also white,.. I would be looking for a job that pays around 15-30K a month depending on hours (1h week 1k a month) meaning 30 hours = 30k.
My friend works as agency for foreign teachers. It is very hard to find qualified teacher in China. Most of foreigners don't have the right qualifications. If you have, maybe you can argue for a higher salary.
That would be a good offer if you were to be teaching 8hrs-9hrs a week at some half-arsed university or FE college with zero admin but not for a full-time middle or high school job. You could survive financially with housing inc but you teach in China for either the free time or to rack up cash; the work experience isnât so transferable back home. Usually schools in China want 2-3 years experience from teachers so that might explain a lower starting offer but Iâd shop around for 20k absolute minimum. You do pay a lot of tax with the national insurance but you should also get a lot of that back as a rebate when you move out of the country.
That is pretty low, if you would like I can give an agent, im pretty sure their schools entry level pay is 18k + 3k housing(though I am uncertain if its still exactly that), its in Hangzhou if you are willing to move. Otherwise less than 15k is usually a scam even in the cheaper cities
thatâs weird, they didnât accept my work experience before my graduation from university for Z visa. luckily i had two years after graduation, but they said anything before graduation date doesnât count (Shanghai)
I lived in Suzhou until 2019 before covid. Iâm a student with a spending of 5000-6000 rmb per month including rent. Itâs doable as a student and depending on the place (i lived in suzhou SIP), but i think youâll want 10.000 rmb as bare minimumâŚ
Itâs definitely a really low offer for a foreign teacher in Suzhou, but anyone acting like getting by on 8k with free housing is difficult for a single adult anywhere in China is pathetic.
This sub loves to âbut actuallyâ the lives of working class Chinese by comparing their low wages and uncomfortable working conditions to their previous situations or hometown options, meanwhile those people earn considerably less than what foreigners consider the minimum to live off of.
Cook for yourself/eat at one of the millions of cheap, delicious restaurants and avoid the bar Monday-Thursday and youâll have plenty to play with over the weekends. (ie. live a normal life of a non-rich person back home)
Do the math: budgeting 100rmb per day M-Th leaves over 1400 for the weekend. That isnât remotely close to slumming it.
In 2023 I lived in Shanghai entirely off of a 7k housing allowance (2850 rent plus fapiaoâŚI understand that definitely isnât for everyone but it was fine). In over a decade in China I donât think Iâve ever regularly spent more than 8k a month including rent.
You can make extra cash with after school sessions. Very respectable profession in China so income is lower but a lot of teachers do extra sessions after school. Also a lot of teacher husband/wives are loaded so the teacher cares less about income
I had only heard of salaries this low at non profits out in the sticks or at universities like 5 years ago. But the trade off with uni jobs is you work VERY low hours so you get tons of free time.
When I first came to China for work in 2014 the average salary was that. Now it's more, but I'm not sure if the job is in the countryside but if it's in the city part of Suzhou it should be much higher.
Ten years ago I met some new foreign teachers from the USA at a hostel. They were shocked to learn that English teachers actually got paid salaries. They thought that all English teachers were in China to volunteer to teach in exchange for a room to sleep in and three local meals each day. They had been completely scammed by a recruiter who had led them to believe that this was the norm.
wtf? Thatâs a ridiculously low offer. Especially for Suzhou. Not sure where youâd live in the city. I live kind of near the touristy parts of the city and itâs a bit expensive, though I could choose a cheaper apartment around 2k a month. I know you said housing is included but still. Thatâs a super low offer. Especially for someone with teaching experience. Do you mean student teaching? So I assume youâre also a licensed teacher. I wouldnât look at anything lower than 25k since youâre still a fresh grad.
universities and colleges are generally around the 10-15k bracket in tier 2/3 cities, the perks are fewer classes and zero office hours, long holidays in the winter and summer plus lots of time for traveling, if this is the case with your company then I think it's a good opportunity to earn a bit of money whilst having enough time to travel around china a bit. This is the pros and cons of a uni/college teaching job.
