Earn Money Teaching English While At The Beijing Language and Culture University

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In my post 10 Reasons To Study Chinese At BLCU I mentioned the opportunities for teaching English during your time at the Beijing Language and Culture University. I also mentioned that although it's not strictly aloud without a valid work visa, a lot of foreigners still choose to do it to earn a bit of extra money and it's very much turned a blind eye to. The Wudaokou area, where BLCU is located, is full of work opportunities for foreigners and not only in English teaching jobs.

I will point out that this is something I have never personally done and am purely offering my own insights and observations from my time at BLCU. Many people I knew, on the other hand, did do some work while there and so I did pick up one or two things that I'm going to share with you in this post. This is by no means a definitive guide, but I have attempted to at least scratch the surface and leave the way open for anyone that's interested to look into it more for themselves.

Where to look

I was approached, as were many of my friends, on a number of occasions by people looking for English speakers to do voice-overs or script reading as well as photo shoots and various other one-off or ongoing work opportunities. I remember once a friend made 100 RMB by writing out a few pages of text in handwriting for a team that were developing mobile software. They were going round the BLCU canteens asking anyone they saw who wanted to make a quick buck and this sort of thing goes on all the time.

You will also see adverts and flyers pinned to bulletin boards and walls in the BLCU and Wudaokou area, particularly in cafes and locations known to be popular with foreigners (such as Nowhere Cafe on the second floor of the Conference Centre on campus, Bridge Cafe in Wudaokou, the old canteen buildings (which have since been demolished) and many other places), offering either employment opportunities or advertising some sort of service, or even apartments which are for rent. People looking for flatmates often also leave adverts in these places.

Of course, one of the easiest and most convenient ways to find work during your time at BLCU is through the internet, by checking classified sections of websites such as The Beijinger and others. If you're specifically looking for available English teaching positions, they have a dedicated section for that too. You can even post up your own advert and relevant details for free so that others looking for an English teacher or whatever services it is your offering can then easily get in touch with you if they're interested.

Teaching English in Wudaokou

If you're looking for work opportunities teaching English around BLCU, a good place to check out would be the English centre on one of the top floors of the U-Centre in Wudaokou. You can get there by walking round the building's west side and then taking a lift up to the designated floor which should be listed on a plaque on the wall or inside the lift itself. The lifts can be found through some glass doors beside a shoe shop, if I remember correctly, and shouldn't be too hard to find.

Once there, they will ask you some questions about your experience and what you expect to be paid per hour. They may also ask for a photograph which they will take before you leave. Clients can then arrange a class with you if they like the sound of your profile. One thing to know though is that they don't pay you until the end of each month and I think they keep the first month's pay as some kind of insurance as you are meant to agree to staying there for a minimum contract time of around 6 months or so. Due to these conditions, a lot of people decide to look for English teaching work elsewhere or privately where they have more freedom and financial security.

Another popular English school in Wudaokou, though a bit more upmarket, is Wall Street English. It's located in the same square as the Microsoft and Cernet buildings which you will no doubt see when you're there or know of already if your currently studying Chinese at BLCU. Instead of going up the broad stone stairs onto the upper-level plateau (like I talk about doing to find the great Teppanyaki restaurant in 5 Restaurants Near BLCU You Might Not Know About), look for it just to the left and slightly hidden from view. I believe there's also a coffee shop next to it, though I've never been in, and it's slightly below ground level so you may even need to take some stairs down.

I think WSE is a bit of a harder place to get work at and may be class-based teaching rather than one-on-one, but if you have some experience under your belt and are confident that you could handle it, this place could offer a great opportunity with potentially the best pay you will find for teaching English in the area.

What is the pay like?

It's worth knowing that the average rate for teaching English one-on-one in Beijing is in the region of 150 RMB per hour. As such, it's very well paid and can be relatively easy money too once you get into the swing of it. Particularly if you have experience teaching English in the past, the opportunity for dong so again during your time at BLCU may be very attractive.

Finally, compared with Chinese students who teach Mandarin to foreigners for sometimes as low as 40 RMB per hour, it's easy to see that English teachers have a real advantage when it comes to earning money on the side during their studies. Also, keep this figure is mind should you decide to look for a private Chinese tutor to help you with your Mandarin.

So, what about you? Did you do any English teaching or other work while at BLCU and what advice or tips could you share with others? Alternatively, are you planning on doing some when you get there? Please leave your comments or questions in the comments section below and thanks for reading The BLCU Blog. See you in the next post!

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