Teach English in Beijing and earn a top teaching salary while you live abroad. The city blends the old and the new and pulls in a like-minded community of fellow teachers from all over the world. Whether you want to learn Chinese, take a university program, or simply travel deeply, Beijing is one of the best cities to teach English abroad.
Go back in time
Beijing's pull is its history. The headline sites are the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and the Great Wall of China — all reachable on weekends.
The Forbidden City is a complex of over 9,000 rooms spread across 250 acres. It was built in the 1400s, then burnt down and rebuilt — most of the current architecture dates to the Qing Dynasty in the 1800s.
Tiananmen Square is an important political site containing monuments to revolutionary heroes, the Great Hall of the People, the National Museum of China, and the Chairman Mao Zedong Memorial Hall. It was the site of the 1989 pro-democracy protest.
For an iconic hike, head to the Great Wall — come prepared with good walking shoes. The wall has 8 sections and is best preserved in the stretches from the Ming Dynasty.
The TEFL certification China's Z visa requires
China requires a 120-hour TEFL/TESOL for the Z work visa. OnTESOL's 120-hr course is TESL Canada recognized and ACCET accredited — the documentation pairing China's SAFEA accepts. Pair it with the TEYL specialist for Beijing's private-tutoring market.
View TEFL Course →Great food
Take a break from the sightseeing and dig into authentic Chinese food. On every street corner you'll find tiny morsels, and the city hosts a regional dish from every province in the country — so you won't miss out on regional cuisine even if you never leave Beijing. If you'd rather cook at home, this is one of the best cities for it. Local magazines like The Beijinger, Time Out Beijing, and City Weekend Beijing are useful resources, plus cooking classes for those who want to dig deeper.
The TESOL community
Beijing has a large expat and TESOL community. Most teachers live in the Haidian district, near the most prestigious universities — this is also where many of the best Chinese schools are located, and where many Chinese parents hire tutors for their children. Another great aspect of the local community is the biennial conference of the International Association of Chinese Linguistics, one of the most renowned for anyone interested in Chinese linguistics.