Kindergarten

There are an increasing number of kindergartens (mostly private) employing foreign teachers in China. I have done a very small amount of kindergarten teaching (two hours a week for 5 months) and personally will be quite happy if I never do it again. However, if you just can't stop humming the tune to 'head, shoulders, knees and toes' . . .

Kindergartens employing foreign teachers are much more likely to be concerned with impressing parents rather than actually teaching 4 year olds to speak English. I know of one case where a teacher arrived at her new job and asked what her duties would be. She was told to 'Be here at 8 when the parents are dropping the children off and at 4 when they collect them'. That was it.

If you have plenty of energy, love kids, and don't mind pencil-case politics and snot, go for it. Make sure you will have short, frequent sessions (best for their attention span and your energy span) and that you will always have a Chinese teaching assistant in the classroom to keep the kids herded.

I did one 40 minute session with 30 kids and no Chinese person within sight (at least none able to tie knots) and while the result could easily have inspired a Christmas Hollywood film about some major star who accidentally gets left in charge of a kindergarten, it's not an experience I'd want to repeat. The funniest bit was when 'head, shoulders' knees and toes' turned into 'head, shoulders, knees and all collapse on the floor in a giggling heap because you haven't yet got the coordination to touch your toes'.

I haven't done any formal research, but at first glance it appears that kindergarten jobs pay slightly more than might be expected for similar jobs with older children. This may be because it's difficult to tempt people into this work.