Program Reviews

I cannot recommend it highly enough!

I know that it is more expensive than other online alternatives but I would definitely recommend the ImmerQi route over an online TEFL course, if only because you get a full month in Beijing (instead of one). Hanging out with other interns for a month is a great way to meet people and meet life long friends, its also super fun! But also learning to teach from a teacher and with your friends prepares you much better for actually teaching in China, you can discuss and ask questions as soon as they occur to you instead of having to email and wait.

The staff are very helpful, really made it easy to get around and settle in and organised a bunch of great activities for us. Duncan Russell specifically was a great help to me. Mandarin helpers are also super friendly and always willing to take you here and there to assist with the language barrier.

In terms of actually teaching. I was sent to Guangzhou, where although it was a Cantonese area, everyone speaks Mandarin/English to you, so if you're going to learn Mandarin then don't worry. It was an incredible school with incredible people and incredible support.

I got a lot out of my experience in Shanghai. I was lucky enough to work for the World's largest marketing company (albeit, it was in their shanghai office). I met great people. I discovered great activities!

Before I left for China I had never set foot in Asia, never been a teacher, and I had never spoken a word of Chinese to anyone. Despite this, I had the best time of my life in China. I have never had so much fun and met so many new and interesting people in my life.

I was placed in Changsha in the beautiful and stunning Hunan province. The food is very spicy, but it's too good to miss out on. The nature is beautiful and the Avatar mountains (Zhangjiajie) is only a 4 hour bus ride away. People don't speak English here unless they're high school students, in their 20's or just happens to know English. There are plenty of foreigners here so I had no trouble getting friends that understood English.

My school (TianHua - Shazitang) was amazing and our assistants and teachers were great, helpful and very understanding. There was no doubt that they had had interns before and knew how to act around us to make the culture shock a bit more overcoming. They were funny, and accepted that we made mistakes and had a bad class once in a while. You know, we're not all born teachers. Even though we made mistakes, we were taken very seriously by the school. From the day one, our assistants told us that we would not be treated like interns, we would be treated like real teachers. We also got a lot of cultural classes at our school; kung fu lesson, paper cutting, calligraphy etc. I loved my school and I'm so happy I was placed there.

The ImmerQi team are professional and they are very relaxed. They will be more than happy to share their experiences with China and give advice to you. All in all they're really cool and not difficult to reach out to, which is really good for the younger applicants that most of the time are kind of confused and have a lot of questions. The advisors on the program were all really helpful, but especially thanks Duncan whom I became good friends with. Even though he was not in charge of my region he always asked how we were doing in Changsha, which was also where he was placed when he was an intern. He helped a lot in finding places I could go to in Changsha and during our training period he helped the interns a lot with their homework and hand-ins.

All in all; I would recommend this program to anyone who would like to try something different, likes kids and has no trouble being a authority person for 6 months of their life. It is challenging, but that's the fun part. To be honest, I would do it again.

My son, aged nineteen, joined the Immerqi teaching program in 2015.

As parents we want to know that our young adults will be safe when travelling.

On teaching placement my son had a potentially very serious accident- while out riding his scooter at night he collided with a truck and had to go into hospital with head injuries. I was very impressed with how Immerqi dealt with this. They contacted the emergency phone number of a relative and eventually got hold of me (I had changed my phone number and forgotten to let Immerqi know), and kept me updated through phone calls and emails about my son's progress. They also appointed a person from my son's school to constantly sit with him as he had suffered concussion. The Program coordinator, Duncan, flew from Beijing to Canton where my son was placed to check up on his condition. Immerqi or the placement school also paid for my son's hospital costs for a couple of days until I was able to repay them. After the injury my son was no longer able to continue with the program and had to travel overland to Hong Kong. Again the program coordinator flew down to accompany my son to Hong Kong as he was concerned about my son's fitness for independent travel. In Hong Kong Duncan took my son for a second medical opinion to see if he was fit to fly.
My son had minor issues with his program, it was difficult to get visa information before leaving; he did not like the food- be prepared to possibly budget more for food purchases: he would have liked to have been paid more as he found his wages did not go very far.
However I think these issues are relatively minor, it is reassuring to know the Immerqi took excellent care of my son's health and safety while he was travelling away from home.

