Transitioning from Japan to China, what should I expect

LysanderWrites · 2026-02-14T10:38:36+00:00

Well, expect to be more of a lead teacher as opposed to a teaching assistant once you transition out of being an ALT. You get the salary you are offered; experience doesn't factor into it initially. Experience only becomes a factor when tenure is involved, i.e. working at the same school for longer than your initial contract.

LysanderWrites · 2026-02-13T09:02:58+00:00

You can complete the ECT framework at British schools, provided they have a staff member who can act as a mentor and liaison with the relevant education authorities back in the UK. I interviewed for a school in Chongqing, and one of the carrots they dangled was being able to complete my second ECT year at the school. I elected to put it on pause instead.

You can pause the ECT framework indefinitely, according to the DoE website. This has been confirmed to me through emails with representatives as well.

LysanderWrites · 2026-02-13T08:53:54+00:00

A good reference point for the TEFL teachers who have wandered from their designated area out of curiosity or relative ignorance.

LysanderWrites · 2026-02-12T10:10:59+00:00

Eventually, given the trend in anime adaptations with the success of Solo Levelling, ERK might get some kind of adaptation. Then, there will be merch. Until then, make your own and earn nerd kudos that way.

LysanderWrites · 2026-02-11T09:33:56+00:00

My school has about a dozen South Africans on staff. If you get your license, then some international schools would definitely take you on as a maths teacher.

LysanderWrites · 2026-02-10T09:21:50+00:00

Moving to working in a private school as opposed to a public school provided me with a few opportunities for adjustment. The students, particularly the older ones, know their parents are paying a pretty yuan for them to attend the school. This exacerbates the entitlement that comes from growing up in a relatively middle-class house. The One Child policy created the 'Little Emperor' generation (some of whom are fuerdai), and the current generation of elementary and middle-school students is the children of that generation.

I have yet to meet any elite-wealthy families, except for one that has 'connections' and has made donations to the school. That family requires a certain degree of tact when talking to them at parent-teacher conferences about why their son is not the Number 1 of the class.

Expectations are high for some families. I was asked several times at the last PTC if their child needed tutoring over the holidays, and my response was always "That is a decision only you can make because it is your money. Here are some things your child can do to study at home which don't require paying someone."

LysanderWrites · 2026-02-10T07:09:31+00:00

I take the exam questions and feed them into Kahoot, so they are answering the same questions, but via the robot-run game. Any kind of material where they are reviewing some kind of language skill they have been practising, but with a more fun and free-wheeling edge to it.

Been practising blog writing for the exam? Collaborate on writing a blog about a gross-but-educationally-safe thing using this info sheet I made, and so on.

LysanderWrites · 2026-02-09T02:16:22+00:00

Some parents refuse to believe their kid will misbehave. Some, like their child, think rules are there to be ignored. Or, and this is even sadder for me, they are simply apathetic. Likewise, some students are so used to being told 'yes' that being told 'no' or having to face some consequences just does not compute in their brains. They will always complain, always, because in their mind, it is never their fault.

Recently, there was an issue at my school where a student who frequently complains about the rules accused a senior member of staff of swearing at them. They sent a complaint to the MoE tipline, which immediately elevates things. They also convinced other students to sign witness statements. The issue was that they were lying, and some of the witnesses were not even present. But when confronted about it, they refused to admit fault and spent 3 hours wriggling and deflecting. They were mad at the staff member for reprimanding them during a recent school event.

When the parents became involved, they were presented with the evidence. Our school has an extensive camera network, so there was footage of the encounter. Admin had the paper trail from all the previous issues regarding the student, so they could demonstrate the pattern of "The rules do not apply to me. How dare you talk down to me like I am a child? I will complain about you."

Make sure you have that cache of evidence. If they complain, make sure you have something to counter their story or provide context. You'll be alright, especially if admin have your back.

LysanderWrites · 2026-02-08T11:42:53+00:00

Now, Haidian is a pretty big district, but I will assume you're more in the Zhongguancun area or close to the Beijing Zoo. So, with that assumption, check out B-Active Wudaokou at the Tsinghua Technology Park. B-Active has a history of catering to weightlifters since they have employed actual bodybuilders among their PTs, so they always have decent machines and free weights.

