Program Reviews

I lived with a family in Beijing who had a little 4 year old girl. My family were brilliant - they were welcoming, down-to-earth and made an effort to take me to restaurants, concerts and cultural sites. During the week I would read English books to the child, teach her maths and help her practice piano; when this was done we would play for the rest of the day. My local coordinator was Nancy and she was really helpful in addressing any issues I had.

Twice a week I would attend Mandarin classes. The language course was one of the best parts of the experience and I highly recommend it. As well as being fun and well-taught, the language course gives you an opportunity to meet other au pairs and is a fantastic boost to your CV. I’d like to continue to learn Mandarin back at home as I enjoyed it that much.

Once a week, on my day off, I would meet up with the other au pairs and we would spend the day doing a cultural activity together, like visiting a temple or going to an art gallery. This too was one of the best parts of the trip; I made some fantastic friends and after the culture shock of living in China it’s always good to be able to talk in English and eat some Western food together! We mostly came from the same university so we had lots in common already.

I was placed in Beijing this summer in a lovely host family, with Ricky (aged 6) as the only child. His English was very good, and so the teaching aspect was not too difficult in terms of planning - lots of reading, drawing (such as science, which he has a big interest in), watching English documentaries and writing.

The host family were extremely welcoming, taking me to lots of lovely restaurants, as well as trips to the theatre, theme park and the Great Wall. They were also very good with the schedule, sticking to the hours always, which I have heard is not the case for all au pairs (some other lopair summer educare participants were working up to 50 hours a week, rather than the advertised 35 hours).

The mandarin lessons were very useful, and also a great way to meet other au pairs, including those from other agencies rather than just lopair. This allowed us to meet up on Sunday’s too (most of our days off) to visit attractions. The TESOL course was also very useful for the programme, and was easy to complete whilst on the exchange itself.

I had two issues with the programme. Firstly, the host child was much less obedient than I would expect for a 6 year old - I have dealt with many 6 year olds in England before teaching reading etc., and I’ve never had them straight up refuse to do activities and throw so many tantrums. From what I have heard, this is the case for quite a few families, so I guess it is just a difference in culture - by the end of the program, I was mostly able to control these issues by finding ways around them (such as getting him to watch a science video and then draw an annotated diagram of an experiment.

Secondly, I found that the support at lopair varies hugely depending on the staff member - some were extremely useful, such as the Uk coordinator Hannah in helping with medical forms and submitting my application. When I wanted to ask about extending insurance, on the other hand, I never got a final reply with a price so had to go elsewhere - this was for the best, given I found out I hadn’t even been insured by lopair for the first couple of days! The visa process could have also been much better - luckily I had booked a slot at the London visa centre, as this has to be done weeks in advance - I only received my documents from lopair around 2 days before this slot, and if I hadn’t booked this slot and did so when I got the documents I don’t think I would have been able to make the trip.

I spent six weeks in Shenzhen in a family with two boys (4 and 5 years old). The tuition part of the program was very challenging, as the kids are still small and learning basic things even in their own language. For anyone matching with a family with small children, my best tip is that communication with the parents is key - setting down expectations, updating on progress, and creating a structure beyond just play, for teaching them English.
Overall, I had an amazing time. I got to experience the main attractions and life in ShenZhen, as well as the opportunity to go to HuiZhou and Guangzhou with the family. They treated me very well and I was always made to feel comfortable in their home. The kids were naughty at times, but overall it was a delight to be able to work with them and experience their life.
Lopair was excellent throughout the process, and the extra Chinese classes that the program includes were very beneficial. I was in a class of only two students, so we got to learn a lot of extra vocabulary that is used on the daily, which greatly improved my communication and speaking skills in Chinese.
I would definitely recommend anyone looking for a cultural immersion opportunity to apply to this program. The terms are incredible, and the experience you can gain is very valuable. I went on this trip to get a taste of China before I have to come here to study for a full year, and I can honestly say I can't wait to come back! This is the perfect program for anyone looking to get into Chinese/exploring Chinese culture, as well as for someone who has already studied Chinese and wants a more daily-life immersion into family lifestyle and culture.

