Full Year Program—Fall-Spring, 2012-2013
Show all | Hide all- Program overview
- Sichuan Summer Teacher Training & Mandarin Language Institute (SI)
- Except in rare cases people DO NOT know exactly what they will be teaching or what level (freshmen, sophomore, junior, senior or graduate student) until AFTER they arrive! This is the Chinese way, NOT the American way and it can be enormously frustrating if you feel that you must prepare all your lectures before leaving for China. Everyone will teach some component of reading, writing, listening and speaking but beyond that you will be given very few details. The university class schedules for foreign teachers are put together immediately before or shortly after the foreign teachers arrive and there are often last-minute changes because of staffing issues. The CCC office will not know what classes you will be teaching or even what date/day your classes actually begin until late July. Beyond attending the Summer Institute there is really NO WAY TO PREPARE!
- If you are teaching freshmen, your classes will not begin until two to four weeks after everyone else has started because the government requires all freshmen to participate in military training. You could conceivably have an entire month free, with pay and an apartment, from the time you leave the Summer Institute until you actually start teaching. Some people thrive in this unstructured environment and others seem to melt down when there is NO schedule.
- Qualifications
- You need to be 60 years old or under at the time of your application. Every university has different age restrictions.
- Minimum BA/BS degree from a good four year, fully accredited university/college, with at least a 3.0 GPA and some reference to having taught within a school system or public speaking, tutoring, lecturing, being a team leader in your company, etc. The Chinese government is really cracking down and telling the universities that people must have two years of teaching but we seem to be able to get around this with the TESL certificate and by expanding certain areas of the resume.
- One should enroll in a recognized TEFL/TESL online or on-site program with a minimum of 60 hours of course work. Please refer to the Bridge Online TEFL program which we recommend. CCC office MUST have the copy of your Certificate of Completion by May 1st.
- The other option which allegedly guarantees acceptance by a university is the tefl.chinajob.com Certificate administered by the Beijing State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, Beijing. It is a 7 day TEFL course geared to all ages given throughout the year in various cities in China but mostly in Beijing. This is a way for Beijing to control the hiring and training of teachers. The tuition is c. $500 USD plus you have to pay for housing and roundtrip airfare.
- All academic and professional backgrounds will be considered.
- Couples, MA, PhD, and professionals are strongly encouraged to apply. Families will also be considered on an individual basis.
- Excellent mental and physical health, flexibility, humor and dedication. These are challenging and competitive positions.
- Two strong letters of recommendation/reference, printed on letterhead stationary, attesting to your upstanding character, reliability, dedication, flexibility and maturity. Letters from professors, supervisors or current or past employers strongly preferred. A few solid paragraphs are sufficient.
- No Mandarin is necessary. Most of your students can speak some English and many will be nearly fluent.
- What CCC provides
- What Chinese institutions provide
- Monthly stipend of 4,000-10,000 ¥ which will more than cover living expenses and leave you plenty of money for travel. Salary and benefits are commensurate with your background.
- Free housing in the foreign teacher complex or an apartment/house off campus. You will have a private room, sometimes in a suite, or your own apartment with private bathroom or house. There are many options today for housing in China.
- A four- to five-week winter vacation with pay in January and February!
- Basic medical care equivalent to the care Chinese professors and staff receive.
- Our schools reimburse all or most of international and domestic airfare costs before you depart China.
- Fee & expenses
- application
- university placement focusing on personal goals and needs
- contract negotiation
- some teaching/orientation materials
- assistance with all forms including Chinese work visa and Physical Exam Forms --- both enormously difficult to deal with
- airport pick-up and drop-off
- appropriate backup support throughout the year
- SI and Mandarin language study, which includes tuition, books and materials, private room and bath in a hotel/guest house on campus, sightseeing, entertainment, some dinners and a final banquet
- Home schooling which in many ways seems to work out best and the universities are good about flex schedules between husband and wife
- Enrolling your child in an international school which can cost anywhere from $30,000 to $45,000 USD. (Holy cow is right!)
- If the child is under about 6 years old, and the younger the better, a Chinese pre-school set up can sometimes be very good and work well for all concerned.
- With your waiban's help you can hire a nanny who can watch your child/children while you teach if they are young and do not need to be in school/pre school.
- Applying
Universities in China are seeking US college graduates, MAs, PhDs, and professionals for the academic year (August-June).
