Young teachers attend inspiring lectures and strategic workshops, including embracing the teaching professional and designing social development projects.
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Beijing — Emalyn Ceniza Jiang, 31, taught English as a part-time teacher from 2013 to 2014 in Daan, Jilin province, with a monthly pay of 3,000 to 4,000 yuan (between Php 20,000 to Php 27,000).
But it was a no-work, no-pay arrangement and they were told by their agency to reveal another nationality when asked about their country of origin.
Americans and Caucasians were preferred and were paid more than Filipinos even though majority of the Filipinos are better English language speakers than their fair-skinned counterparts.
Emalyn is a native of Mandaue City, Cebu, and has graduated with an elementary education degree at St. Theresa’s College (STC) and taught English in STC and Speech Communication in Velez College.
Emalyn’s husband, Lei, is a Chinese national who taught Mandarin Chinese when they met in Indonesia in 2011, where she had her first foreign experience in teaching English.
The Jiang couple moved to China in 2012 to get married and initially planned to set up an English Remedial Center, an in-demand service especially for university students who will be taking Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and International English Language Testing System (IELTS).
A TOEFL or an IELTS is required to enter a university in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.
But there were bureaucratic issues that they had to face, so the Jiang couple chose to open a tutorial center in their house’s spare room. The arrangement also allowed them to spend more time with their daughter, Fei.
The home-based tutorial center gained patronage from several students and families because of Emalyn’s experience in teaching in English in Indonesia and the Philippines.
But it cannot be denied that those who come from countries in which English is the first language is more sought after. They are also paid more than half of what most Filipinos are getting. A Filipino citizen serving as an English teacher may get $1,000 as monthly salary, while an American citizen can get between $2,000 to $3,000 per month.
These days, the Jiang couple live and work in Jakarta, Indonesia. While Filipinos teaching English in Indonesia are still paid lower than the native English speakers, leave credits are included in the contract so they are still paid when they are out of the classroom.
Better prospects
A new development in China’s move to be more open to the Philippines may pull Emalyn’s teaching career back to China as the two countries are undergoing talks on hiring Filipino professionals as English teachers, said Philippine Ambassador to China Jose Santiago Sta. Romana.
“China is now planning to open opportunities for Filipinos’ legitimate employment as English teachers. They have expanded their definition of English-speaking countries,” Sta. Romana said.
In the past, China concentrated on employing native English speakers. This time, they have included countries which were colonized by native English-speaking nations.
“They laid the groundwork. As long as you have the qualifications, meaning college degrees particularly in teaching English or education, you can teach not only in the elementary and high school (levels) but also in the university, if you have that competitive degree,” he said.
China has not specified the number of English teachers to be hired from the Philippines as the two countries are still ironing out details including understanding how the Philippine education system works with inputs from the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd).
Sta. Romana said talks have just started, but China already expressed willingness to pursue partnership on this aspect. The hiring of Filipino English teachers will hopefully be finalized before the end of President Rodrigo Duterte’s term.
“We hope that Dep-Ed, CHEd and different agencies in the Philippines can accelerate, expedite efforts to deal with that. The Chinese have expressed their willingness, but they need both sides to work on this,” he said.
With this development, Emalyn hopes to go back to China where the rest of her husband’s family resides.
“This is a happy news. The salary will never be the same with the Caucasians but at least we don’t need to hide that we are Filipinos. We do not have to compete with native English speakers to be hired as English teacher in China,” she said.