{"id":4833,"date":"2018-04-05T15:58:29","date_gmt":"2018-04-05T19:58:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog?p=4833&#038;preview=true&#038;preview_id=4833"},"modified":"2018-04-05T16:01:38","modified_gmt":"2018-04-05T20:01:38","slug":"our-grad-talks-about-tattooing-and-teaching-english-in-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/our-grad-talks-about-tattooing-and-teaching-english-in-china\/","title":{"rendered":"Our grad talks about tattoos &#038; teaching English in China &#8211; Video"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Teaching English abroad is a great way to live out your passion for travel and feed (or develop) your passion for teaching. On top of that it can be a great way to feed your other passions as well!<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s exactly what our grad Jonathan is planning to do when he goes to China to teach English this Summer. Jonathan is an avid tattoo blogger, and one of the perks of bringing his side hustle with him while teaching English in China is the opportunity to learn all about China&#8217;s fascinating tattoo culture.<\/p>\n<p>Watch the video below to hear about Jonathan&#8217;s experiences in our course and his plans for his upcoming adventure teaching ESL in China!<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none; overflow: hidden;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Foxfordseminars%2Fvideos%2F1939331692774602%2F&amp;show_text=0&amp;width=560\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Want to get started teaching English abroad?<\/h2>\n<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/teaching-abroad\/free-info-sessions\/\">Attend a Free Information Session<\/a><\/h3>\n<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/tesol-tesl-tefl-course\/locations-dates\/\">Find a Course Near You<\/a><\/h3>\n<p><\/p>\n<h3>Video Transcription: Tattoos and Teaching English in China<\/h3>\n<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"Q1\"><\/div>\n<h3>What were you doing before you decided to teach English abroad?<\/h3>\n<p>I\u2019m a part time photographer, which is sort of my main gig at the moment, and I\u2019ve been doing that since I was in high school actually. So it\u2019s quite a bit of fun.<\/p>\n<p>A couple years ago I started writing a tattoo blog because I became really interested in tattoos when I turned 18 and I just found that there wasn\u2019t the information out there that I was wanting. So I started doing my own research and writing my own blogs, and it took off pretty quickly. I have a pretty decent following now on my blog which is nice. It also helps my photography. I can kind of advertise the two with each other.<\/p>\n<div id=\"Q2\"><\/div>\n<h3>What made you decide to teach English abroad?<\/h3>\n<p>I love traveling and I really wanted to be able to travel more and actually live abroad. And I thought the best way to do that would be to teach English!\u00a0So I started looking into different courses. I actually found Oxford Seminars through an ad on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/oxfordseminars\/\">Instagram<\/a>, I think. I went to one of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/teaching-abroad\/free-info-sessions\/\">information sessions<\/a> and signed up right at the end.<\/p>\n<div id=\"Q3\"><\/div>\n<h3>What was the certification process like?<\/h3>\n<div id=\"attachment_4843\" style=\"width: 663px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4843\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4843\" src=\"\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Jon.jpg\" alt=\"Jon_with_TEFL_certificate\" width=\"653\" height=\"608\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Jon.jpg 653w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Jon-300x279.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Jon-320x298.jpg 320w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Jon-150x140.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Jon-155x144.jpg 155w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 653px) 100vw, 653px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4843\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">With his TESOL\/TESL\/TEFL certificate in hand, Jonathan is planning to teach English in China.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>It was 6 [days] of in-person [classes]\u2026 on weekends and it was pretty full days, long days, but my instructor was fantastic. He was a really nice guy. He made the classes interesting and fun.<\/p>\n<p>And after that was done I started my online portion of it [the course] pretty much right away\u2026 I think I did it in about a month. I was doing it in the evenings mostly, but it wasn\u2019t too strenuous. And after that I got my\u2026certificate in the mail.<\/p>\n<div id=\"Q4\"><\/div>\n<h3>What made you pick Oxford Seminars?<\/h3>\n<p>So, actually the big thing was that it was in-person, because I don\u2019t have actual teaching experience. So I thought the in-person [classes] would be a better way of learning\u2026because at the end of it you have to actually teach a lesson to your class\u2026 It was a really good experience. You get good feedback on it from your classmates and also from the instructor. So it was really the in-person part of it that made me pick [Oxford Seminars].<\/p>\n<div id=\"Q5\"><\/div>\n<h3>How did you start your tattoo blog? Are you going to continue it while teaching English overseas?<\/h3>\n<p>Yeah! Absolutely!