When I had my initial interview in England with ImmerQi, formerly known as IES Global at the time, they asked where I would like to be located; North, Central or South. I clearly stated that I wouldn't like to be in the North -- so preferably in the South.

I arrived in Beijing and it was great to meet everyone who was also doing the internship. We did many activities and got to know each other. The day came to find out where we would be placed. The happy, excited mood soon changed when I saw that I was going to be placed in inner Mongolia with one of girl. The furthest possible north I could go when i clearly asked for the South.

Everyone went off to their placements and I was left in Beijing for around a week battling with ImmerQi to change my placement location. It took a lot of talking every day and me really putting my foot down in order for them to change my placement. It was stressful but once I was down in the South with friends and had started teaching it was a good experience. Many lasting memories were made.

My boyfriend and I have been on the internship with ImmerQi since February and with only 3 weeks left of our teaching programme I can say with honesty and sincerity that this has been the best experience of my life.

Placed in South China in a little (by Chinese standards!) city called Jinjiang, teaching high school students, I was apprehensive at first, but we quickly got settled! The school, Jiyan High School, is a lovely environment to work in. Though the amenities and resources available are basic, the staff and students are super friendly, and I can't think of anywhere more suitable to begin on a teaching career. We received a lot of help from the Chinese English teachers to get settled in and they gave us advice on teaching when we needed it. We've been given a textbook to loosely follow, devising speaking activities for our classes and being able to deviate slightly from the textbook to incorporate things of interest to the students. This means our lessons are fun and always different! The students are the reason I love it here though - so friendly, enthusiastic and eager to learn, and also to teach us about their local area and culture! We've been involved in school performances (be prepared to look a fool on stage!!), English Corner Club, and we've been taken out for meals and shown around local areas I'd never have thought of going to by myself. Such a great opportunity to see and experience new things!

Of course there are always difficulties, though these are few and far between. The language barrier is an issue everyone will experience at some point or another, but the Chinese English teachers here are very eager to try and help in any way they can, and we get by quite easily on minimal broken Mandarin and mostly hand gestures!

As for ImmerQi itself, I can't credit them enough. Whenever we've had a problem or a question, be it with teaching, post-internship options, or just life in China in general, we have been able to email our Programme Coordinator, Duncan Russell, and he responds quickly, always with good, helpful, friendly advice. Plus he treated us to a Pizza Hut!

I would definitely recommend this programme to anybody looking for a new adventure or to get into teaching - it's been an amazing opportunity and experience for me and my boyfriend and we have immensely enjoyed it!

This has been the most incredible experience of my life so far.
I am 18 years old and had freshly completed High School in England to suddenly jumping into the deep end of the going-to-another-country-experiencing-the-diverse-culture-and-learning-to-become-a-teacher pool.
Prior to arriving in China, my preparation included buying all the standard books for beginner's Mandarin and Lonely Planet Guides - which we had been advised to research about by ImmerQi - but nothing could have prepared me for the unforgettable memories to be made and lessons that I was going to learn until actually arriving in China.

I remember being in Beijing Arrivals, greeted by our ImmerQi staff member Jayne, who was undyingly cheerful despite it being 3am, immediately rendering me at ease. It was a pick-up at the airport of around 10 other people, so once again my experience began positively, by being able to make friends and share all our knowledge and expectations of China on the coach journey to our training school.
The month spent training for our TEFL qualification was spent in the ZhongShan experimental school, in Tian Tong Yuan, a northern district of Beijing. It was brilliant. The location was brilliant, our tutors were brilliant, our group was brilliant.
Of course, there were the few little culture shocks like the squat-toilets; standard of accommodation as compared with those at home; and different kinds of food and what have you, but they were so easily overlooked because of the amazing time we had living there, learning the ropes and forming life-long friendships with people from all over the world.

