Dongguan at a Glance

Dongguan (/dongguan/, dong-guan) is a city in Guangdong Province, China. As a representation of Guangfu Culture (the culture of Han habitants who use Cantonese in Pearl River Deltas, including Cantonese music, Cantonese cuisine and other abundant cultures), Dongguan is well-known for Cantonese opera, animal dance, dragon boats and flower lanterns. It is the first of the 'Four little tigers of Guangdong', and is perceived as 'the factory of the world'. Furthermore, the Dongguan also plays a leading part in Guangdong's transportation and foreign trade. In 2019, the magazine China Customs by China's General Administration of Customs rated Dongguan number three in 2018 China's Top 100 Foreign Trade Cities.

Where Is Dongguan

Dongguan is located in Southern China. It is in the south-central Guangdong, next to Guangzhou.

Population of Dongguan

The population of Dongguan in 2019 is 2,510,600. The density of population is 3384 people per square kilometre.

Weather in Dongguan

Dongguan is in the tropic area. Based on the weather data in timeanddate.com, it is generally warm all year long and has sufficient sunshine duration. In July (the hottest month), the average temperature is 30°C. In January (the coldest month), the average temperature is 14℃. The humidity is 73%. Dongguan has an annual precipitation of 1061.6 mm and mean precipitation of 88.5 mm. The rainy days are mostly in May, June, July and August, especially in June. Because it is near the south-east coast, a typhoon is highly likely to hit Dongguan every summer. The Number of days with good or excellent air quality in 2019 was 285.

How to Get to Dongguan

Guangzhou is the nearest Tier 1 city from Dongguan. The driving distance from Guangzhou to Dongguan is 68.7 km (42.7 miles), taking 46 mins. If you take a high-speed train, it takes about 30 mins.

Teach English in Dongguan, Guangdong Province

Since Dongguan is economically highly developed, it has formed a huge demand for high-end education in the market, 1125 kindergartens and 568 schools according to Baidu. Basically, three sorts of institutions in Dongguan demand foreign ESL teachers (click and see the definitions in TTJ's glossary).

• International Schools
• Training centres
• Kindergartens

They differ in terms of responsibilities, salary, and requirements. Here we will first elaborate the how the jobs are like in international schools, training centres and kindergartens, before introducing the salary condition, after which we will explain the requirements.

International School Jobs in Dongguan

TTJ has recorded 15 Dongguan international schools, including

• Dongguan Etonhouse International School
• International School of Dongguan
• Dongguan Villas Royal Foreign Language School
• Haide Bilingual School, St. Bees, Tsinglan School
• Dongguan Guangming Primary School
• St. Lorraine Anglo-Chinese School
• Tungwah Wenzel International School
• Dongguan Guangming High School
• Dongguan Hanlin Experimental School
• Humen Foreign Language School
• Dongguan Foreign Language School

ESL teachers in international schools would be confronting pupils, middle school students or high school students depending on the schools. Their main responsibilities involve planning the lessons, delivering high-quality classes using multimedia, assigning and marking homework on time, evaluating student progress, providing guidance, attending training sessions and meetings, organising and participating in extracurricular activities, etc.

Click and check more information about these top international schools with TTJ:

• St. Bees School Dongguan
• Tsinglan School, Dongguan

Kindergarten Jobs in Dongguan

TTJ has recorded 3 kindergartens in Dongguan, including

• Dongguan Huangjiang Zonglvquan Kindergarten
• Dongguan TungWah International Kindergarten
• Etonhouse Kindergarten Dongguan Campus

Kindergarteners in bilingual kindergartens are basically responsible for teaching English. They may also be required to do other work. For example, Dongguan Huangjiang Zonglvquan Kindergarten would ask the ESL teachers to assist Chinese English teachers on oral English training, help the recruiting team for candidates’ English tests, join in English activities, as well as drafting and revising the English teaching materials.

Training Centre Jobs in Dongguan

Dongguan is an international metropolis. Thus, English learning has become a vitally important part of its education market. Apart from studying English at school, students tend to go to extra English classes. That is what the countless English training centres in Dongguan are set up for. The diverse English training centres cater for babies, pupils, teenagers and adults, and are hungry for foreign ESL teachers. The key responsibilities of ESL teachers in training centres are planning lessons and teaching English. ESL teachers might have to get accustomed to the curriculum and teaching methods of the training centres’ own, since many training centres have developed their own teaching systems. Moreover, it is noteworthy that as students of training centres are likely to come in their off-hours, so it is possible that the ESL teachers will be working in the evening or at weekends.

How Much Do You Get Paid to Teach in Dongguan?

To teach in Dongguan, you have a great chance to gain a sufficient salary, according to Dongguan City & Salary 2020 Research Report. The average minimum salary of an ESL teacher in an international school for a month is ¥17,100.00 ($2441.88), and the average maximum salary for a month is ¥24,000.00 ($3427.20). The average salary per month is ¥20,550.00 ($2934.54). For a kindergarten ESL teacher, the average minimum salary per month is ¥18,333.34 ($2618.00), the average maximum salary per month is ¥26,058.34 ($3721.13), and the average salary for a month is ¥22,195.84 ($3169.57). A training centre ESL teacher will have a monthly mean minimum salary of ¥12,375.00 ($1767.15), a monthly mean maximum salary of ¥19,218.75 ($2744.44), and a mean monthly salary of ¥15,796.88 ($2255.80).

Dongguan ESL Job Requirements

The job requirements vary depending on the institutions and the job type. Generally, the requirements cover educational background, teaching experiences, the English level, and licences.

• Educational background: bachelor or above. Some international school and high-end training centres and kindergartens will ask for a related degree, such and English language or education.
• Teaching experiences: many job openings do not necessarily require teaching experience. However, with teaching experiences, you will have a better chance to be hired.
• English level: according to Dongguan City & Salary 2020 Research Report, 56.25% training centre job openings, 83.33% international job openings and  75.00% kindergarten job openings in Dongguan are only for native English speakers. Therefore, being a native English speaker is an advantage, but there are huge quantities of jobs that open for non-English native speakers.
• Licences: see our definitions for teaching licences. Some international schools will need PGCE, PGDE iPGCE, QTs/QTLS and SACE, while others only require certifications like TESOL, TEFL or CELTA.
• Others: clean background and health condition might be inspected. Different institutions might have different specific requirements, such as personal traits.

For more detailed information, please refer to the city report below this article.

Living in Dongguan, China

Dongguan is an extremely convenient city to live in. This modern city is completed infrastructure and developed transportation. In addition, it is close to Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hongkong. What is more, the city has good tourism resources and Overall, life in Dongguan is very enjoyable.

Things to Do in Dongguan

Dongguan is an amazing tropic city. You can enjoy the sunshine and the wonderful natural landscape. It is suggested that Songshan Lake Park is a peaceful and beautiful place to visit. There are buildings in traditional Chinese style. A sightseeing place with more green is National Forest Park of Mount Guanyin. It has attracted innumerable tourists coming every year.

Cost of Living in Dongguan

Compared to the first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, Dongguan is not a costly place to live in according to Numbeo. Renting an apartment in the city centre is ¥3,100.00 ($442.68). Basic (electricity, heating, cooling, water, garbage) for 85 m² apartment is ¥304.90 ($43.54). A normal meal is ¥25 ($3.57). Fruits such as apples are ¥16.00 ($2.28) per kilogram.

Where to Live in Dongguan

One place that expats are likely to live in is Dongguan Dongcheng New World Garden.

Dongguan Subway Map

Dongguan City&Salary Report