Reasons for lack of professionalism in teaching Chinese to foreigners

I always hold the view that Chinese language teaching to foreigners in China falls short of professionalism and training. The authoritarian political system constrains the sort of teachers trained.

Another reason is probably because the emerging Chinese language schools do not want to pay attractive salaries to recruit good teachers.

Do you have any idea how much a teacher earns in a Chinese language school? If the teacher is a fresh graduate from a teacher college, say in Hangzhou, a wealthy coastal city near Shanghai, their monthly salary is less than 2,000 RMB - about 1,800 RMB. And the schools are happy to hire these fresh graduates rather than more experienced teachers. The reason is obvious. Fresh graduates’ salary is low and they will work hard just to keep the jobs offered - after all there are not many vacancies in the field of teaching Chinese to foreigners yet.

Well, to keep the school’s reputation, the school will also hire some experienced teachers. But I can assure you, there must be some fresh graduates as teaching staff just to keep the cost down and the profit high.

I know in person some school management lie to foreign students about the qualities and experience of their teachers. And as foreign students, you tend to just listen and trust what is being told.

I have known and experienced so many lies living in China. Maybe you are more lucky than me.