Program Reviews

I have found the TTC Program to be a mixed bag so far.

My in-country advisor (Jayne) has been really helpful, and any issues I have had (from serious placement concerns, to minor things such as finding out the best places of the Wall to visit when I had visitors in the country) have been resolved in a timely, professional and thorough manner.

The support the company gives is 24/7, and I feel like I can contact them about any issue. The same can be said for the support before I got here.

However, I do not feel the company is run as well as could be. For example, the issues of holidays has been confusing, with many interns apparently being told that they would have a week holiday sometime in the term, which would be the perfect time for travelling the country a little bit. However, we have two 3 day holidays instead, which makes travelling the country a little bit harder. Granted, I have at least 3 weeks before my visa runs out, after the teaching has finished, but for those who undertook the months physical training in Beijing, they will only have around 10 days to see the country after teaching before their visa's expire. The title 'teach and travel' is to some extent a misnomer. I was also told whilst in the process of booking the placement, and doing my online training, that TTC would offer excursions around parts of China during our time off that we could book our place on, and see more of the country, but it seems this is not the case.

Also, we were told during the 2 day physical training course at UIBE, that the teaching would just be conversational english, not grammar or anything like that, but I have found myself at my school to be teaching those very things too, which means I do not feel I was as prepared as I could have been.

Another issue is the money. We are paid 2000yuan a month, with TTC taking a fee for us working at the schools. It was only when they told us this, on the first day of the actual meeting in Beijing, that I was made aware that this was the case. They will say that the money is lower because we are just interns, which is fair enough, but in my school at least, most of the interns are working exactly as much, if not more than most of the full time foreign teachers, and earning perhaps a quarter of the wage, which is a bit frustrating. With careful careful budgeting you can make the money last you, but I do feel that those in Beijing could do with an extra allowance to counter the higher prices that the city brings.

On top of that, the visa situation is definitely a bit sketchy, as we were told during the orientation, in an official meeting, that our visa's were only student visas, and as such, if we were asked by the police, we are to lie and say we are on an unpaid internship, which is concerning to hear, when you are perhaps on your first big trip abroad and for a relatively long time.

On the other hand, I am really enjoying China. It is a massive culture shock, especially in terms of hygiene, but it is definitely an experience worth having. The people can initially appear to be unfriendly, but are in fact incredibly friendly and helpful on the most part. The food is amazing. There is always something to do and see here, from the small up to the magnificent. I am sure that the experience will hold me in good stead for the rest of my life.

I'm grateful to TTC for the chance to come here, but at the same time, the company could have been more upfront and honest about the issues I have highlighted and more, before we booked our placement. As the company are quick to tell you once you are here, they are for-profit and so want to entice you into coming to China through them, but at the same time more honesty about the cost of living, the payment situation etc would have been greatly appreciated.

Whilst they are easy to contact, and I completely feel that they would have my back in an emergency or serious problem here, I do feel they have been a bit disingenuous about the internship. Given the chance again, I would still come to work in China, but I would perhaps shop around a bit more to see what other options I might have.

My experience with TTC China has been absolutely fantastic. I spend one month in Beijing and made friends with people from all over the world, and eventhough we were spread out all over China we still stay in touch with each other.

I got placed in the wonderful city of Chengdu - home to the great pandas. The weather's warm and the people are amazing - always willing to help you. The people at the school I got placed at always make sure that I have everything I need. If I have any problems and/or questions I can always contact them and the same with the TTC staff. The days in China pass by so fast that I hardly realized that I have been here for almost 3 months now. I like it so much here that I doesn't feel homesick at all eventhough I am half way around the world from my home. I think that is due to the hospitality of the Chinese people.

My school have arranged all kinds of activities for us. A teacher took me and another intern to see a flower festival. I have also been asked to participate in a Talent-show at my school among other things.

If you want to experience some of the Chinese culture Chengdu is a great place to do so. The city is booming with site to see and temples to go to. And around the city there are breathtaking landscapes and of course there are the pandas! All in all Chengdu is a city full of life and full of people that are more than willing to help you out if you ever find yourself lost in the city. The city is a good mixture of new and old and there is something to see for everybody.

I am glad I got to come to China and Chengdu. It has given me a opportunity to see the real China and meet the Chinese people and culture.