Well itâs not much, but considering that apartment is included, then yes. Food is cheap. So yes itâs doable for a single person if you donât have to pay for international school for your kids, etc.
Maybe itâs below market rate, as other people say, and I donât know how much teachers make.
Also I think it matters if itâs after or below tax. There will be probably 0 tax on that amount or very small.
On that salary you'll be taxed fuck all.
However it is an insultingly low offer. If they pay this low I question if they can even legally hire foreigners with correct permits
I think everybody here got the point across that they can find you better jobs for sure. But that being said China is totally worth the experience if you can line yourself up with something nice. Feel free to pm me, I know plenty of people looking for new teachers
It'd a terrible offer and you can easily get double or even 2.5x for the exact same work. Especially with your experience.
That said, 10k in suzhou is livable, plenty of locals live on that, but you're not going to be having a particularly adventurous lifestyle, you'll have very little spending money for leisure.
Suzhou depends on the area. Site seem is cheap for those historical gardens. But not everybody into that. Short term contract 1 year maybe works. In Suzhou people can go hangzhou , Shanghai, easy to jump ship later on.
Youâll be fine, free apartment and utilities and you are by yourself. Iâm not saying itâs a high salary but 11k for a no experience and no teaching license. Itâs a good way to get your feet wet but donât expect to save anything really. Eat like a local, donât drink like a fish like everyone else in here and experience the world. Go for it just make sure itâs not a scam and donât stay on the salary long term cus you can upgrade with the experience. Also itâs Suzhou, itâs highly sought after. The high paying universities are in bad cities or for high experience and high degree. Also most ppl in here making 30k plus are kindergarten or International school veterans. They are here long term. Your just trying it out and living life on the low hours. Try and and upgrade later or come back home.
If you already have teaching experience in high school teaching subjects classes with teaching license and certifications therefore you can easily clear 25k RMB before tax.
Need to look elsewhere like Hangzhou, Ningbo, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Beijing I saw offering over 25k RMB for high school teachers.
Donât look at companies like EF theyâre not going to offer that much. Look for recruiters that have contacts where you sign directly with the schools like Private/ bilingual or International.
With 10,000k salary youâre not going be able to do anything you want and save money. Need to understand cost of living around 3k will probably a small studio and in an uncomfortable living conditions.
I would look elsewhere. Tell the recruiters you want to sign directly with the school.
Good luck
Are you in China now? If youâre still in your home country I would still look around, while youâre holding a summer job.
Meanwhile, if you donât have WeChat download it. Then put your WeChat contact information on your resume/ CV with your email address. Majority of time recruiters or schools will contact you through WeChat. Emails arenât used much.
Are you using Echinacities.com or other WeChat job groups to look for teaching jobs? Make sure you have a short intro video, like your name, where are you from, teaching experience, your hobbies and why you want to teach. Recruiters and schoolâs Hr first thing theyâll ask for.
Overall, Iâm surprise 10k RMB per month is all you can find in Suzhou. Iâve seen before in Suzhou can get 20k or more per month for native speakers.
If your China already I understand you may want to find the first decent job you can find because of your visa situation because your timeline is shrinking and need to find something ASAP. Kindergarten hires all year long and also can find over 20k. Kindergarten isnât so bad if you donât mind babysitting all day. If you find a company now theyâll probably ask you to go to kindergarten if itâs in the middle of the year. Since all public K12, private/ bilingual schools will already have teachers in place for next school year.
Good luck
wowďź good cityďźďź good living cityďźďź Included housingďź good salaryďź You can check out the salary after taxďź tax is different for foreignersă
terribleďź of course notďź what do u wantďź Beijing salaryďź shanghai salaryďź Including housingďź it is enough to live in suzhou. Better life than beijingăshanghai.
If you share an apartment with another person, the rent might be 2000-3000...eating costs maybe 3000...transportation is super cheap...I think it is enough.
