Today we’re interviewing Luca Stanga, who has a rather interesting story to tell us since he teaches English in China on a work visa, which shows that such an objective is not impossible for those who aren’t born into an English-speaking country so long as they have the right skills!

Luca, what work do you do in China and when did you get there?

I work at an English private school for children in Xi’an. The school is a franchise run by the company Education First. I work in the afternoons and on weekends since in the mornings the students attend public school. My work can be subdivided into three areas: lesson planning, teaching and extra activities to promote the institute.

Planning lessons takes time and imagination, but supplementary material is provided and you can always ask for advice from colleagues or the director of studies. There are about 12 to 14 students in a class, and in my case, the ages vary between 3 and 10 years old. Since the students are so young, each class is assigned a Chinese national teacher who gives support.

I’ve been working here for six months and am very happy with the professional experience that I’m developing, also thanks to the fact both the director and vice-director are professionals in their field and know their trade well. My contract expires in September but I’m thinking about signing on for another year because there are many elements of this company that I consider to be positive.

How did you find this job, and what is your educational background? [Read more…]

Today we’re interviewing Gessica Cipriano, a classical dance teacher in Jishou, a city located in Hunan Province.

If you’d like to learn more about Gessica and her adventures in China, take a look at her YouTube channel.

Working in a Chinese university

Gessica, first of all thanks for agreeing to answer my questions. Many people ask us how to find a job in China, so let’s start there. How did you get them to take you on as a classical dance teacher at a Chinese university?

Since 2015 I traveled throughout the United States and a little bit in Germany to learn what type of work opportunities can be found abroad in my field, and I dreamed a lot about these two possible destinations. I never actually thought of China and knew nothing about it.

In Spring of 2017, the university’s own international office saw my professional profile online and contacted me about the classical dance teacher position that was open, asking me if I was interested in applying.

Originally I didn’t think I’d want to consider the offer, because even though I’m inclined to traveling and moving around, I never considered Asia, other than a far off fantasy of Japan, but only as a tourist.

However I believe that China literally “called” me in some inexplicable metaphysical way, because, despite my rational side’s unwillingness to accept the idea, my subconscious began suddenly experiencing sleepless nights, almost unwitting daydreams and fantasies about this far off and mysterious world.

So, during yet another sleepless night, I started looking online for more information about this University, in Jishou in Hunan Province. There wasn’t much information available, but despite that I decided to start the application process. [Read more…]

Today we’ll interview Claudio Piani, who teaches physical education in the city of Shenzhen. You can follow Claudio’s adventures on his blog, Piani per la Cina (?).

If you’re interested in finding a job in China as a teacher (not just for physical education) I think you’ll find this interview extremely interesting!

Finding work in China as a teacher

Claudio, first of all thanks for agreeing to respond to my questions. Let’s get started right away: what gave you the idea to move to and work in China?

Hello to all the readers of “Taste of China” and thank you Furio for this motivating interview. I came up with the idea of moving to China to work about two years ago for various reasons. In 2014 I resigned from my job as a sporting operator in Milan to take an overland trip through Asia and Oceania.

The “pilgrimage” unexpectedly lasted for more than two years, in which I had the good fortune to cross China twice, first from north to south (Autumn 2014) and then from West to East (Summer 2016), causing me to fall in love with it.

It was actually during this period that I got the idea to move there to work, supported in part by the Chinese passion for basketball, the sport I taught in Italy.

How did you find a job? Did you use a specific website? An agency? Personal contacts? [Read more…]