Gotoco FUNDED TEFL Adventures (Bali, Thailand, Colombia, Europe, SE Asia!) Reviews

Genuinely, doing Gotoco was one of the best experiences of my life. I was more than sceptical about going and extremely nervous about travelling to China on my own to the rural-ish area of Southern China, Rongxian in Guangxi, and as many other people would agree, had never done something like this before! From the moment I arrived I felt at ease and the teachers gave us a really warm welcome and made us feel safe.

I was very glad to have been put in this programme that had such kind and welcoming teachers and parents. The students were keen to learn and it was fun teaching the different ages.

The thought of going to China on my own was so scary and now i have done it i feel so much more confident and now feel able to do other trips and teach in other places. I saw things I've never seen before and experienced a completely new culture. Teaching was such a good experience and something completely new.

If you decide to do the placement, you should definitely go to Yangshuo as offered by Gotoco. It is a beautiful place and cycling through the mountains and rafting down the Yu Long river was one of the best experiences of my life. I was really lucky to have got on well with the other volunteer on my placement and felt that it was such a good way to meet likeminded people and hear from other volunteers who did other placements around China.

Overall, I'd recommend people to use Gotoco if they want to experience something completely new, in a place that is unique whilst gaining a TEFL certificate. I never thought I'd actually go as I was sceptical at first at how legit it was. Yet, Gotoco communicate with you throughout and you get put into a groupchat with representatives from Gotoco who can help if need be. We also were put into a groupchat with the other volunteer and the lead teacher of the placement to get to know them before arriving.

Obviously each placement is different so one experience will vary from another, but most people I met at Yangshuo had had a good experience on their placement. I was really happy to have gone with Gotoco for the placement and hope that other people will feel confident to go to China too.

I think the program is a great way to experience Chinese culture first-hand and not from a tourist's perspective. Teaching on the summer camps is a very fun and rewarding experience.
The opportunity to go to Yangshuo at the end of the trip is a great way to meet other volunteers from around the world and explore a stunning rural area of China.

I thoroughly enjoyed my experience with Zhuhai Youngster Club. The training week at the beginning was a good way to get to know our Chinese hosts before the summer camp began. I also felt that it was a good way for the volunteers to engage with the lesson plans and discuss any ideas that we had about the teaching.
The summer camp itself was very enjoyable. In the lessons we often played games to help the children learn vocabulary, which they enjoyed. The teaching was a good way to improve my self-confidence at public speaking and it was rewarding to see the children's confidence at speaking English improve over the course of the camp.

The afternoons were spent playing sports such as Badminton, Tennis, Golf, Skiing and Kayaking. I enjoyed being in the outdoors and being able to relax with the children outside of the classroom environment.

As the title says, I’ve never had a better time. You should be prepared to work very hard, as I worked long hours 7 days a week (though this does change depending on where you are sent), but it was very rewarding and the Gotoco staff are very helpful. If you have any issues at the camp, they will do their best to mediate - and I know some people who got moved if they didn’t enjoy their school.

The week in Yangshuo at the end is the perfect way to close your Gotoco experience - 24/7 fun. It has a great mixture of outdoor activities (hiking, kayaking, cycling, swimming, etc.) and a good touristy town centre, with plenty of restaurants and bars. The activities are all arranged by Gotoco, and they are extremely flexible - if you don’t like their activity, and would prefer to do something else, they will do their best to help you.

I have absolutely loved the Gotoco experience and would recommend it to anyone considering applying. There have been so many highlights, from watching a Guzheng show, going tea leaf picking to even attending a Chinese wedding! Gotoco offers the opportunity to fully immerse yourself in Chinese culture which has been so valuable. I have become a lot more independent since participating in the trip and I feel a lot more confident in travelling abroad now. I also feel that my leadership and communication skills have developed during the experience. The location of the programme was also brilliant with Yangshuo being an absolutely beautiful area. I have met some great friends during the programme who I hope to stay in touch with. I cannot recommend this programme enough!

This is a great opportunity to explore ‘real’ China. The local knowledge provided by the interns and other colleagues working at the camp was also invaluable. Not only did this make it so much easier navigating China and we were exposed to aspects of Chinese culture that you wouldn't be as an average tourist. This made my experience seem really aunthentic! Getting home cooked Chinese meals was definitely one of the highlights of my trip.

Yangshou was a great way to end my time in China - it was one of the most stunning places I've ever visited and the activities organised by the staff there was a great way to meet other Gotocoers. It was really nice to come together at the end of the trip and share our experiences.

I enjoyed my month being exposed to the chinese culture.

There is no way I would have been able to get this experience if I was travelling around China on my own. This is the best possible way to get to know Chinese culture and learn about the country and the people as, by working with them, you actually get to know them yourself.

People think that all you have to gain from a programme like this is to discover whether or not teaching might be for you. This is completely wrong. I loved my experience teaching but teaching was only one element of my time abroad. Lots of what I learned was not teaching related, and my personal growth was impacted in other ways.

Additionally, Gotoco programmes provide a really good balance between immersing yourself in a different culture, and having people from home around you, so that you don't feel uncomfortably out of your depth.

Good experience thanks to the other students/foreign teachers on the programme but the school was very disorganised and it is more work than you think. However, I made good friends who I will definitely remain in contact with and the foreign teacher coordinator, Eric, was lovely! Eric helped us with anything we needed and spent his weekends showing us around the city: taking us to good food places, bars, historic sites and on hikes with great views. I would really recommend making the most of your weekends exploring and if you have time after your programme to go travelling around China.

I had an amazing summer volunteering with Gotoco in Yangshuo, China. Although I had never taught English before, I had such a fun and memorable time meeting and working with new kids and the teaching assistants. From this, I was able to learn about and explore the side of China that I would not have been able to see as a tourist, for example learning about cultural differences, trying new foods out and learning a little mandarin. I also improved my independence and organisation from leading classes of up to 30 students on my own, and navigating China without being able to speak the local language. The only suggestion I have to Gotoco is to improve communication with the volunteers during the application process. Overall, I definitely recommend participating!

The experience I had in China through gotoco was everything that they promised and more. Although there are still costs such as flights, vaccines etc. the fact that they offer you food and accomodation for free makes it so much more affordable and allows you to spend a much longer period in China. I spent 6 weeks as an intern in an English speaking center in Shanghai. It was a great and unique experience as I was able to get to know many of the chinese students who showed me aspects of Shanghai I would never have seen if I was there just as a tourist. The work aspect of the trip also helped me to develop skills I know will benefit me in the future. While there, I also got lots of free time to get to know the other participants and to explore China. Apart from some slow communications I had no problems with gotco and they were very helpful in ensuring everything went smoothly. I would highly recommend taking part to anyone!

I worked with children aged 6 to 10 at a residential summer camp in Jiangsu procince in East China. The camp promoted environmental awareness and citizenship responsibilities. Although I didn't do any conventional English classroom teaching per se, I accompanied the kids through an important process of learning outside the classroom and becoming more independent and developing their personalities.

Together with a big team of both Chinese and foreign counselors, I led and assisted various activities such as sports or arts and crafts. What I loved most about the camp was how close you got to the kids and how much trust they built up to you within two weeks. You'd see them grow and learn very quickly and although it was very exhausting and tiring at times, it was a very rewarding experience I will not forget.

Gotoco made it so easy and accessible for me to participate in this program and always offered great support, both before and during the program.