&#8230; I started doing my own research and writing my own blog posts about different tattoo artists and designs, and tattoo history and culture. And with the history and culture, I really want to incorporate that into working [teaching English] in China because China has a fascinating tattoo history. I\u2019ve done <a href=\"https:\/\/jonathanvandyck.com\/2017\/09\/22\/tattoo-history-7-chinas-hainan-provinces-tattooed-li-women\/\">one post<\/a> so far but I\u2019d love to actually visit some of the places where these more ancient tattoo traditions are still alive.<\/p>\n<p>So I\u2019ll definitely be continuing that and I\u2019ll also be writing about artists that are in China as well.<\/p>\n<div id=\"Q6\"><\/div>\n<h3>How did you find a job teaching English in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/country\/china\/\">China<\/a>?<\/h3>\n<p>I got in contact with my <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/job-placement\/\">Job Placement Advisor<\/a> and I think he answered me within maybe an hour after I emailed him, which was awesome. And he walked me through the process online of picking countries that I was interested in and building up my resume so that it would look good for teaching English.<\/p>\n<p>Once all that was done then he sent me a few links to schools and companies that he was going to send my resume to so that I could research them a little bit. And I think within maybe a couple days I had a call from someone in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/country\/korea\/\">South Korea<\/a> actually. And that one I didn\u2019t end up going with but I had an interview within a couple days.<\/p>\n<p>Then I had a few more companies that he sent my resume off to and then I had the one from China and he told me he was sending that one. And I think within 40 minutes after he had sent that email to the company in China, a recruiter for that company called me and did an on the spot interview. And then we did another interview after that, a few days later and then I was offered the job!<\/p>\n<div id=\"Q7\"><\/div>\n<h3>What were the interviews like?<\/h3>\n<p>So the first interview was when he called me to basically make sure that I was going to be more or less a fit for what they were looking for in the company and that it was what I was looking for too. And then the second, longer interview was a Skype interview.<\/p>\n<p>He gave me a couple weeks to accept, and I think I took about a week just to research the company more and the city just to really make sure this is what I wanted. And then I sent my reply and accepted it and I\u2019ve been slowly working on the visa process for them because for China it\u2019s quite extensive.<\/p>\n<h3>When do you leave for China?<\/h3>\n<div id=\"attachment_4845\" style=\"width: 810px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/country\/china\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4845\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4845\" src=\"\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/11486763_ML-2.jpg\" alt=\"the Great Wall of China\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/11486763_ML-2.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/11486763_ML-2-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/11486763_ML-2-690x460.jpg 690w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/11486763_ML-2-320x213.jpg 320w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/11486763_ML-2-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/11486763_ML-2-216x144.jpg 216w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4845\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jonathan plans\u00a0to visit the Great Wall, Beijing, and some of China&#8217;s Buddhist temples while he is teaching English.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>I have until\u2026June 15th to get all my documents completed but I\u2019m actually going to be backpacking Japan and South Korea for all of May and the beginning of June so I have to finish it before I leave, which is May 7th.<\/p>\n<div id=\"Q8\"><\/div>\n<h3>Do you have any interview tips for new ESL teachers?<\/h3>\n<p>For Skype interviews, I would recommend practicing with a friend. Just make sure that your Skype presence is good. It\u2019s a little different than doing it face to face in person. So\u2026making sure you have good sound, good lighting, for whatever\u2019s in the background, clean up a little bit if you have to. And definitely practice for the Skype interview because it\u2019s a little different.<\/p>\n<h3>Do you know what type of class you\u2019re going to be teaching?<\/h3>\n<p>I\u2019m going to be teaching adults, eighteen and up. And I was told it\u2019s going to be mostly university-age, so roughly students my own age actually, which should be interesting. And this company that I will be working for does some 1 on 1 classes, some pair work and some group classes, and I think the maximum size of my classes will be 10 to 15 people, but starting off it will be smaller class sizes, which is nice.<\/p>\n<h3>Do you know what your housing will be like? Does the school pay for your housing?<\/h3>\n<p>I get two weeks once I arrive in China to apartment hunt. They set me up with an agent and give us an orientation for how to go about actually finding an apartment\u2026.[housing] is not [covered] for this job, but because so many teaching jobs, especially in China, do actually pay for your housing, this job has a higher salary.<\/p>\n<div id=\"Q9\"><\/div>\n<h3>Did you have to negotiate your contract at all?