You will be asked to give classes in spoken English, focusing on reading, writing, listening and speaking skills, as well as American/British literature, history, culture and occasionally specialized areas such as business, economics, IT, and law, for those who qualify. As with teaching positions in the US, you need to put together lesson plans, take attendance, correct homework and occasionally host "English corners" and help with departmental language-tape recordings. Most of our participants teach 14 to 20 hours per week. You do not need to know any Mandarin to apply. In many cases the curriculum will be left completely up to you. Since 1991 CCC has placed over 700 people in Shanghai, Lijiang, Beijing, Tianjin, Hefei, Ma’anshan, Fuzhou, Chengdu, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Kunming, Wanzhou, Putian and Guangzhou as well as many other cities.
Once accepted by CCC you are guaranteed a good placement at a Chinese university. We will confirm your university placement by May.
All participants unless they have been professional teachers for many years need to attend our August intensive Sichuan Summer Teacher Training and Language Institute (SI). The SI consists of TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) training, lesson planning, classroom management, daily practicum with volunteer Chinese students and Mandarin study. Lots of interesting and fun sightseeing included! After completing the Summer Institute you will travel to your host university. All teachers will arrive in Sichuan as a group and will be picked up at the airport. You will have a private room and bath at the Jinjiang College of Sichuan University, Chengdu, where our program is held. At the end of the training you will either fly or take the train to your host university. CCC or its Travel Coordinator will help you with all your travel arrangements.
Some things about teaching you need to know and seriously think about before making a decision to commit to this type of program:
We provide placement at a university most suited to your individual goals and needs, some teaching and orientation materials, assistance with all official forms and appropriate back-up support the entire year you are in China. We also provide the Sichuan Summer Teacher Training Institute (SI) during August, including Mandarin study, housing, tuition, materials, airport pick up, Chinese banquets, city tours, and entertainment.
We are a small, family-run placement and training organization that does everything possible to address the needs and requests of our applicants. We help you arrange travel and visas through our Travel Coordinator.
Airfare is not covered in our fees. This is a fabulous way to live in China, travel throughout Asia, learn a lot about teaching and about yourself at an incredibly modest cost.
You are responsible for your own meals (about $6.00-$10.00 USD per day for three meals, depending on where you live).
You earn very little money by U.S. standards, but the pay is excellent by Chinese standards. People who teach in China do so for the incredible experience, teaching and travel, not for financial gain.
Program fees have been established to cover all expenses and administrative costs including staff time, Shanghai Summer Institute (SI) housing, transportation, cultural events/sightseeing, SI Teacher Trainers salaries, Mandarin teachers' salary, program advertising/marketing, office expenses, staff China visits, etc.
Procedure for program fee payments:
The $100 non-refundable application-processing fee per adult is due with your application. Your initial payment, equal to half of all additional program fees, are due ten days after receiving CCC's official acceptance letter. If we do not hear from you within ten days we'll assume you have decided not to participate in our program. The rest of the fees are due ninety days after receiving the acceptance letter, or by July 15, whichever comes first.
Program fees below do not include the $100 application-processing fee.
Schedule I:
Application materials, both as digital documents sent by email and hard copies sent by post, must arrive at the same time as the $100 application fee. You may pay this application fee either by making out a check to the Colorado China Council or through Paypal. Within 10 days of paying the application fee, you must make the initial payment if you have been accepted into the program as stated in the official CCC letter.
How much your initial payment and total payment will be depends on when you submit your application:
| Application submission date | Initial payment | Total payment |
|---|---|---|
| On or before October 31, 2011 | $1,475 | $2,950 |
| November 2011 - January 2012 | $1,575 | $3,150 |
| February | $1,625 | $3,250 |
| March | $1,675 | $3,350 |
| April | $1,725 | $3,450 |
| May | $1,775 | $3,550 |
| June | $1,825 | $3,650 |
| July or after | N/A | $3,750 |
Fees for children are a total of $475 per child regardless of age. Fees for non-teaching spouses are $300 because it takes much more time and effort to find universities who will accept non-teaching spouses.
No application processing fee for children or non-teaching spouses.
Schedule I fees cover:
The above fees do not cover airfare, visa fees of $190 or personal expenses at the SI - please see below on airfare costs.
Schedule II:
The Schedule II fees are for professional teachers with significant high school or university teaching experience who are unable to attend the Summer Institute. They cover everything the Schedule I fees do except the Summer Institute.
Application materials, both as digital documents sent by email and hard copies sent by post, must arrive at the same time as the $100 application fee. You may pay this application fee either by making out a check to the Colorado China Council or through Paypal. Within 10 days of paying the application fee, you must make the initial payment if you have been accepted into the program as stated in the official CCC letter.
