China Teaching Tales

Want to know what life on the China internship’s like for real? Check out these China teaching tales!

Niles Erikson, 25, from New Hampshire, USA, who taught in Hangzhou

Travelling in China has proven to be an exciting and adventurous journey, and I was glad to have the i-to-i program there at the beginning to give me an introduction to Chinese culture.

Not only is China a great place to travel, but it is also a great starting point for anybody who wishes to experience teaching English abroad. In my experience, the school I joined was helpful in providing sufficient housing and the international office was always easy to reach for assistance.

I also liked that I had the freedom to practice different teaching methods in the classroom. The best advice for any new teacher in China is to get involved with your school, keep an open mind, and try to keep a positive attitude with every situation you have to face.

I've met many life-long friends through the program, and it's also been beneficial to have the i-to-i crew there to answer all of my questions throughout my stay.

Want to do it yourself? Download our guide to Teaching in China to see how!

Aisling Brogan, 21, from Donegal, Ireland, who taught in Changsha

I’ve had many adventures since arriving in China, that first week in Beijing where I realized I really was a long way from home, or my trip to Mongolia with the real live yurts and desert as far as you could see, then back ‘home’ and nightclubbing through Changsha or trekking through some unknown but very picturesque mountains, but what’s impressed me most is living (and surviving) day to day life in China.

You may have heard that crossing roads in China is akin to an Olympic challenge, well here in Changsha it’s not just crossing the road, it seems the footpaths aren’t only reserved for pedestrians, I duck and dive and carry on glad to be getting my exercise for the day.

I wonder why I’m being stared at momentarily before remembering that I’m a foreigner, and they’re just not that used to foreigners here. I arrive at work and settle in to a long hard day of singing songs, playing games, reading and/or just telling the kids about the different customs we have ‘in the west’.

Lunch is served in school, but you have the choice to go and buy anything you like, from dumplings or spring rolls for less than 3 Yuan, to rice and any two meat dishes for 7 Yuan, to the most delicious French style baking for around 5 Yuan. (I’ll only say, bring a lot of water, because the food here is hot!)

Finishing a day at work I decide what to do for the evening, I catch a bus into the city centre and walk through the bustling Buxing Commerce street (a street that resembles one in New York more so than one in Changsha), with every type of shop you can imagine, and strangely too every type of meat on a stick, or pizza in a cone you can think of.

I walk past a seemingly unending array of wedding photographers, stunning statues, water and light displays, and the square that has live concerts every night. I turn down to one of the older streets which resembles the first in a way but is distinctly more Chinese; its live concert takes a more traditional operatic style, on quieter weeknights it shows open air films, I buy some snacks from the guy on the rickshaw selling popcorn, sunflower seeds and wall nuts and join the relatively small number of people that have gathered to watch the performance.

I walk the short distance to my 1 Yuan bus, I’m home about 30 minutes later. I settle in to a stunning view of the city and prepare for bed and for waking up to another day in Changsha.

Want to do it yourself? Download our guide to Teaching in China to see how!

Jozanda Parkinson, 26, from Preston, who taught in Shanghai

I wanted to work abroad, having worked for a children's holiday company (PGL) for 2 years in France before training to be a teacher. So I knew I enjoyed that, but also wanted to do something that would help me in my career. After speaking to a few friends who had also done TEFL courses, I decided that would be the way forward, and when a travel-agent friend recommended i-to-i I saw the internship offer on the website. I knew I wanted to go to a country I'd never been before and thought that China was as good a place as any!

I am teaching at in the Primary department of the Gold Apple Bilingual School, Shanghai. Its a very large boarding school with Primary, Middle, Secondary and International departments, as well as a French school on campus. My children are 6-7 years old, and are in Grade 1, which is the first year of Primary School. I have 24 children in my class and I see the same class every day all week, which is different from all the other interns here, who may see 4 or 5 different classes a day. I am the first intern at this school in a "management" role, so I am responsible for giving grades, meeting parents and other "teacher" day-to-day duties, alongside their chinese class teacher. I also teach the children English, Maths and Science - all in English of course.

Teaching English at the Gold Apple School is certainly different to what I'd expected. Aside from the fact I don't only teach English, there are only 24 children in the class, there is a projector screen in the classroom that I can use to display powerpoints from my laptop, and the children come from priviledged backgrounds. I'd expected to be teaching 50 children in a mud-hut, with them all sat on the floor! (Well not exactly but you get my drift...!)

I think teaching here has lived up to my expectations with regard to me getting out of it what I wanted to get out of it. I wanted a change of scenery, a chance to teach in a different way, and explore a country I'd never been to - and really didn't know much about. All of these things I've achieved. And I think teaching in China has given me valuable tools which I can use when I come back to teach in the UK, as well as valuable life-skills adjusting to life in a non-western country!

Want to do it yourself? Download our guide to Teaching in China to see how!

Kathleen Kane, 46, from Glasgow, who’s teaching in Inner Mongolia

I decided to do the China Internship because I got to the time of my life when I wanted to try something new and do some thing out off my comfort zone. This program seemed to give me the challenge I needed. I had already done a previous i-to-i conservation program in Kenya which I really enjoyed and felt safe knowing i-to-i were looking after me.

After applying for the China program I started on my TEFL course which was a lot harder than I expected, but gave me the challenge I wanted and I really enjoyed the weekend course in Manchester, although I didn't have much of a social life until my course work was all done!

At the moment I am in Inner Mongolia with one other British girl, and we're the only westerners here so that makes life very interesting: when we go shopping people keep taking our picture and trying to engage us in conservation. At the school I am teaching Senior Two and the age range of the students range from 13 to 21 years old, so I have classes of mixed ages and abilities, so it's pretty difficult so have a teaching lesson that engages the students! On Wednesday of next week we have Nation Day and then it's Autumn break and we've got a week off – we're planning to go on a trip to Hohhot for five days with TTC, the company who've looked after us so well here in China.

Want to do it yourself? Download our guide to Teaching in China to see how!