That's a shit offer. They're really low-balling you. Even with the inclusive rent/housing allowance. Saying that, I signed on for 12k plus housing 8 years ago (Zhongshan, Guangdong). My tastes were too expensive and I ended up borrowing from my friend at the end of the month. Mind you I was drinking with him 6 nights a week. đ
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And the restaurants that aren't backalley shitbuckets
Hell no. Everything in tier 1 cities is more expensive than in Scandinavia, especially rent and food (and I mean decent restaurants, not some slop). The only thing thatâs cheaper is taxis and haircuts. Oh and public transportation of course. Even a normal shampoo is 3x the price.
Wtf are you talking about? Have you ever even been to China?
Depends on your preferences, but if you would be looking for Scandi-quality housing or actually nice western food in a place like Shanghai Iâm afraid thatâs accurate. Then again this is about Suzhou, which is not T1 price level.
Thatâs still nonsense. Iâve seen plenty of nice apartments for half the price of London (and therefore Scandinavian top tier cities as well) and Iâve been to plenty of good restaurants for much less than Iâd pay for in London. The apartments in Shanghai are like two thirds cheaper than their London equivalents
London is also super expensive to Euro norms lol. Look until recently we lived in a large Swedish city, so kinda can compare and Shanghai is definitely NOT cheap (except for stuff that rely on cheap manual labour, like haircuts, taxis or also aiyis).
Lol.Some foreigners don't know that the price in the first-tier cities in China is even cheaper than the second and third-tier cities because the market competition in the first-tier cities is fiercer, the logistics cost is lower and there are more choices
Just keep lying !\~đSome foreigners don't know that the price in the first-tier cities in China is even cheaper than the second and third-tier cities because the market competition in the first-tier cities is fiercer, the logistics cost is lower and there are more choices, you don't even know that you can check the price directly in the APPđ
Give me an example then, thatâs not true in my experience.
China's cities are so big that there are many kinds and prices of goods to choose from, not to mention China's super-developed online shopping. Just open the mobile app Meituan or E Le Ma and check the prices of goods near you, even the prices of online supermarkets are cheaper than physical stores. You don't even know?đ Take Shanghai as an example, why is the basic food in Shanghai cheaper than the second and third tier cities? First of all, because there are many farms around Shanghai, there is enough material supply. Secondly, the restaurant industry in Shanghai is very competitive, whether it is Chinese or Western food, it is possible to have a good meal at an affordable price
Maybe you are from the US or something. If I compare normal Chinese restaurants in Beijing, or Western restaurants in Beijing, both are more expensive than the same food in Sweden. Especially when you compare quality, then itâs not even close. Of course, on Meituan you can find some shady oily dishes thatâs cheaper, but then itâs comparing apples to oranges.
Wtf ?You don't even know what authentic ordinary Chinese food is like đ or even use Chinese appsđ
Just accept that not everyone is a honeymoon Tim like yourself.
as someone who use taxi service daily I can predict that cheap taxi days will be over soon. starting from january/february my taxi bill for the same route raised on 15% and it seems like it will continue to raise more and more.
Stick to chinese food while you are in china, I.e.xiao loong bao, sheng jian bao, congee, youtiao, da Bing, beef soup noodle, fresh water fish, shrimps etc.
Which is the best way to cope with living in China.
Donât take this job
That's a lower offer than I had in nanjing ten years ago
Sweet baby jesus, I've never seen an industry tank so hard as TEFL in China. I bet all these recruiters are giggling their asses off about this in their private WeChat groups and message boards.
I remember like 2 yeara ago people bragging about 30k/month esl teaching jobs.
If your an actual licensed teacher you can make over 30k depending on location. If you're a tefl guy you still should make 20k min
Iâm on over 30k doing ESL now. I got a bunch of offers for 25-30 before my current job. Kindy jobs still pay high
Don't need that many foreigners. Locals can do the job too...hence pay comes down.