You get what you put in, so, in order to become the best teacher we could be, we were given quality lessons and assignments that were all individually marked and carefully considered. We knew that we would learn would all be put to the test as we were given the opportunity to have week of teaching real classes of real students! This was incredibly fun, and we were very sufficiently prepared.

We had also gone on a few day trips out with the whole group, which was super fun. And in general, immerQi staff were very helpful in directing us to good places to explore.

Even after we had all graduated, and were separated into our respective placement schools, ImmerQi staff have always kept in touch and taken good care of us.

Thank you all so much for everything,
I will definitely come back one day!

The training weeks in Beijing were the most valuable lessons you'll learn. Not only because you're being taught by competent teachers who'll give you plenty of advice but also to slowly get used to an entire new country.
The training weeks offer a safe bubble for you so that you can grow more and more accustomed to the Chinese culture without experiencing a too big of a culture shock and neither will you have to experience them on your own.
Everyone is in the same boat and is dealing with the same difficulties and that creates a sense of unity. You'll form great friendships during training as you sit through different classes from day to day and will also have time to explore the city.

Once you are at your placement you will more confident and prepared than you were upon arrival a month earlier and soon you'll find yourself in a routine of teaching and travelling during the weekends. Both of which are equally challenging but enriching.
All in all you will need a lot of patience and will experience great language barriers but all this makes it a great experience. One you’ll never ever forget.

I originally came to do an internship in Beijing for 2 months in an international hospital. My host company placement was very accommodating. The doctor I shadowed gave me a great learning experience and the general work environment was better than I ever expected it to be. It took a few weeks of trying to figure out my role in the hospital, but I was able to settle in and play a main part in revising policies, attending policy meetings, and preparing the hospital for international accreditation. It was a project I'm proud to have been a part of, so much that when my doctor asked me to extend my stay to help out further, I ended up staying a few weeks beyond my internship program.
Daily life in China is a fast-paced city lifestyle and sometimes it's hard to keep up with all the people here. But it was much easier with the help of the ImmerQi staff. They are extremely friendly, outgoing people who will take care of you from the start. Never hesitate if you want to ask them questions about living in China. My first couple weeks was a bit daunting, as I didn't really know anyone and my roommates weren't very social, but getting out and exploring the social scene is the best way to get to know people, and my experience of China became so much more enjoyable after I made a few close friends.

I stayed in Beijing for 6 months and it was an amazing experience. Totally different culture, people and their approach to others. It was a big challenge which is not easy, but nothing is easy in life, right? During the work in the hotel, my colleagues was mainly Chinese and it was challenging not only because of language, but also because of their way of thinking. I knew that it will be tough, but on the other hand I will be more flexible in working with different people.
The ImmerQi is doing a great job with providing the assistance in any kind of situations, anytime you need. It is the example how the company suppose to work for the customers. I feel like I am not only the customer, but the being among friends. Everyone is willing, even they ask me why I don't need so much support from them, hehehe :) We are going often to meet with other interns as well as staff from ImmerQi, so it makes me feel as much comfortable as I can. If I feel lonely I just call Jodi ( hahaha). :)
The Beijing and life in here is remarkable, people are very straightforward, if they like you they will smile to you and say hi, if not they are not going even to look at you. It is very cosmopolitan city where I find many different kinds of restaurants, bars, clubs. I feel it is becoming more western city, which is good and bad. On one way, sometimes I don't feel it is truly China and Asia, but on the other hand, the cultural shock is easier to handle.
Totally, the program assisted me in everything, they provided me with anything I need to settle in China and get used to it as soon as possible. Also, it is a good opportunity to get experience professionally and as a tourist, dealing with diverse people, travelling around, experiencing China and participating in the events I like. I found here everything I need to live and reach my career goals and ImmerQi was one of the main supporters and advisers deciding my future. I will be always thankful to them.