Teaching internship & TEFL Certification (Thailand, Vietnam, Europe, China, India)

Meeting other students on both programmes that I participated in has to be my highlight, I have made friends for life. Furthermore, living in China for a prolonged period of time was a great highlight as I felt as if I had the opportunity to gain a greater understanding of their culture and way of life. This may not have been possible if I had undertaken a shorter programme.

One of the most enjoyable days I had involved a group of Gotoco participants hiring mopeds and visiting the waterfall in Yangsuho. Later we borrowed a BBQ from one of the participants camps and had Chinese BBQ and swim in the river till late on secret beach.

I would recommend the programme to someone to gain free experience in teaching children and gaining important leadership skills. I think this has been an excellent way to see China and spend the majority of my summer.

Spending time in China this summer has been an incredible experience for me. Being there for 5 weeks meant that I was able to fully engulf myself within the Chinese culture and experience the area like a local. There were cheap things to do in my spare time which allowed me to experience activities which I wouldn't have the opportunity to do in the UK.

I feel that Gotoco provides you a great opportunity by connecting you with a partner school or camp in China which you may not have had any link to otherwise. This enables you to spend your summer making a difference to a set of lovely kids and do this all whilst still having the ability to explore a new country and culture within your summer holidays from Uni.

My experience at Zhuoyue English School in Yangshuo was incredible. Before I had even arrived at the camp, the programme organiser went above and beyond to ensure my stay would be safe and problem free. This included organising my taxi from the airport to the camp, which would have been difficult for me to organise independently given the language barrier. The accommodation was of outstanding standard, with a maid who came in most days to empty the bins and clean the floors, and our own personal balcony with an incredible view of the school. The children at the school were all lovely and as teachers we had plenty of resources to help us to organise our lesson plan for each day. We were also able to participate in the activities organised for the children, such as peanut pulling and tea picking, which gave us the ability to experience Yangshuo in a way which is non-accessible by tourists. Angie was kind enough to allow me to stay longer in the accommodation after my programme finished and gave me the opportunity to participate in English Corner where I was able to teach some of the adults for a few weeks. For this I am incredibly grateful and I would definitely recommend this programme to future volunteers.

I had an amazing time in China and I'm really happy I participated. I'd recommend anyone go because it will give them a better perspective on the world and improve their interpersonal skills massively.
Aside from teaching and meeting new people, the most enriching part of the trip was experiencing Chinese society. I have often read about the arguments for organising our society differently but it was really interesting to go to a country where most parts of life are organised by the government and see how that works for them.
Gotoco were very accommodating and made sure all the volunteers on our programme were satisfied.
I highly recommend this provider to anyone considering coming to China as they provide great opportunities with great value.

Gotoco were simply bloody lovely. The staff there are always keen to help you and answer any queries you may have.

All the hardwork is done for you by Gotoco. All you need to do is book your flights, pack a bag and try not to miss your flight.

If you're anything like me, you can't organise a sermon in a church. But that's where Gotoco come in. Everything you need to do in preparation for your trip is given to you in little bite sized chunks. As long as you are capable of filling in a form and spelling your name, you'll be on your way to China in no time!

But the very best thing about Gotoco has to be how genuinely interested and concerned they are about you and your experience. During my trip they kept me updated with some lovely challenges they are running, and after it they were keen to hear what I thought.

If I was to summarise Gotoco in two simple words, I would say "bloody lovely".

I did the Yunnan program this past summer and had a great time. It was amazing just getting to experience life in another culture and getting to meet and make friends with people from many different regions around the world. I got to learn a lot about myself during this trip and the challenges it presented me and I would definitely do it again if given the opportunity.
The application process was simple and easy, which is especially nice for students, even if you don't have a lot of experience on your resume. I'd definitely recommend applying!
As I said above, it was an amazing experience for personal growth and a great opportunity to travel and see more of the world. It's also great experience if you are planning to work in education in the future.

Through Gotoco, I had the opportunity to teach at a school in Beijing, planning and executing my lessons by myself. It was great to have costs such as housing and food provided by the company. I had an incredible time in China, especially getting to know all my students/the other teachers, and traveling around to places like the Great Wall. I appreciated how much freedom we had outside our teaching responsibilities. I also think that many college students who travel to teach only get to work as assistant teachers, so it was very cool to be able to plan and run full classes by myself, even without that much experience going in. It was a challenging but extremely rewarding job. I recommend Gotoco for anyone looking to gain teaching experience and interested in traveling to China.

If you're looking for an iconic summer adventure, filled with authentic Chinese culture, real-life life of life teaching experience and the most amazing people you could ever imagine - just join Gotoco in China. Trust me when I say, you won't regret it!

The whole experience was full of exciting challenges and fun activities. It's really hard to pinpoint a single highlight, as they were occurring continuously. Every week brought something completely different and long list of new things to enjoy starting from rooftop parties and finishing with proper bilingual festivals, which looked like the beauty pageants from Toddlers and Tiaras. But if I were to name just a few that would be the people (i.e. other English teachers) and the teaching experience as a whole.

If you have a free summer, you simply have to go to China with Gotoco!

Even if teaching is not the career you’re interested in pursuing, the programmes offer a great opportunity to experience a different culture and a great country. You can improve many relevant soft skills which you can carry with you in the future, and make great memories of experiences that not many will have the chance to have.
Some of my most memorable moments have been interactions with the children by encouraging them to use and practise English. It was very enjoyable and rewarding knowing you may have made a lasting impression, enabling them to grasp a greater understanding of English. Meeting new people, both Chinese and other nationalities of other cultural participants (USA and Poland), has given me a greater appreciation of our different cultures.
I would recommend this experience because it is a great way to meet people from a variety of different backgrounds, it pushes you outside of your comfort zone, and allows you to see a realer side of China that you may not see as a regular tourist.