Teaching in China is an amazing experience that is always exciting, fun, and challenging. Never a dull moment. ImmerQi provides a great amount of support before and during the internship, helping to make you as good a teacher as you can be. ImmerQi is the best!

I'm sure if you'd ask any other intern they would all have encountered the same experience.. Adjusting to your new life in China can be quite daunting at first, especially if you've just coming straight out of living with your parents, having them make dinner for you, do your laundry, make your bed, and even bring snacks out to you while you're watching television. So removing all of these luxuries from your life, and then combining it with a whole new culture that you need to adapt to is quite a challenging task, however the rewards you receive from undertaking such a task, such an adventure, is worth so much more! You gain independence, an open mind, communication skills, as well as the foundations for life long learning and cultural awareness. I wouldn't have traded this internship for anything in the world! I undertook a home stay with a Chinese family, and even though I could speak Mandarin it was very challenging trying to make sense of Sichuanese, the local dialect here in my part of China. I learnt so much from them, as they did from me. Going to school everyday gave me an insight into Chinese education, and how the youth's outlook on life is. To be completely honest I felt like quitting the program at one point, however after consulting with TTC staff I thought I'd give it another think through, and within the next two weeks everything changed for me. I had a completely different outlook on it all, it is such an amazing experience and I would have truly regretted having left the program. I would definitely recommend this program for anyone who is not only thinking about being a teacher, but looking for an adventure, to learn a new language and experience a new culture, and to create a very memorable moment in your life through TTC!

Leaving the hustle and bustle of Beijing to go to the quieter town of Foshan certainly had it's positives and negatives. The school, the accommodation and the people in Foshan definitely positives. The lack of nightlife not so much... However, it was relatively close by bus, and not too expensive by cab.
The school week consisted of Monday to Friday, maximum 20 classes a week, between 30-40 minute lessons. The teachers were supportive, most of the time, a few misunderstandings with class times especially around exam time, but for the most part were very accommodating.
I couldn't have asked for a better school contact, she made me feel very welcome, would suggest lesson ideas and would sit down with me to discuss how to teach any difficult topics that needed to be covered. I also had the pleasure in meeting her family that lived close by and a couple of her friends for university.
The children love having foreigners in the school and I would often be greeted with hugs and smiling faces.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Foshan.

Teaching in the Guangya Kindergarten is a great experience overall. I'm enjoying every time of it. I have classes every day and teaching 11 different classes. It could be quite difficult sometime, as each class have around 30 to 38 kids in each and I'm teaching from the baby class where the kids are around 2 years old and up to the middle class where the kids are around 6 years old. Every day is different as you never know how it's going to be with them but that makes the experience even more fun and interesting. The most challenging for me was to have to go to the second kindergarten down in Hainan where there was no Foreign Teacher on Campus, and the Chinese teacher were not really good with English. As well having to teach new kids and being able to build a good relation with the kids was difficult as it feels like you have start over. I just felt that I just finally settle down and built a great relation with the teacher and the kids in the Kindergarten in Dujiangyan and I had to start all over again in Hainan. It was a lot of pressure but I managed to enjoy my time here and adapt myself to the campus and the life down there. All the Chinese teachers have been so nice with me and they are trying to help and support me as much as possible, even though their English is not good and my chinese is still really poor, we have a great relationship.

I had two main periods with TTC in China, one month in Beijing for TEFL theory training, then 5 months teaching high school in a Chinese city. The month in Beijing was very enjoyable and went very quickly as things often do in China. Overall I think the experience in Beijing was a very good introduction to the China experience. The second part or the main event of the 5 month placement, was also very enjoyable. Day to day in the placement we had little contact with TTC, as contrasted to the constant contact in Beijing, as we had during the TEFL course been in personal contact with TTC staff everyday as they organised and ran all the events and activities. Within my placement, we had no such constant contact, though this is not a negative aspect as TTC was always a phone call away for problems. TTC did however personally visit us in our placement a few weeks after we arrived and I received phone calls now and then just to ask how we where and if there was any problems. Similarly we had constant email contact from the office in Beijing. Personally I never had a great deal of big problems in my placement so I did not have much for TTC to resolve for me. I did however have one incident where TTC was a great help.
I taught at 2 high schools, one of which was amazing and unbelievably enjoyable and productive and another which was very difficult to teach at since the students would not cooperate very well. I worked through a regional partner in my city, so i was contracted with an organisation representing foreign teachers in the city, rather than with the schools directly. I raised concerns with the regional partner about the school, and told them seriously that it was becoming an issue since I could not do my job there and it was beginning to affect my performance at my other school. The regional organisation where in no way dodgy and in no way treated anyone badly or exploitatively, but it is often difficult in China to differentiate between what someone is capable of doing about a problem and what they are willing to do about a problem, especially since by not solving it they stand to gain, financially or otherwise. Not much happened by telling the regional organisation so I called my regional contact person at TTC, who I also knew from Beijing, and they called the regional partner. Just this call sorted things out with a degree of authority. Without TTC, and if I was alone in China at that regional organisation, I do not know if I would have the bargaining power to negotiate to leave that school and find another one as I eventually did. In the very least it would not have been as easy as it was. It is very useful, even just for situations that might occur and that you do not forsee, to have someone you know is on your side.

