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

The whole process of applying and preparing for the trip was laid out for me in easy steps, with constant support along the way.

Having participated in the program, I've definitely learned a lot about myself and how to be more independent and confident in my abilities. I have more world and traveling experience, I tried new foods and found new favorites, I've explored cities that I didn't know the names of previously, I've gotten to meet so many new people and learn more about them--I've just grown so much. Even when times were hard or I got frustrated, I learned that I was able to figure out the situation and overcome it, which has made me a stronger person!

My program was an activities camp, so I had the opportunity to rock climb, go sailing, learn archery and golf, visit a museum and an observatory, and more. It was always really enjoyable and rewarding when the kids worked up the courage to try and have a conversation in English with me! Most of the time they would be hesitant to speak with me as their English levels were very low, but some of the kids were more brave and made an effort to sit with me at lunch and ask me questions, and bond with me during the program.

I would definitely recommend applying for a program through Gotoco if a) you're looking for an easy and fun way to explore China, b) you want to do something that will look great on your CV/resumé and make you stand out, c) you're interested in getting your TEFL certificate for FREE which can open up many doors for you in the future, or d) you don't know what to do with your summer and just want something interesting to fill that time with. There's so many reasons to go, and even if you discover that teaching isn't your thing (it's definitely not mine!) or China is too much for you long-term, it's still an incredible experience that you will remember forever and be grateful for.

Gotoco provides an amazing opportunity of spending a self fulfilling summer. I really enjoyed teaching and actually plan to do it in the future in my gap year after university. The TEFL qualification that you earn through the programs really is an invaluable qualification you can fall back on. As you are in a completely different place the people you meet and the bonds you make are really strong. I have met one of my best friends during my summer in china, something i never thought id do.

Spending so many weeks somewhere so far away may seem very daunting at first but the memories you make during this time are worth missing a few weeks with home friends. I feel like the independence and the self reliance that is tested when your so far away is really character building. My and my friend from the program travelled to nearby cities together which was very fun and Yangshou was the most beautiful place I have seen in my life.

What was the best thing about your experience in China?

It's hard to choose one thing that stands out as the best from my experience in China, however I feel that the entire experience revolved around teaching the children, and allowing them to grow within my care. I loved putting on the performance at the end, and seeing the children display what they had learnt. The children excelled and being able to actually gauge their progress was very rewarding.

Would you recommend participating to a friend and if so why?

I would definitely recommend participating in this program to a friend as I have found it both informative, hugely educational, and wholly rewarding. I am genuinely moved to have been a part of the education process for these children, and having a TEFL qualification means I can help children communicate better with the world, no matter where they are. Also, being able to learn more about another culture from within it in a educational capacity has taught me to be more curious about the world in general.

How did you find the recruitment process?

I found it easily accessible and the people I interacted with were very helpful and kind. I would happily recommend the program to a friend. However, I would make the relationship between the family and the tutor more transparent, in terms of money paid to house the tutor, and the specific expectations. It might be better to arrange a tutoring schedule with the tutor and the parent through the school, as this would sidestep and language barriers.

I loved the week-long trip to Yangshuo! I really enjoyed preparing the class for the end-of-year performance. It has made me a lot more confident and has allowed me to be put outside of my comfort zone. The best thing about the experience was making new friends along the way. I now have new friends both in China and in the UK. Meeting some great friends and getting to visit Asia for the 1st time. I met and the different groups of children I had the pleasure of teaching. All of the Chinese teachers were so interesting and helped me learn lots about Chinese culture. The children were active and enthusiastic in all the lessons, and it was very rewarding watching their English improve over the course of the summer school. It has given me confidence in moving abroad and working in Asia.

Being able to travel around at the weekends were a highlight, and I also loved getting to know my class. By the end of my trip, we had visited the attractions multiple times, and so the novelty of them had worn off. This was perhaps something I would change. We were taken around the outdoor activities and told to listen to the narration given by the guides, so that we could speak to the children about the attractions. We couldn't understand the speaker, so when we went round the places with the students, we weren't able to discuss it with them. Visiting China was amazing, and I would absolutely love to go back. The experience give fascinating insight into Chinese culture which, and the experience of teaching was also very enjoyable. Yangshou was a stunning place to live and was probably the highlight of my placement. I have never been somewhere so beautiful, and being able to spend time there and get to know the city was amazing.

My favorite memory of my trip was when my host family brought me to a small village outside of town. We climbed a mountain before dawn in order to watch the sunrise. It was truly spectacular to see the sun rise over the rugged terrain. My favorite memory of my trip was when my host family brought me to a small village outside of town. We climbed a mountain before dawn in order to watch the sunrise. It was truly spectacular to see the sun rise over the rugged terrain. I think the experience made me a much more worldly person and truly opened me up to traveling more places. The idea of going to China by myself was initially daunting, but now I don't feel intimidated by traveling to far away places on my own. The best thing was the relationships I made with the people there. I am excited to stay in touch with them and hope to travel back and visit again.

My school had a few excursions (such as a museum and the cinema) and a water fight, which proved fun as you could bond with the children without having to stress over improvements to your lesson (it mainly involved me playing with them and therefore acting like a child). The first proper day in Yangshuo was nice as it involved everyone on the programme doing the same activities together (visiting a cave and mud-bath, swimming in an outdoor pool, and bathing in a hot spring, where in my school we were split into groups who couldn't see each other often. For me the main highlight was the water fight, as I could fight back against the kids without having to worry about hurting them. Every kid I taught, aimed (successfully) to get me, and I initially got them when they were filling up their pistols to begin. Another was during a day where the kids visited a farm near the outskirts of Guangzhou, in the afternoon while watching some of the class to climb a ladder, some of the kids taught me a little bit of Mandarin (it helped their English as they had to explain what the word meant) and were excited when I wrote the character correctly. It definitely helped me to adapt and use my initiative, as we were given a timetable with vague headings that we were supposed to plan (including resources) and create lessons out of. In the beginning, we had to plan a lot and our plans would not cover the entire lesson, so we would have to think of activities for the children to do during the lesson, in case our lessons were too short. Another thing is confidence as we were supposed to behave in a certain way to maintain the kids? attention, so initially we had to front confidence, which grew throughout time. I found that the ?culture shock? had no negative impact on me, in fact the opposite. Every day, I spent there I felt that I was learning something, not only about teaching, but the way that the culture works: such as the good restaurants are the small ones that I would avoid in England, and that you don?t have to be fluent in a language to survive in that nation (though I would advise learning it) that I couldn't learn in the UK, so that I can apply these lessons in the future and further understand other cultures.

Before this trip, I had been dealing with a long bout of depression and this trip really helped me out of it. My kids, the people I met and the love I got from all of them is the dearest thing from the trip. Just the enthusiasm of the children to learn from somebody who didn't even speak their language was heartening. The overall experience reminded me that the world is too big for my worries to not get lost in. All the wonderful people I had the chance of meeting. Personally I found the most enjoyable part of this experience was to see how quickly I made friends, grew new habits, and actually ended up feeling like home in Quanzhou. I had expected a big culture shock, but it was quite the opposite for me: I made several good Chinese friends, loved the food, and even found a good coffee shop - the only Western thing I can't give up on!