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

I never thought I would find myself teaching English at a primary school in China, but I can say without a doubt that this has been an eye-opening experience for me. Teaching and managing classes of over 30 students has definitely been a challenge, and has allowed me to hone some important life skills like communication, leadership and being able to adapt quickly to unusual situations. Seeing the children make some progress in English and building a relationship with them was also incredibly rewarding.
This programme was a great opportunity to experience Chinese culture firsthand, both inside and outside the classroom. The trip to Yangshuo at the end of the programme was definitely one of the highlights of my time in China. The town offered a large range of activities and I wish I had been able to stay there a few extra days.
Going to China with Gotoco was a good decision for me. Meals and accommodation were free during the programme, which allowed me to spend more on other things and to extend my trip and travel a lot once the programme had come to an end.

Gotoco is a challenging but highly rewarding programme and offers a unique and special way to experience Chinese culture through teaching English and interacting with the children as well as local teachers. Teaching English to a class of 37 young children has greatly improved my confidence and improvisation skills: it was not uncommon that something unexpected would happen during my lessons, and even if I would prepare lesson plans, it was important to remain calm and with an air of confidence when things didn't go as planned (powerpoint wouldn't load, music/film wasn't playing, etc...) There were often delays and things were unpredictable in China, we would also only learn/discover things at the very last minute and in hindsight all of this greatly improved my patience.

I loved my time in China! It was a great opportunity to travel and learn so much about the country and the culture. I feel so much more confident about travelling now as China was so interesting!
I loved working with the children and it was so much fun seeing them gain confidence in English. My camp meant that I was teaching English within the activities of the camp. This meant that the classes were varied however did not include time to properly teach. Although this was a challenge at the start, we all enjoyed the time we could socialize with the children.
I would recommend Gotoco to others because it was a fantastic way to experience a new culture, meet incredible people and genuinely challenge yourself. I have had one of the best summers!

By participating in the Gotoco programme, I have not only grown and developed and understood more about myself, but I have met the most amazing people who have taught me so much! Coming from someone who wants to be a teacher, having the opportunity to teach in another country let alone a country like China, who places so much emphasis and value on education, gave me invaluable experience going forward. You wake up knowing that there is a busy day ahead filled with challenges yet so much reward. I have been able to understand my flaws and strengths in terms of my style of teaching and how I can overcome and further improve those when it comes to actually be a teacher in the future! Furthermore, spending time in China has helped me to understand the Chinese culture with an entirely new perspective. I also enjoyed visiting the local markets, temples and the national museum!

My experience with GOTOCO was amazing. Thankyou to the fantastic organisers, the amazing people I met along the way and the welcoming workers out there in China. With the life changing experience of teaching abroad and working with children in a culture so far beyond our own, I have only to thank this company. I run out of superlatives to describe their brilliant communication, well structured planning and how brilliantly they sent us to the best places.

If you want a new qualification and gain a tefl, whilst having a fantastic chance to travel and visit the world, then this company is the company for you! I could not fault it!

The faultless recruitment and marvellous excursion has allowed me to mature and find myself in a new niche. Thankyou!

This was one of the best ways I could spend my summer!! The school I taught at was in Dongguan, and the students there are so smart and intelligent, often teaching was made easy. Overall, It was a lot of fun teaching lots of different subjects, and being creative on how the lessons panned out was great. In our groups, we coordinated with each other on lesson planning and shared a lot of material to support each other too. This form of team work will be a very memorable experience for me.
I'd say the best part for me was adapting to a completely new culture, so many things about China is so different to what I am used to, but I'm really glad I had the opportunity to go and teach. Yangshuo was also amazing! It's so beautiful with so many different places to explore that I really want to go back.

It's a great experience in China for someone who wants to live the country to its core. Having the opportunity to live in China for some time in a school gives you a very different perspective on things that I would definitely recommend. The application process was very good. However, it would have benefitted from earlier information about the programmes available and the periods. After the programme selection, I would have liked some more specific information. It has enhanced my confidence and my leadership abilities. It has given a boost to my Chinese skills and has enabled be to practice my Mandarin in different settings. It has helped me with my social and intercultural skills too. In general, I would recommend this programme to anyone who is interested in China and Chinese culture and wants to experience it from a local point of view.

I decided to spend my summer doing something new and adventurous. I could have just spent it traveling but instead decided to go and do something worthwhile to benefit others. The programme was massively helpful with travel information and were extremely welcoming at the camp. I spent just under a month at the camp and got to know many young individuals and exchanged about our differences and similarities in social lives and education. As well as delivering my own thoughts, the students taught me a great deal; about China and what it means to be a young person in this country. The social side with the organisers was also extremely enjoyable and was taken for mountain hikes and to experience local cuisine; the latter being most definitely my favourite. Would highly recommend to anyone even considering it.

I’ve found it an enlightening experience and I’ve personally met amazing lovely people who I hope will be forever my friends. Not only, but the place was amazing and breathtaking and being with the kids has been a rewarding and satisfying experience. I’ve certainly grown in confidence and as a person. Also, my knowledge about Chinese culture has increased as well as my interest for it. I absolutely recommend the program to everyone. Also the challenges the other participants and I have found along the journey helped as the lack of organization contributed and helped us to create a strong bond among us and made us responsible by putting us in the position of having to manage time between teaching and outdoor activities. Amazing lovely unexpected experience!!!!

This was a fun and cheap way to see a lot of China. The people who run the program are all very nice and well-meaning. The accommodations and the food are all fantastic. The teachers there and the facilities are all great as well. The days are very long, you typically work about 12 hours per day. The program will tell you that the tells are much shorter than they are. For example, I am aware of several programs which say they are 9am-6pm every day but they are actually 8am-9:30pm every day. This is just one example of the exceptionally poor communication. You will be unaware of what you're doing at any given time until 5 minutes before you have to do it. You will be waiting for a response from the program directors for days unsure of exactly what to do. They will tell you things and then tell you something entirely different 3 days later. In all honesty, it doesn't make the program any more difficult or less fun, it's just pretty annoying and causes a few issues when trying to plan things.