My school is in Zhongshan in Guangdong province. My students are from Junior grade 1 so they are 11-14 years old. I have 20 classes each week with 50-55 kids in each class. I really love the teaching, it's really fun and rewarding! The kids are mostly really nice, they are interested in me, my culture and in learning English. Not all of them of course. I like this school, there is almost never any problem with other teachers etc. They are not so good with giving information in time. The students are really a highlight, they gather around me all the time outside the classroom to talk or ask questions. My biggest problem is probably the language difficulty, I don't speak/understand Chinese and some of my students barely speak English so it's sometimes really hard to communicate. But all in all I'm really satisfied about the whole experience!

Like home

You’d think moving to a foreign country across the world, where English is not widely spoken, the culture is different, the people are different, the food is different and even the smallest daily essentials are somewhat different, that it would take a while to get used to, or settle, or feel any way comfortable what so ever. In my case, I have never felt more comfortable, the only time I felt otherwise was getting off the plane in Beijing Airport wondering if I filled the China entry form out properly.
Part of it may have been my nature, I’ve always had itchy feet at home, and always felt unsettled and maybe it was being in a foreign country that made me comfortable. But to be honest most of it was due to the program, due to the advisors helping me and to the friends I’ve met. Everyone on the program was in the same situation that I was. Every person on this program be it intern or official, were all the nicest people I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet. Between making the lifelong friends I have now and the support and organisation of the advisors, coordinators and the company, I found myself every day, thanking the past me for making the decision to do it.
The teaching, for me, was the tougher part. I found standing up in front of 40 young children in each class very daunting. I had no confidence in my teaching skills. Every evening I worked hard to create the perfect lesson plan but it was the words of some of the coordinators that echoed in my head. “You’ll do great”, “I was in the same position as you were before, don’t worry”, “it is a very rewarding experience”, “Have confidence, you will get more used to it”, “If you need advice, we are here” and their presence during the period was a huge help. Eventually, even though I didn’t believe them at first, their words became reality. The teaching got easier, the lesson plans got easier, it became very rewarding, and even though there were bad days, where students didn’t cooperate or just didn’t listen, I still found myself loving it.
I have had no bad experience with my placement, I love this school, this place, the people, well, maybe I’d prefer less mice and cockroaches, but I don’t think anyone can help me with that. Overall, joining this program is probably the best decision I’ve ever made.
Daily life in the school is great, the routine is easy to get used to. Get up, greet students, teach some classes, ( I have 12 classes in total, 2 times a week, so i teach around 12 hours a week), nap during lunch teach classes, hang out in the office in between and finish up. Our evenings are our own, where we usually go shopping, eat sushi or hit the gym. We eat food in the canteen, I like it but some teachers don't like the food. The highlight of my teaching life is getting to know the students, they call my name in the hallway and try speak to me when they can, the only difficulty i found was a lack of curriculum, I wasn't and sometimes still not sure what I should be teaching them. It would have been a lot easier if I was given a set curriculum but I'm happy out none the less and I've had no complaints about what I'm teaching with even some compliments.

Day to day differs from the classes I teach! My youngest students are 6 years old and my oldest is 17 and there are a varied lot in between! I have mixed nationalities in each class and it makes for a very interesting learning experience! Difficulty would be text books and the mix of different levels in one class! However it always is an interesting class none the less! Highlights would be the children everyday, everyday their smiles just make it all better no matter what is going on!