How Much Money Can You Make Teaching English in China?

Ahh the famous question. How much money can someone make by teaching English in China? Or to be more specific, how much money can someone without teaching experience make? Well, to answer both questions, it depends. I know this is not the answer you want to hear, but that's the reality. Depending on the city you work in, the company you work for, the teaching hours available for you, your level of experience and your qualifications, the salary you get by teaching English in China will vary accordingly. But they do have a common minimum hourly wage that is applicable in many cities, which I am going to talk about more in detail later. I'm here to speak from my own experience teaching English in Shanghai, therefore it will be different than the experience of someone who taught in Beijing or Guangzhou.

My Experience

Before I left to Shanghai, I looked for English teaching positions on numerous websites including Dave's ESL Cafe or E-chinacities. A lot of the jobs posted on these website have VERY interesting salary prospects. Some of them offer up to 25,000 RMB per month for 0-2 years of teaching experience, which is equivalent to about $5000 CAD, and they offer free housing too. Of course, when you see an offer like that, you can't help but be interested in applying. But you have to be really careful with some of these adds. Some of them may be scams and you don't want to end up moving to China and finding out you're not getting all the things they tell you you were going to get.

In my case, I actually moved to China before actually getting an English teaching job. It was a risky move, but I had some savings and I found this risk was more worth taking than getting a teaching job from Canada and ending up in a less-than ideal working situation. This way, I can actually do the interviews face-to-face and get a good feel of the company that I'm applying for.

Now, I practically had no teaching experience (just some one-on-one tutoring) and I also didn't have a degree in Education or Teaching. I only took 100-hour TESOL classes online and obtained a TESOL Certification. When I interviewed for two companies, they told me that the salary for a teacher without much experience starts at 200 RMB per hour ($40 CAD). And this was true. It seemed really high and I didn't know if they were saying that just to incite me to work there. However, when I finally landed a teaching job at a weekend language school, they really did give a salary of 200 RMB per hour. Keep in mind, this salary is for people who do not have any experience in teaching. I've heard stories of people who have more than 2 years of experience charging up to 350 RMB per hour. But then again, it depends on the company and the city you work in too. I do want to point out that the job I got at the weekend school was part-time. I ended up getting another freelance tutoring gig with one of my classmates, and I charged them 150 RMB per hour. It was lower, but they were my friends (special discount) and it was one-on-one tutoring, so it was a significantly easier job. This pay rate was also significantly higher than what I would receive in Canada, so I didn't really mind. But a freelance private tutoring job should be able to get you 200 RMB per hour.

So all in all, I was getting about 5600 RMB per month ($1120 CAD) for working only 8 hours per week. But don't come to the conclusion that if you work 40 hours per week, you'd be getting 32,000 RMB per month since the minimum pay rate is 200 RMB per hour. I had some schools emailing me for an interview for a full-time job, and they offered me 20,000 RMB per month plus benefits, but that was in Guangzhou. So it all depends on a lot of aspects.

That was my experience teaching English in China and I hope it gave you an idea of what you might be able to get salary wise. If you have any questions, want to share your own experience or have any suggestions for a blog post, please feel free to leave a comment and I'll be sure to get back to you as soon as possible!