You are exactly right here, nick. You have hit t' nail on it's head so to speak. A degree and a TEFL (whats one of them, a kettle?!) is not needed for China.

And you are exactly right too. If that Turnoi poster had ever worked in China he would know that most FT's are regarded as oral English teachers. Oral English teaching is not just conversational as he maintains. You need to teach them quite a lot of simple grammar to have a conversation that makes sense. No matter how many bits of paper a second language English teacher has to his name, I am afraid that they make too many mistakes, which they pass on to their students.. So, only native born English speakers should be allowed to be FT's. And this includes many non-degree holders. Foreigners are just not up to the job. The Chinese know this to be true, which is why if a fake English teacher(not his mother's tongue) wants a job he will have to go to those special shite areas like Shanxi and Shandong. He's not going to land a plum job in Kunming that's for sure. The non-degree holder might be accepted in the good jobs areas though.