Thatâs still the standard. This offer just sucks, the school are chancing that OP wonât know
Now that COVID is over, schools and agents are getting really brazen in exploiting clueless foreigners. The fact that you're even considering taking this job is shocking to me.
This may not apply for the original poster, but a lot of young people don't come here for the pay. It's more like a working holiday after graduating. Get some experience while exploring a new culture. I was gettin 6k at my first job in a tier 3 city over 10 years ago. Didn't mind back then, only planned to stay for a year.
Yeah but you can get literally double the pay heâs being offered for the same amount of work, so I donât see how this is an excuse at all
I was jus respondin to the 'considering taking this job is shocking to me' comment. For me it's not a surprise since a lot of us who have been here for a while probably once did somethin similar - comin in through an agent and gettin paid 50 - 60% of the market rate.
I'm here for the travel and the money
If you're here for the money, it's not the best. If you're not getting your rent and food covered, I personally wouldn't consider it, especially not for a major city like Suzhou (some random tier 3 city, maybe). When I first started, as an ESL teacher with no experience (also Suzhou), I was getting paid 17k rmb per month, and my rent and Internet was covered (the Internet was shit, though, so I mostly used my data), along with a food stipend and a travel stipend. People with actual teaching degrees are starting at 20-25k rmb per month now at some schools in Shanghai, with a bunch of stipends.
Okay thank you so much!
many of us are here for the travel and money, if not all.... Horrible offer and we all know it, and you could probably do much better. This is why you don't go ask on r/tefl....
Thus, that is why the Chinese government needs to implement a double-reduction policy for kindergartens and strengthen the existing double-reduction policy for training centers and tutoring industries. Also, the Chinese government should remove tax preferential for foreigners in certain jobs, such as foreign English teachers.
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Yea but the teacher wont be laying off people the minute he got to work through zoom calls without compensation So i think its not comparable
lol donât do this
>Recently I got an offer from a school in Suzhou for 8000RMB (before tax). This is absolutely ridiculous. Please tell me this isn't with a program called AYC. >I noticed even after tax the salary is gonna be in the 7000-8000RMB range. I'm not too sure if I take it, will I be able to sustain myself with this pay? FFS - EF will pay you better. Basically, no. Do not do this. You're being take advantage of, and you don't even know it. Absolutely, do not take this.
Thank you!
Do you have your teaching certificate? If you have a teaching certificate and two years of any work experience you could command twice that minimum. That's with housing included.
I currently doing my TEFL
No I mean a subject specific certificate that would allow you to teach that subject or level in your home country's schools. That's what they want to see. A TEFL could help but not that much.
Oh no I don't have that
You're Canadian? If you go through the process of getting your teaching license there you will make much more money and get better job offers. I believe you can do at least some of it online.
I'll check it out!
Could you survive? Yes, barely, but why would you take a job even at 10,000 when it's pretty easy to find one at 20,000 and it's likely quite possible to find jobs above that, even without much experience? I mean you didn't say if you're a native speaker, that does make a pretty big difference, but 10,000 just seems insanely low, EVEN with a housing stipend which you didn't mention. Suzhou is a pretty "high-tier" city, as in pretty famous and with decent economy, in a city like that I don't think you should even consider an offer less than 20,000 plus housing, even if you're a recent university grad. If you're a non-native speaker, maybe you can accept a bit lower but you could still search for higher salaries/better jobs once you've improved your connections.
I'm a native speaker for both Chinese and English!
Are you part-Chinese but with a Canadian passport? It sounds like theyâve costed this in. They wonât like paying foreigner prices and processing visas etc. for what they perceive to be a Chinese face.
I'm also 100% ethnically Chinese but even so, like 7 years ago when I first came to China the offers I received were all like 12k plus in a 4th tier city....
That is 100% why theyâre lowballing
Yeah I'm 100% Chinese
They wonât want to pay you too much because of the colour of your skin. Sorry, but thatâs the truth. They want a white skinned teacher to show off to the parents.
