Location
  • China
    • Beijing
    • Dalian
    • Shanghai
    • Shenzhen
Length
12 - 52 weeks

Program Details

Timeframe
Year Round
Housing
Host Family
Primary Language
English
Age Min.
18
Age Max
28

Pricing

Price Details
1 Airplane tickets be paid by the host family;
2 Food and accommodation, monthly allowance and medical and travel insurance will be supported by host family ;
3 Mandarin lessons and monthly activities will be provided by Aupairia;
4 Deposit fully refunded upon satisfactory program completion;
5 Au pair certificate.
What's Included
Accommodation Activities Airfare Meals SIM cards Travel Insurance Wifi
May 26, 2020
Dec 04, 2019
23 travelers are looking at this program

About Program

Are you interested in China and its culture? Would you like to be a cultural ambassador? Aupairia provides you with the opportunity to experience life in China and learn Mandarin while living with a Chinese family as an au pair - mainly in Beijing, also in other cities like Shanghai, Shenzhen and Dalian.

We at Aupairia offer you a high-quality support system including orientation courses, round-trip airline tickets and au pair insurance. In addition, you will have weekly Mandarin lessons in a language school and a cultural activity every month.

With Aupairia Au Pair China program, you will:
1. Provide informal language tutoring and childcare to Chinese host kids
2. Study Mandarin in our lessons and live in the local community speaking Chinese in daily life
3. Immerse yourself in Chinese culture through our cultural activities, such as Chinese shadow play
4. Explore the world's oldest civilization and visit traditional sites such as the Great Wall

This program is currently not being promoted on Go Overseas by its provider. Check with Aupairia for the most up-to-date information regarding the status of this program.

Video and Photos

Program Highlights

  • We offer round-trip airline tickets
  • You will have Mandarin lessons every week, and a cultural activity every month
  • We provide you with orientation courses and high-quality support system
  • You can make friends with other au pairs and local people

Related Programs

Program Reviews

4.84 Rating
based on 51 reviews
  • 5 rating 84.31%
  • 4 rating 15.69%
  • 3 rating 0%
  • 2 rating 0%
  • 1 rating 0%
  • Housing 4.8
  • Support 4.65
  • Fun 4.8
  • Value 4.9
  • Safety 4.9
Showing 9 - 16 of 51 reviews
Default avatar
Marcos
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

It was great

This experience was great, marvelous, very good indeed, I would not change this for the whole world!
I tried many strange foods like dog meat, donkey meat, pigeon meat, many fruits I did not even heard of, a soup made out of vinegar, octopus and pepper, etc...
I played ultimate frisbee for the first time in the university and also played table tennis with small kids, like 10 years old or maybe even younger and managed to lose.
I tried pottery as well which was way more difficult than I anticipated.
China, this great country, was undoubtedly a country full of surprises and full of fun activities, experiences and fun. I definitely recommend.

What was the most unfamiliar thing you ate?
I ate dog meat which is pretty unfamiliar to me since we usually only see dogs as pets in Portugal.
39 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Brennan
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

An incredible experience in all regards

This programme was really enriching, fun and rewarding in all respects. Tutoring the kids was harder than expected but open to everyone - even with little teaching experience - and incredibly rewarding. Living in a host family for a few months was also an incredible experience, and although the culture gap was a little challenging at first, very enriching culturally and personally. I was basically part of their family for my stay, going with them on weekend and vacation trips, and formed a real bond with the kid. Being an au pair was demanding but still left a lot of free time, spent in mandarin lessons and culture classes, which were great ways to get to understand China better, and exploring Beijing. Lastly, being part of the Aupairia programme also meant that I got to meet other au pairs from around the world, spent time with similar-minded people and forge friendships. The support from Aupairia was also really good throughout, the staff really helpful and efficient.

What was the most nerve-racking moment and how did you overcome it?
My most nerve-racking moment was probably when my host kid got into huge temper fits and I had to calm him down - even though he didn't understand everything I say, or when my phone ran out of battery the first day when I was on the other side of the city, not knowing how to get home or even what my address was.
26 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Brennan
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Good Company, Fun Travels, Occasionally Tough Kids

Aupairia was a good company to work with. Overall, most things involving the company went smoothly including arranging family placement, travel plans and required documents. The company arranged culture classes and language classes that were helpful for their intended purpose, and also were a nice opportunity to meet and spend time with other Au Pairs. I greatly enjoyed the opportunities I had on my day off each week to see the sites around Beijing and several other locations in China. I felt that the parents of my host family treated me very well in all aspects, including giving me a nice room to live in, good food, and bringing me along to family trips and other fun things.

Of course, the biggest part of being an Au Pair is spending time playing with and teaching the children of your host family. Overall, working with the kids wasn't too bad. I wasn't expected to be a super professional teacher or to provide an education for the child. Instead, the expectation of my host family was that I essentially provide an immersive language and culture environment for their host children. By and large, this wasn't too hard, and was sometimes enjoyable. However, especially on the weekends where I'd often be expected to spend more than eight hours a day with the host children, spending time with the host children could begin to feel very difficult because of communication difficulties (the host children in my family only have extremely basic English speaking and comprehension ability) and also because of trying to discipline and control children who are being raised very differently than I was, both in terms of culture and economics. I also struggled with finding any personal time- any time I was at home but not scheduled to work, I felt like I had to hide from the host children because if they saw me it was very hard to tell them "no, I'm not working right now."

