This Week: Language Checks, Teaching in China, and More

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This week features a new Chinese language check, a look into teaching English in China, a Chinese idiom that I've been using with my students this past week, and a special look back at the channel from YEARS ago.

This Week’s Videos

1. 📝 Chinese Language Check – February 22, 2025 – Testing my Mandarin skills with a new challenge. Watch here
2. 💼 Making Money Teaching English in China – Breaking down salary expectations, job types, and visa considerations. Watch here
3. 👨‍🎓 The Teacher, the door, the student - A common saying in Chinese, made more apt by my re-entrance to the classroom. (Newsletter only)

Chinese Language Check – February 22, 2025

I've made it a mission of mine to make a new Chinese language-only video every month. These seems to happen around the middle of the month but there's no fixed schedule that I'm following. My original goal with these videos was simply to ensure I was practicing my speaking skills regardless of how accurate or good they were. Instead, I wanted to focus more on speaking production.

Thankfully, things have progressed and I'm not able to produce much more language without much effort. I still have to think about what I'm going to say, but it has become easier to "talk around" the point (ie, paraphrase), and sometimes I simply can't help but slip into English because I just don't know the word. I hope to change this going forward.

Further, as I've gotten better, I want to move away from talking about learning Chinese to using Chinese as a means to explain things, just as I do in English.

This month's language check talks about an important change in my life recently: the job change. I've discussed this in the newsletter before but I hadn't talked about it on the channel just yet. Chinese viewers got the first dose of the story. I'll leave the YouTube description below if you both want to translate it and figure out which words mean what.

📹 Watch here: YouTube Link

Here's the YouTube description in Chinese if you want to have a try reading through it (and yes, ChatGPT helped me with this one):

今天的天气不错，虽然有点冷，但风不算大。早上去吃了早点，买了包子、油条和豆浆，但买太多吃不完 😂。顺便聊聊最近的一些变化——我辞职了！从原来的公司工作转到大学教书，主要是教英文写作。虽然薪水比以前低，但这可能是一个新的机会，让我看看是否真的喜欢教学。

聊聊工作的话题——你为什么继续你的工作？或者你辞职了吗？在当前的经济环境下，很多人仍然在努力打工或者转行，你有什么想法？你会考虑做YouTuber吗？

此外，我最近在准备HSK考试，上次五级没考过，只有48分 😅，但今年想再试试，甚至挑战六级。也提到了一些春节的风俗，比如不能剪头发的习俗。

最后，如果你喜欢我的视频，别忘了点个赞 👍，订阅我的频道，还有关注我的新闻邮件！我们下次见！👋

How Much Can You Earn Teaching English in China?

One of the most common questions I get is: How much can you make teaching English in China?

In this detailed discussion, I talk about:

• 💰 Salary expectations for private schools, public schools, and universities
• 📋 Visa application timelines (start early!)
• 🎯 How to find a job (a simple but effective method)

Quick tip: If you’re job hunting, go to Wikipedia, search for universities/schools in your target city, and visit their websites to check for English programs with job openings.

📹 Watch here: YouTube Link

The teacher, the student, and the door

So, if there's one fun thing about returning to the classroom after so many years, it's that my Chinese has gotten a little better and I'm able to drop in some cultural-isms. One thing that is very common to happen in a Chinese classroom is the use of an idiom. Since this was my first week with the students, we were told to "establish what's expected". And so, in my introductory spiel, I informed them that they are in university now, there is no hand holding to get a good grade, and that, ultimately, learning was up to them, not me. After which, I paraphrased in Chinese the common saying:

师傅领进门，修行在个人

(shīfu lǐng jìn mén, xiūxíng zài gèrén)

Literal meaning:

A master (teacher) can lead you to the door, but cultivation (practice) depends on the individual.

Explanation:

A teacher can provide guidance, instruction, and knowledge, but it is ultimately up to the student to apply what they have learned, practice, and improve. This phrase is often used in education, martial arts, and self-improvement contexts, emphasizing that learning is a personal journey.

How did I paraphrase it? 一个老师就能带来你到一个门口，但是学生们应该自己进去。

The students had a good laugh at my very lengthy wording of the sentiment.

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That’s it for this week. Have any questions, comments, or suggestions? Reply to this email or leave a comment on YouTube.

For language learning support, reach out at stevenslanguagechannel@gmail.com.

Best,

Steve

PS - Want to see what my Chinese language was like when I FIRST STARTED the channel? Here. Just. Wow.