Itâs true. Youâll get lowballed for being ethnically Chinese compared to some Russian dude from bum fuck Yaroslavl with minimal English. Thatâs exactly what I was told when I wanted to pursue teaching in â15. Fortunately, I do not have to work as an education bot. đ¤
Correct, face matters, parents expect foreigners teachers to look foreign. Why not stick to working in Canada?
Ohh. This changes some things. They donât care too much if you have a foreign passport. If youâre Chinese theyâre going to treat you/pay you like a local.
Oooohhhhh thereâs your problem. Theyâre low-balling you because youâre ethnically Chinese. Ridiculous.
That's so damn pathetic, reverse racism of our own race.
I agree that this can be an issue with some schools but it's definitely not universal so don't get discouraged. Keep looking OP, good luck. EDIT: Also, strongly consider K-12 schools not training schools (e.g. night/weekend classes). These jobs are generally much better on average, plus you get way more vacation time. It's probably good for your career too, like a person with K-12 experience should find it easy to join a training school but many K-12 schools will be more skeptical of a person with training school experience. Or if you want to move to another country, the experience will tend to be more transferable.
âŚ10k before tax? Even training centers will start you at 13-15k. Thats really low to me. Are they providing housing? If not, itâs probably not going to be a fun time.
Housing is included!
Have you seen photos of the housing?
not yet
oh mate.
anything is doable if you are desperate enough but why would you want to?
Thatâs too low. Do NOT take this job.
Don't. I'm going to move to Suzhou soon and from what I could see that's a very low offer. You won't have much money to live if you want to save something.
It really depends on if this is a college job where you are going to work 14 hours a week or a kindergarten where they want you to work 35 hours a week. Also as a 24F you considered a premium recruit, as most foreign teachers tend to be men, and just the way it is here if you are also white,.. I would be looking for a job that pays around 15-30K a month depending on hours (1h week 1k a month) meaning 30 hours = 30k.
It's a state school, but after researching it's a private school
That doesn't matter, it matters who you will be teaching and for how long per week.
My friend works as agency for foreign teachers. It is very hard to find qualified teacher in China. Most of foreigners don't have the right qualifications. If you have, maybe you can argue for a higher salary.
Lmao,
teaching English in china you can get around 20k . 10k is very low i think
No. Just NO
That would be a good offer if you were to be teaching 8hrs-9hrs a week at some half-arsed university or FE college with zero admin but not for a full-time middle or high school job. You could survive financially with housing inc but you teach in China for either the free time or to rack up cash; the work experience isnât so transferable back home. Usually schools in China want 2-3 years experience from teachers so that might explain a lower starting offer but Iâd shop around for 20k absolute minimum. You do pay a lot of tax with the national insurance but you should also get a lot of that back as a rebate when you move out of the country.
That is pretty low, if you would like I can give an agent, im pretty sure their schools entry level pay is 18k + 3k housing(though I am uncertain if its still exactly that), its in Hangzhou if you are willing to move. Otherwise less than 15k is usually a scam even in the cheaper cities
Yes pls!
It's absolutely criminal for a native English speaker. Please share the name of the school so we can warn others.
Search on this site to give yourself some ideas about your marketability. [https://www.echinacities.com/](https://www.echinacities.com/)
You should get paid enough to save a little money. This offer is too low.
This salary is enough to survive, but not much to save. I am in Suzhou.