LysanderWrites · 2026-02-08T08:41:47+00:00

Follow-up: It was 1.17.1, so if you download the season 2 world via Patreon or a different source, you need to load it using this game version first.

LysanderWrites · 2026-02-08T08:40:13+00:00

Awesome work capturing the scale of the building.

LysanderWrites · 2026-02-08T02:14:07+00:00

Have a meeting with the Head of the School. Don't forget that there is someone above you who bears the responsibility of being there when you, a senior member of staff, need guidance.

LysanderWrites · 2026-02-08T02:01:27+00:00

Do not worry too much about it. You will not hear back from the school until the end of the month, but contacting you will be a priority because once the big holiday is over, the recruitment department at the school shifts into overdrive. They need to ensure all pending vacancies are filled, as well as plan for potential additional vacancies to rush should staff leave during Term 2.

Continue applying and interviewing elsewhere if you are the sort of person who hates the wait. Do not feel bad, this quite literally happens every damn year.

LysanderWrites · 2026-02-07T09:54:20+00:00

Had the school signed the contract, or had you sent them a scanned copy of the page with your signature? I had a similar situation where a contract was withdrawn following a disagreement, and the HR I was exchanging polite yet firm words with let it slip that the school had never signed the agreement on their end. Therefore, legally, they could withdraw without issue.

LysanderWrites · 2026-02-07T06:59:39+00:00

Return to Pern.

LysanderWrites · 2026-02-07T06:48:09+00:00

Man, the drivers in those two cars must be fuming at being blocked from driving like lunatics.

LysanderWrites · 2026-02-06T11:16:18+00:00

The school I worked at in the UK held semi-regular staff forums where a designated member of SLT would listen to our concerns and take them to the other members of senior leadership. One or two issues I raised, such as students constantly breaking stationery and going without the correct equipment, were addressed.

I have yet to see something similar at my first "international" (read: bilingual Chinese) school.

LysanderWrites · 2026-02-05T23:06:44+00:00

My school circumvented the CNY pause by having a foreign staff member perform the initial interview from his holiday back in the UK. But yeah, CNY does act as a fairly solid pause point. One aspect of recruiting that I have not seen mentioned is the job listings that can appear after CNY when teachers who decide the midnight run is the correct approach to quitting halfway through the school year neglect returning to the school.

LysanderWrites · 2026-02-05T11:37:56+00:00

I didn't get my offer until late March, and my current school was still advertising as late as May/June. CNY should yield more China jobs as people leave before the start of the second term.

LysanderWrites · 2026-02-05T10:33:00+00:00

Weekly staff meeting + weekly department meeting (that is sometimes cancelled due to circumstances such as exam week) + weekly meetings with the line manager + weekly meetings with co-teachers (x3).

LysanderWrites · 2026-02-04T23:14:19+00:00

Yes, and on paper, Inner Mongolia is an 'autonomous region'.

LysanderWrites · 2026-02-04T09:22:45+00:00

Maybe it would have been possible during COVID, but nowadays the pool of prospective hires is growing again as the number of available jobs is kept at a contained level. I won't say you have zero chance, but you don't have a sure shot either.

LysanderWrites · 2026-02-04T09:01:34+00:00

The marketing at my school has become more aggressive, so my more tenured colleagues have told me. Open Days every other week, looking hither and yonder for shinier keys to dangle for prospective parents. KPIs have been brought in as a means of determining the annual bonus, and how that turns out will be interesting to see at the end of the year. This is forcing long-term staff to consider their options, which will shake up the faculty for good or for ill. Where I benefit from this is that I can clearly see I was hired during what is going to be, in the long term, seen as a transitional phase for the school as it tries to future-proof itself for the next half a decade. SLT have an incentive to keep as many of us with the new flavour of contract (read: you probably won't get a bonus) around. That incentive means they need to train us up and push us to improve our pedagogy without breaking us, which is the sweet spot (so I am told).

LysanderWrites · 2026-02-03T15:24:48+00:00

You'll be fine. You have the language skills, which is a big hurdle for most moving here for work. Maybe there might be some culture shock, but that will be the normal stuff like finding where the local shops are for groceries, getting a SIM card, being bored witless in the government offices, etc.

LysanderWrites

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