I had an absolutely brilliant time in Beijing. I was placed with a lovely family with two boys, Jason and Carson (the former was 9 years old, and the latter was 7). The host mother I was placed with always made sure that I was comfortable and not being overworked and helped me hugely with my Mandarin as well as showing me around the city. We also took a short holiday with some friends of the family to visit the Shandong province. We explored Qufu before heading to Tai'an to hike up Mountain Tai and stay over night in order to watch the sun rise the next morning. Jason and Carson were a pleasure to teach and luckily already spoke very good English. It was easy to communicate with them as a result.

I au paired for 6 weeks during Summer 2018 in Shenzhen. My host family has two children (a boy, 11; a girl, 4) and live in a beautiful complex in the OCT district in Shenzhen. I had a really positive experience with the family, playing with the children while speaking to them in English and building up their fluency in an everyday context. Lopair were brilliant throughout the whole process. I found the application process to be quick and they were able to answer any questions I had from start to finish. Moreover they were supportive while I interviewed with families, providing advice and their own opinion. They were very efficient when booking transport to and from Shenzhen. Moreover the two days I spent in Hangzhou before starting the programme were great fun. It was super helpful to meet the team and other au pairs as it put you in contact with people that were in the same boat, people you could share tips and the occasional complaint with! While in Shenzhen I had two mornings of Mandarin class a week. I was in a class of two and this meant that we were able to fit in lots of practice and have a lot of fun too. Overall I would absolutely recommend this experience to anyone interested in China, and especially if you are learning Chinese it is a fantastic opportunity to be immersed in a Chinese speaking environment and your listening and speaking skills will benefit massively. Thank you Lopair.

Everything was really good. I got a beautiful family and that make my cultural shock shorter. Learning Chinese was very interesting and I love it. Totally recommend this experience because it’s the cheapest way to get to china, easiest way to stay there longer, funniest way to learn Chinese, best way to improve it, richest way to get connected to the culture. I loved living with a family and sharing with them their culture!

Self-Intro
Hi, I'm a 4th-year university student, male, 20 years old and Asian Canadian (my parents are from Central Asia). I found out about this program through a library recruitment I came across which mentioned a cultural exchange program in Shanghai during the summer. I had a free month in summer I felt like it could be a fun experience (spoiler: I was right!!).
Pre-trip
So before the trip, I registered online gave them my general information and a Canadian company called Scotia-personnel helped me organize my documents and set up the trip for me (they were really nice and helpful btw). I made a profile which included my resume, letter to the family and some references. After a while a family contacted me and we had a video interview. After that, I completed the confirmation documents and the trip was booked for 6 weeks. I actually ran into some problems with a test I was writing that summer (it had to be moved later) and the test ended up being in the first week that the trip was scheduled. The family and LoPair were really helpful and wanted to accommodate me anyway!! So, in the end, I ended up going for a total of 5 weeks to Shanghai to live with my host family.
Trip itself
So the family was kind and wanted to pick me up from the airport, LoPair arranged my flight tickets and gave them all the information they needed. I lived in Pudong area during my trip which was conveniently close to the downtown area where my language classes were. The classes were every Monday and Wednesday from 10-12:15 and were mandatory time off from the family. The host kid I was matched with was 11 years old and spoke basic English and was enough for us to communicate at a basic level, as time went on his English skills and our overall communication skills improved greatly. I had time off every Friday night and all Saturday, which was great since I had time to go out and see the city with my friends :D. I met some great friends in the language classes and outside of class, the only difficulty was that we didn't all have our free time off at the same time. The family was kind and got my train tickets to go see other cities nearby on my days off if I asked them, sometimes we would go out together as a family for dinner and see city landmarks. For my orientation which took place in Hangzhou, I had tickets provided for me and my whole trip planned and paid for me. During the orientation we went to see the famous West Lake and the pagoda located there, then we went to a shopping district and finally for a Chinese dinner! We all stayed in a small hotel (which was really clean and nice) after one of the coordinators (Saigon) was amazing and took me to see the city on her free time because I had some free time after the orientation was over. During the work days, I had a plan outlined by my host mom for each day which was really helpful because it gave me an estimate of how much work and how much play time I needed to spend with the host kid. Overall my host kid was very funny and kind but like any kid, he could get annoying. We would spend time together from breakfast to dinner, playing games, reading books, studying, eating, drawing, talking all the time about random things. It was really fun but it did get really tiring after 4-5 days, which meant that days off were really nice to spend outside the house. Since in the summer it gets really hot, many of the days were spent inside, that means that having good books and fun hands-on things to do is a must. I got to see the best parts of Shanghai, either with my friends or with my host family. Living in a family with a different culture is challenging but its a great and fun experience and taught me about our similarities and differences. I will keep in touch with my host family and this is a relationship I have for life.