20 Years ago I started at more than that in Xinyang, a small city between Zhenzhou and Wuhan. As others have said, they are really lowballing you.
thatâs weird, they didnât accept my work experience before my graduation from university for Z visa. luckily i had two years after graduation, but they said anything before graduation date doesnât count (Shanghai)
I lived in Suzhou until 2019 before covid. Iâm a student with a spending of 5000-6000 rmb per month including rent. Itâs doable as a student and depending on the place (i lived in suzhou SIP), but i think youâll want 10.000 rmb as bare minimumâŚ
Itâs definitely a really low offer for a foreign teacher in Suzhou, but anyone acting like getting by on 8k with free housing is difficult for a single adult anywhere in China is pathetic. This sub loves to âbut actuallyâ the lives of working class Chinese by comparing their low wages and uncomfortable working conditions to their previous situations or hometown options, meanwhile those people earn considerably less than what foreigners consider the minimum to live off of. Cook for yourself/eat at one of the millions of cheap, delicious restaurants and avoid the bar Monday-Thursday and youâll have plenty to play with over the weekends. (ie. live a normal life of a non-rich person back home) Do the math: budgeting 100rmb per day M-Th leaves over 1400 for the weekend. That isnât remotely close to slumming it. In 2023 I lived in Shanghai entirely off of a 7k housing allowance (2850 rent plus fapiaoâŚI understand that definitely isnât for everyone but it was fine). In over a decade in China I donât think Iâve ever regularly spent more than 8k a month including rent.
You can make extra cash with after school sessions. Very respectable profession in China so income is lower but a lot of teachers do extra sessions after school. Also a lot of teacher husband/wives are loaded so the teacher cares less about income
I had only heard of salaries this low at non profits out in the sticks or at universities like 5 years ago. But the trade off with uni jobs is you work VERY low hours so you get tons of free time.
When I first came to China for work in 2014 the average salary was that. Now it's more, but I'm not sure if the job is in the countryside but if it's in the city part of Suzhou it should be much higher.
Ten years ago I met some new foreign teachers from the USA at a hostel. They were shocked to learn that English teachers actually got paid salaries. They thought that all English teachers were in China to volunteer to teach in exchange for a room to sleep in and three local meals each day. They had been completely scammed by a recruiter who had led them to believe that this was the norm.
OMG that sounds so horrible!
nonono do not take that
wtf? Thatâs a ridiculously low offer. Especially for Suzhou. Not sure where youâd live in the city. I live kind of near the touristy parts of the city and itâs a bit expensive, though I could choose a cheaper apartment around 2k a month. I know you said housing is included but still. Thatâs a super low offer. Especially for someone with teaching experience. Do you mean student teaching? So I assume youâre also a licensed teacher. I wouldnât look at anything lower than 25k since youâre still a fresh grad.
You can make way more
universities and colleges are generally around the 10-15k bracket in tier 2/3 cities, the perks are fewer classes and zero office hours, long holidays in the winter and summer plus lots of time for traveling, if this is the case with your company then I think it's a good opportunity to earn a bit of money whilst having enough time to travel around china a bit. This is the pros and cons of a uni/college teaching job.
Well itâs not much, but considering that apartment is included, then yes. Food is cheap. So yes itâs doable for a single person if you donât have to pay for international school for your kids, etc. Maybe itâs below market rate, as other people say, and I donât know how much teachers make. Also I think it matters if itâs after or below tax. There will be probably 0 tax on that amount or very small.
It's before tax
On that salary you'll be taxed fuck all. However it is an insultingly low offer. If they pay this low I question if they can even legally hire foreigners with correct permits
i live in suzhou. my rent is 5000 a month, and my apartment is literally just okay. there is no earthly reason for you to take that offer.
she said rent is included
fair enough. though i wonder where theyâd put her if they tried to hire her for 8k.
I think everybody here got the point across that they can find you better jobs for sure. But that being said China is totally worth the experience if you can line yourself up with something nice. Feel free to pm me, I know plenty of people looking for new teachers
If I were you, I would go to Japan.. There is no reason to stay in China as a low-wage worker.
It'd a terrible offer and you can easily get double or even 2.5x for the exact same work. Especially with your experience. That said, 10k in suzhou is livable, plenty of locals live on that, but you're not going to be having a particularly adventurous lifestyle, you'll have very little spending money for leisure.
I like to order takeout and I'm pretty extroverted, so would like to look into the night life there too!