<\/h3>\n<p>I didn\u2019t actually have to negotiate because everything in mine\u2026was good, but right away, when I got my contract I sent it over to my Placement Advisor so they could look over it. They were great at walking me through what everything meant. There are a lot of technical terms in it that aren\u2019t used in everyday language, so they went over everything with me.<\/p>\n<h3>Where else do you want to travel while you\u2019re teaching abroad?<\/h3>\n<div id=\"attachment_4844\" style=\"width: 810px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/country\/china\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4844\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4844\" src=\"\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/adi-constantin-65004.jpg\" alt=\"Shanghai skyline at night\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/adi-constantin-65004.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/adi-constantin-65004-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/adi-constantin-65004-690x388.jpg 690w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/adi-constantin-65004-320x180.jpg 320w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/adi-constantin-65004-150x84.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/adi-constantin-65004-256x144.jpg 256w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4844\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shanghai, China&#8217;s largest city, is becoming more and more well known for its vibrant tattoo culture.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/country\/korea\/\">South Korea<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/country\/japan\/\">Japan<\/a>, I\u2019m actually doing in May, but once I\u2019m in China I definitely want to see the Great Wall, so I\u2019ll probably go to Beijing for that and do a bit of a tour around there.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019d also really like to go to Shanghai. That also ties in with my tattoo interest. There are a lot of great tattoo artists in Shanghai so I definitely want to get tattooed in China as well.<\/p>\n<p>I also want to visit some of the older temples, the Buddhist temples, and the mountains, and see some forests and parks in China as well, and not just big cities.<\/p>\n<div id=\"Q10\"><\/div>\n<h3>Do you have any advice for people thinking about teaching English abroad?<\/h3>\n<p>So I decided [to teach abroad] after the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/teaching-abroad\/free-info-sessions\/\">free information session<\/a>. I think anyone who\u2019s at all interested [should] definitely check out a session in your city. They have great information. They can answer all your questions about the course, and it is a really great <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/tesol-tesl-tefl-course\/\">course<\/a>. If you\u2019re wanting to travel, wanting to teach, I think you should just do it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Follow us on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/oxfordseminars\/\">Facebook<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/oxfordseminars\/\">Instagram<\/a> for more stories from our grads and other ESL teachers around the world!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><h2>Start your ESL teaching adventure!<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p><h3><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/course-guide\/\">Download our Course Guide<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p><h3><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/teaching-abroad\/free-info-sessions\/\">Sign up for a free information session about teaching ESL overseas<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p><h3><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/tesol-tesl-tefl-course\/locations-dates\/\">Find a TESOL\/TESL\/TEFL course near you<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p>[wp_social_sharing social_options=&#8217;facebook,twitter,pinterest&#8217; twitter_username=&#8217;oxford_seminars&#8217; facebook_text=&#8217;Share on Facebook&#8217; twitter_text=&#8217;Share on Twitter&#8217; googleplus_text=&#8217;Share on Google+&#8217; pinterest_text=Share on Pinterest\\&#8221; icon_order=&#8217;f,t,g,p&#8217; show_icons=&#8217;1&#8242; before_button_text=&#8221; text_position=&#8221; social_image=&#8217; \/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-social-sharing\/static\/socialshare.png&#8217;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Teaching English abroad is a great way to live out your passion for travel and feed (or develop) your passion for teaching. On top of that it can be a great way to feed your other passions as well! That&#8217;s exactly what our grad Jonathan is planning to do when he goes to China to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":4842,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76,24,441,197],"tags":[86,308,448,90,178],"class_list":["post-4833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia","category-getting-tefl-certified","category-reviews","category-video","tag-china","tag-review","tag-tattoos","tag-teaching-english-abroad","tag-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4833"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4833\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5122,"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4833\/revisions\/5122"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}