ImmerQi

I went through Immerqi when I interned in Beijing for 5 months in 2016. They found me a great internship where I felt apart of the team and contributed real work, not busy work that most internships unfortunately hand out. The location of my apartment to my internship and out of work activities was fantastic and made it very easy to explore Beijing. They were always available at any hour of the day when needed and the Immerqi team helps make sure you are settled in. Housing was a little rough as I had to move midway through the 5 months and had a bug infestation at the second apartment, but other than that I have no complaints about my time spent there using Immerqi. I always look back on my time spent there and am excited for my next trip back!

For future participants, make sure that you have information prepared before heading to Beijing, like your phone and getting a Chinese bank account if you are staying there long term. Look up websites to help you find places to go and see so you are already aware of things going on before you get there. At your internship, be apart of your team. Go to lunch with them, hang out outside of work, practice your Chinese with them and let them practice their English with you. To truly understand life in China, you need to befriend Chinese nationals. My coworkers were amazed that I wanted to eat lunch with them when I first started and because of that I was invited to a lot of events that my other foreign friends never got the chance to go to. Be adaptable and open minded, you never know what experiences or invites you will get because of it.

Through ImmerQi, I was able to intern in Shanghai and learn about the worldwide players in the nuclear market, specifically the players in the Chinese nuclear market. The American-run company based in Shanghai that I interned with was in a unique position to provide on-the-ground China support to US clients. It works notably with the US Commercial Service for China’s bi-annual nuclear industry conference which I was able to attend. Seeing the business side of consulting, working for a small company, learning Mandarin, and living in China were all experiences I was able to have.

Making a difference in the students lives and they giving me something to laugh about everyday has been rewarding. Experiencing China on my own terms (ie. taking bus / train rides, shopping at the Markets, touring during the exit weekends, etc.) Priceless! After 9 months of Internship, I strongly believe that taking up this opportunity to teach English as a Foreign Language in China rates amongst the best decisions that I have made thus far.

Students in each Year Group Class at the School have to prepare at least 2/3 two-minute demonstrations per Semester to perform at one of or all of the English Talent Shows. The atmosphere is normally joyous as both students and Teachers part-take of this event. One of the main aims of this show is to help students learn English namely through Music, Poetry, Drama, Public Speaking, etc. The performances also help build students' confidence and competence in using English publicly.

At the Talent Shows, the teachers have to lead by example: demonstrate their 'can-do attitude' by putting up a performance, too. Before the 1st show we dedicated half an hour of our lunch break to practicing and choreographing our act for big day. At the show the Foreign Teachers (that’s the term we go by at the School) put up a stellar performance of “I wanna be like you” from the movie, Jungle Book. We were not so lucky in subsequent shows, though, the flu claimed two of our colleagues, who had solo parts in the musical. Our act fell apart and sadly, we had to cancel. Shameless to say, we were rescued by two students from Y4 & Y5 respectively who gladly filled-in the spot with solo performances! In all honesty, we would have been outclassed if pitied against them!

I had the best time teaching English in China for a semester and would highly recommend anyone fancying themselves a would-be teacher / adventurer / gap-year / travel enthusiast look into going with a professional agency that will be able to make this happen for them.
In TEFL you might make great friends from different backgrounds, you might even have intense amounts of fun with your new peers. This is about teaching, though, so keep that in mind. You might be working quite hard some days. I learnt to teach and find my confidence in the Chinese classroom in front of (arguably) the most wonderful four- to fourteen-year-old students. Their enthusiasm was the real highlight for me. I once had a competitive activity (read: game) go so completely off the rails that some of the students were demonstrating "swimming" on the floor while others were "diving" onto said floor. I've had students launch eraser projectiles all over the classroom in an attempted game of ruler-badminton. Another time the Halloween dress-up game (in a cultural lesson) was so fun we completely overshot our time and I was hurried to a "bonus" class for more of the same by the students' demand. That was in a public school and although I think the next door teachers were annoyed with our noise, they were probably enjoying the spectacle too.
I sometimes miss TEFLing so much and wish I wasn't sitting in an office doing my "primary" thing now. I might do another semester in future.

5:30pm and it's time to leave work - a great day of teaching my minions, listening to them speak english after delivering a class is the most rewarding feeling, but the amazement doesn't end there... We are here to teach and travel right? So I run home to grab my bag and head to the train station - three other friends with me (we are practically family by now). We board the 2.5 hour bullet train from Beijing to Tai'an and come face to face with our challenge - Mount Tai (Mount Tai is known as the eastern mountain of the Five Great Mountains of China, a place of worship for approx 3000 years and measuring 5,069 ft tall) We begun our ascent at midnight, pitch black, only the stars and our torches lighting the way - 7 thousand steps up hill to go. The journey is something that I can only try to articulate - masses of stars, some shooting stars and some planets, looking ahead, a stream of lights that simulate an illuminated waterfall, looking behind, so many different people making their way up. Each step lead to a different discovery of ancient Chinese artefact, it was all so magnificent - giant marble arches named 'gateways to heaven', 'the bridge of clouds', stones with ancient chinese engraving, little base camps selling street food, water and trinkets. Around 3 and half thousand steps up there was a little man, long grey beard with a shop selling the most unique items. 6 and half hours later and we make it to the top ! 7 thousand steps done and the feeling of accomplishment is incredible. So many different spots to search, however we waited on 'Life abandoning cliff' hoards of people dotted all around waiting... Waiting for what? Of course the sun to rise ! Peeking like a little lady bird slowly rising, everyone begins to clap - the view was spectacular and the appreciation for how high up in the world you were at that very moment is unbelievable. I mentioned earlier that I went with three other friends that were practically family, may I explain? I had never met these people prior to my internship, two are from Ireland and one is from Australia, we were teaching at the same school and I can honestly say, by sharing so many experiences with them, we are truly friends for life! I feel like I didn't just gain the experience of a different culture and an alternative work ethic, I was also discovering more and more things about myself, truly understanding who I was as an individual. I had met people from all over the world! Denmark, Malta, Sweden, Germany, Ireland, Australia, South Africa, Scotland, America ! We became so close and enjoyed many, many weird and wonderful experiences together - things like hiking the great wall, eating scorpions and tarantulas, learning to make dumplings, bargaining in mandarin, translating strange words to students. Reaching out of your comfort zone, being forced to learn a new language, not being able to rely on everything that has been made convenient for us in Western World?! Sounds scary and sounds like a major risk, but it was all worth it - I wouldn't take it back for anything, and I don't think I know anyone who would :)