Overall, I'd recommend this company, and I had a very good experience, but being with the kids could certainly be challenging at times. I'd recommend anyone considering this type of program remember that they'll be spending most of their time with the children and to reflect on how they'll feel about that.

What would you improve about this program?
The program could offer more childcare training to Au Pairs - I and most of the other Au Pairs I met felt that mainly we were teaching our host kids based only what we remembered from being children ourselves. Training in teaching strategies or even teaching us games to play with the kids or something could be very helpful.
23 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Elliot
4/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Overall? Pre' good!

This has been a pretty sick 6 months. However I don't think anything I read online could have truly made me understand what this experience looked like.

I felt a bit thrown into the deep end. I didn't fully understand what I would need to do on a day to day basis to care for this families children and to fit in, however things usually work out happily if you and the family both approach with an openness to compromise. The family who hosted me were so generous to me, and always sought to make my experience in China a happy one, I'm super thankful for the role they played in my time here. That said time with kids can really tire me out, it's not always easy. ^^

Apart from the family, the people who I met be it other au pairs or random connections that you begin to develop made this experience truly special. I'll never forget the people I got to experience this country with in my free time.

A lot of au pairs sympathize together, your free time with aupairia will never be as free as it could be. Because of this you sometimes feel a bit trapped with the range of things you might be able to do, especially depending on the remoteness of the host family. Despite the frequent desire for more freedom, I found the trade off worth while. As a first hand China visitor, the experience of being in a Chinese family's home was a privilege, and the chance to learn Mandarin and explore the city from a comfortable environment with the benefit of wisdom and administrative guidance from the company and family...I think it's a great way. Also as the company prides itself on, it's a mutually beneficial experience. You can have pride to see the ways your host kids grow up with you around as you have input into their lives.

Of course in the end it's the quality of your character, and also the character of the host family that may make or break this program for you. If you're patient and happy to interact with a diverse group of people, I think you'll have an okay time.

What would you improve about this program?
It can be difficult to express worry or desire between language barriers. Any way to continue improving the balance of family - au pair healthy interactions for a mutually beneficial solution would be great.
21 people found this review helpful.
Maggie
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Totally Worth It!

Aupairia gives you the opportunity of a lifetime to live in China for a relatively low price. They make an effort to match you with a host family that you will be able to learn and grow with. On top of ensuring a good home life, Aupairia provides many cultural activities and classes for aupairs to take part and learn about Chinese customs. They even take you to an amazing day trip where you will get to experience the beauty of the Great Wall of China.
You make friends from all around the world and have the unique pleasure of exploring Beijing in a group of awesome people with similar interests. You also get the opportunity to take Mandarin classes and can start from any level no matter your previous experience. Aupairia has built a great program with great people and experiences!

What would you improve about this program?
I would hope for more aupairs so the group could be more diversified.
23 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Jack
4/5
Yes, I recommend this program

aupair in china

you should try 3 months and if you like it extend if not go home, for me it was hard to get use to some things and i think that for me 5 months were to long but i have try to take with me just the good things because whats the point on thinking in the bad ones, so i have met a lot of peple of different countries and i have been practicing my english so that reeally good for me. even though i think we do not have enough time or money to get to know more about china. i would be better if we get paid more or that the agency make some cultural activities in other towns near beijing to get to know a little more about them. also i think you as an agency that take us should try to get more serious when the aupairs have problems, try to give solutions.

What was your funniest moment?
me getting lost every important time we plan to do something
20 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Jack
4/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Great

It was an amazing experience. The host family was fabulous, very friendly and supportive. My favorite part was being able to travel with the host family, they took me all over China. I was able to get a lot of free time from the family so much so that I was able to train for an Ironman while I was on this incredible experience. The great part about this is it was practically free they paid for my flight over and they would've paid for my flight back, but I decided to do some more traveling. The staff at Aupairia are very kind and will help you if you ever have communication problems with the host family. I stayed with two family's while I was in China and Aupairia made the transition very smooth. Also the other aupairs you'll meet are very friendly.

What was the most unfamiliar thing you ate?
I ate scorpions, turtle, and toad. But one of the other aupairs ate tarantula and starfish.
23 people found this review helpful.
Alex
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Alex's Time as a Aupair

I was very fortunate to have a fun and understanding family. The host mum was very considerate and opened with my experiences in Beijing, ensuring that I was given ample opportunity to explore and do what I wanted in the city. The duty schedule with the host child was organised between myself and the host child. However, this may differ among other families. We were set up with our main necessities - our mobile phone service and our transport ticket.

Furthermore my host mum also helped me setup my bank card which allowed to me use WeChat pay which made the transition into Beijing smoother. Overall, i would definitely recommend this program to anyone who would like to explore Beijing as a City, immerse themselves in the language of Mandarin and experience being part of a contemporary yet still have the traditional style of a Chinese family.

What would you improve about this program?
More communication amongst Aupairia, Aupairs and the host family
22 people found this review helpful.

Questions & Answers