Hohhot Inner Mongolia

Little London English school in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia was a great place to undergo your teaching internship. Our average week consists of teacher training and lesson planning on Thursday and teaching on Friday nights, Saturday and Sunday with Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off. We are contracted to do 20, 40 minute lessons a week (usually 3 on Friday then 17 at the weekend). They are always looking for extra work though and the school will pay you 110RMB per hour over these contracted hours which is an easy way to earn lots of extra money. You get lots of time off which is great which gives you plenty of time to get everything sorted such as the washing etc and to go out and explore Hohhot. The school is also very generous. They will pay for various celebrations (it depends what time of year you have the internship) and they even payed for what have been a very expensive grasslands tour. I won't spoil some of the other surprises though. Food and drinks are unbelievably cheap here and I have not cooked once which is actually really practical. When I first arrived at the accommodation it was an absolute tip and looked nothing like what we were shown just before we came which was actually the full time teachers accommodation and not ours. Be prepared for this and you won't have a problem. I honestly hated the 1st few days because of this but be prepared to spend the 1st 2 days or so buying products and cleaning your apartment. There is enough time to settle in, especially compared to some of the other schools so don't think that you are wasting your time. It could be better for the next group of people as they are building more apartments right now. There are so many foreigners working at the school so being social in Hohhot is not a problem. People are always inviting you places. There are some great places to go! Clubs such as box+ and babybox are the ones to look for. Although they are unbelievably expensive, we have gone there on countless occasions and not bought a single drink because lots of people in there buy them for you. There are some great supermarkets for buying your daily needs which also have plenty of imported products to satisfy your need for western food. It is really practical to live out here and there is a really cheap and great market on the doorstep of the university that you live in. It is very dirty around the area which isn't good but you soon get used to it. Some of the food places there are great. Don't let looks deceive you! There is a curfew but it doesn't apply to foreigners so don't let that alarm you. One thing you need to be prepared for is that sometimes depending on various reasons, the school is very disorganised. They have messed up our pay a few times (which will get sorted - just make sure you take note on the days you have worked) and on our 1st few weeks at the school we had no monitor at our school so everything was all over the place but it soon settled down. Also be prepared if you are coming in winter because it gets unbelievably cold. I haven't yet experienced this cold to the full extent but even now in mid- November it is freezing. Wait til later on. Stock up on winter clothing as early as possible. It's easy enough to find!!! Overall - If you are placed in Inner Mongolia you will have the time of your life. The time off is the best part and you can travel during your internship. We have just got back from a 3 day trip in Datong which was amazing!! Also you are al in it together (lots of people get placed in Hohhot) and you always have the support of people. Inner Mongolia is a truly amazing place!