Suzhou depends on the area. Site seem is cheap for those historical gardens. But not everybody into that. Short term contract 1 year maybe works. In Suzhou people can go hangzhou , Shanghai, easy to jump ship later on.
Mind sharing which school it is?
It's a private school in Suzhou
Oh yeah
Do you want to go to Suzhou? You would get more like 25-30k in a tier 1 city
I'm not locked into Suzhou as a city, I can do any province!
Then I would suggest looking into a T1 city. Youâll earn more like 25-35k
Youâll be fine, free apartment and utilities and you are by yourself. Iâm not saying itâs a high salary but 11k for a no experience and no teaching license. Itâs a good way to get your feet wet but donât expect to save anything really. Eat like a local, donât drink like a fish like everyone else in here and experience the world. Go for it just make sure itâs not a scam and donât stay on the salary long term cus you can upgrade with the experience. Also itâs Suzhou, itâs highly sought after. The high paying universities are in bad cities or for high experience and high degree. Also most ppl in here making 30k plus are kindergarten or International school veterans. They are here long term. Your just trying it out and living life on the low hours. Try and and upgrade later or come back home.
Are you a foreigner or Chinese? What country are you from?
Oh my God. In 2006 it wouldâve been fine but Iâm assuming you want to save and retire during this lifetime so no. Itâs terrible.
Per month or per year?Â
per month
That almost double the median monthly salary, but you are here for white privilege not live like Chinese peasants, itâs not enoughÂ
Thanks!
If you already have teaching experience in high school teaching subjects classes with teaching license and certifications therefore you can easily clear 25k RMB before tax. Need to look elsewhere like Hangzhou, Ningbo, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Beijing I saw offering over 25k RMB for high school teachers. Donât look at companies like EF theyâre not going to offer that much. Look for recruiters that have contacts where you sign directly with the schools like Private/ bilingual or International. With 10,000k salary youâre not going be able to do anything you want and save money. Need to understand cost of living around 3k will probably a small studio and in an uncomfortable living conditions. I would look elsewhere. Tell the recruiters you want to sign directly with the school. Good luck
Thank you!
Are you in China now? If youâre still in your home country I would still look around, while youâre holding a summer job. Meanwhile, if you donât have WeChat download it. Then put your WeChat contact information on your resume/ CV with your email address. Majority of time recruiters or schools will contact you through WeChat. Emails arenât used much. Are you using Echinacities.com or other WeChat job groups to look for teaching jobs? Make sure you have a short intro video, like your name, where are you from, teaching experience, your hobbies and why you want to teach. Recruiters and schoolâs Hr first thing theyâll ask for. Overall, Iâm surprise 10k RMB per month is all you can find in Suzhou. Iâve seen before in Suzhou can get 20k or more per month for native speakers. If your China already I understand you may want to find the first decent job you can find because of your visa situation because your timeline is shrinking and need to find something ASAP. Kindergarten hires all year long and also can find over 20k. Kindergarten isnât so bad if you donât mind babysitting all day. If you find a company now theyâll probably ask you to go to kindergarten if itâs in the middle of the year. Since all public K12, private/ bilingual schools will already have teachers in place for next school year. Good luck
wowďź good cityďźďź good living cityďźďź Included housingďź good salaryďź You can check out the salary after taxďź tax is different for foreignersă
It's a terrible salary and everyone's been saying so.
You need look at op qualifications, newly graduated with limited teaching experience.
terribleďź of course notďź what do u wantďź Beijing salaryďź shanghai salaryďź Including housingďź it is enough to live in suzhou. Better life than beijingăshanghai.
hey man! have an upvote! what do i want? im also thinking about having a lobotomy done! any suggestions? better life than thinking
do u have trouble with thinking 'what do u want'? suggestions for what ?
If you share an apartment with another person, the rent might be 2000-3000...eating costs maybe 3000...transportation is super cheap...I think it is enough.
I saw the Suzhou cost of living was like 7000 without rent! My rent is covered by the school
It's normal for a university. For anything else it should be double that.