How much your initial payment and total payment are depends on when you submit your application:
| Application submission date | Initial payment | Total payment |
|---|---|---|
| On or before November 30, 2011 | $725 | $1,450 |
| December 2011 | $825 | $1,650 |
| January 2012 | $875 | $1,750 |
| February | $925 | $1,850 |
| March | $975 | $1,950 |
| April | $1,025 | $2,050 |
| May | $1,075 | $2,150 |
| June or after | $1,125 | $2,250 |
Fees for children are a total of $475 per child regardless of age. Fees for non-teaching spouses are $300 because it takes much more time and effort to find universities who will accept non-teaching spouses.
No application processing fee for children or non-teaching spouses.
CCC occasionally places professional teachers mid-year/second semester if positions become available. The above fees also apply to mid-year placements. Please call first to discuss the possibilities of mid-year placement.
Child issues and concerns for families:
Chinese universities prefer to NOT accept families because it can easily double the work load of the waiban (Foreign Affairs Official). The documentation and processing needed per child, which greatly increases for adopted children, can be overwhelming for both the Chinese waiban and me. Also, after arrival in China unless one is fluent in Mandarin and very familiar with the system the waiban is also totally responsible for the child/childrens well being and clinic visits etc. in case of sickness. Also, and most significantly, are the concerns of the child's schooling. If the child is over 6 years old and needs to be in school you will have four options:
But in any case all of the above adds enormous stress on me, you and the waiban. Trying to make these arrangements in Chinglish can be nightmarishly difficult. It took 100s of hours for me to place two families together in China this year and the stress and strain, not to mention sleepless nights, was beyond the pale. But they are all in China now at their first choice university and city but not sure if any of us would do it again.
Housing is the next big concern. University housing tends to be very limited in size and one to two very small bedrooms is usually the best we can do and many schools will not subsidize off campus rentals . This complicates placement issues enormously when there are two or more children but with one child it is often very doable.
Also take into account the time frame. Because of all the above difficulties the universities usually don't notify us if they've accepted a family until May or June and if one has to rent or sell their home the pressures and stress are unbelievable not only for you and your family, but for me and the waiban who I am nagging daily to get the official documents for the visas to us ASAP. On a positive note, occasionally this process goes relatively smoothly but that is increasingly rare!
With all that being said if your teaching credentials are really good, and if you are extremely flexible, committed, organized and 100% DETERMINED, we can make this happen. CCC has been placing families for about 15 years and we will continue to try to place about two families per year but we all have to be on the same page with how increasingly difficult this process has become and the paperwork/documentation involved.
Schedule III:
After one year of teaching in China, if you want to apply for a second year at a different university the CCC fee for placement, contract negotiation, visa assistance and back-up support is $950.
If you want to continue to teach at your same university, you can negotiate your contract yourself.
Additional expenses not covered by program fee:
Airfare guesstimate: $975—one-way
The cost above is a guesstimate of one-way airfare from your US city to Sichuan based on airfares for 2011. This amount also varies based on your individual itinerary and fluctuating airfare costs.
Your Chinese university will reimburse you for all or most of your international and domestic travel to and from the school.. You must keep receipts. Reimbursements usually occur in late spring
Our Travel Coordinator will make ALL overseas and internal Chinese travel and visa arrangements for you. All airfare costs must be paid by June 15.
Visa fee: $190 ($140 for the visa fee and $50 for processing)
Physical exam expenses: $150 - $600 (depends on your individual insurance and number of shots/vaccines, etc.)
The Chinese government requires most foreign teachers to have an extensive physical examination, with specific tests, prior to departure for China and you will probably be re-tested in China. We will send you the official form required by the Chinese government. You will also want to discuss with your doctor what shots and/or vaccinations you may want though at the present time NONE are required for China
Meal & incidental expenses at Sichuan Summer Institute: $800 - $1200
Estimated cost per person for three meals per day and incidental travel money for buses and taxis and entertainment while attending the Sichuan Summer Institute, as well as shopping for start-up items, and money to help bridge any gap before you receive your first university salary check.
Bad check or insufficient funds charge: $50
Cost of TESL Certificate replacement: $75
If you meet the above qualifications please fill out the online application form, after which you will be directed to pay a $100 non-refundable application-processing fee via PayPal.
Spending a year teaching in China is not a decision to be made lightly. It will be a very difficult, challenging and occasionally frustrating year, but it can also be one of the most interesting, and memorable years of your life. Seriously consider the emotional, physical and financial aspects before you make a commitment. If you have questions, please call (303) 443-1108 and speak with Alice Renouf.