This has been my first time traveling anywhere outside of my country so this experience has been very new and exciting! The Lopair staff have been very accommodating and were very helpful with the process of getting ready to leave for the trip as well as upon my arrival!

I thought that learning the language would be much more difficult but since you are immersed in the culture and everyone speaks the language you pick it up quite quickly!

You get to meet a lot of new people from different countries as well as some from your own! On the day that we arrived in China, I met someone that lives in the same city as I do as well as goes to the same college and is in the same program as me! But we only met the day we got off the plane in China!

This is an amazing program and has been such a great experience! I would highly recommend this program to anyone who loves adventures and working with children!!

Before arriving in Shanghai, Lopair did a very good job in helping me build my profile and putting me in contact with potential families. They provided good assistance and advice for the Skype interviews with the families, and once I had been matched with one, also provided valuable webinars to prepare me for teaching in China and adapting to Chinese customs and overall lifestyle. These webinars were useful in calming my nerves and feeling supported while preparing my trip, but also made up for the 3 days training they organize in Hangzhou, but that I could not attend. Therefore, if a future Au pair has dates that differ from the travel packages suggested by Lopair, the company will more than gladly adapt to them and fill them in on what they will miss.

Lopair also made the visa application clear and straightforward, and was always available to answer any questions I had, which was very appreciated. Lopair made sure I was put in a suitable level for my Chinese classes, and arranged a change in classes when it was needed.

Other than these services, Lopair also organized a trip to Hanghzhou for other Au pairs and I, which was a fantastic experience and an amazing opportunity to travel a bit and see another city. We were greeted at the train station and taken sightseeing all day by some very nice coordinators.

However, Lopair has unfortunately failed to keep up one promise, which was to organize meetings with the local coordinator. I am aware that in my case, my host mother was rarely available for a meeting with my local coordinator, which delayed our eventual meeting, but that did mean that I received my welcome package one month into the program. As of yet, my local coordinator and my family still haven't met in person, as Lopair requires. Although this has not impacted my stay here at all, as these meetings are mostly to make sure there are not any issues between the Au pair and the family - and there have been none for me - it does remain the only unfulfilled task on Lopair's part.

Other than these examples, I believe Lopair is a successful and mature company, that manages the whole program and experience very well. I am very glad to have been able to participate in this experience with them, and am very grateful for all their help.

I would definitely recommend it!

This is my second time back aupairing for Lopair in China and my first time on the summer programme.
It has been an absolute dream, my host family is absolutely amazing, they have accepted me into their home and from day one I have had absolutely no problems. I love spending time with my host kids as well as the rest of the family, could not have asked for a better placement.
I'm addition to a lovely host family I have really enjoyed going to school which is included in the programme. I feel as though my Chinese has greatly improved and I've met some lovely people.
I've also had an amazing time exploring Beijing. In the 4 weeks of being here I've managed to do a trip a week with friends I'd made because of the aupair programme.
I think for anyone who's interested in seeing China and loves working with kids this is a great experience. I've grown to be more resistant and understanding due to my work as an aupair as well having widened my horizons.