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

I spent a month in China through GOTOCO. This is an experience that I am very glad to have completed. I both was able to travel China, a country I had not visited before, and gain a TEFL qualification which will be valuable for future employment.
It was really nice to teach two classes throughout the program. This meant that I got to know the children personally and see their amazing progression in English, There was also a sports day during the weekend, where we could get involved with the activities and spend time with the students in a more informal manner.
Going to Yangshuo at the end of the program was definitely a highlight! It was great weather and the views were phenomenal. The other teachers also came, and it was really nice to have a chance to spend time with them before we all left.

I loved getting to know the country, the people, the customs and the traditions. China is extremely different to Western society, at least the cultures which I have seen and I come from. It was therefore very interesting to experience something so new and different.

One of the best parts of my experience with Gotoco was getting to know the other volunteers. Furthermore the cultural exchange which took place between the English volunteers and Chinese students or volunteers of our age. When their English was good enough to facilitate conversations it was extremely interesting to learn from one another's customs, traditions, norms and lives.

Travelling on my own to China, and being in a foreign country for almost 6 weeks has increased my self confidence and also inspired my wanderlust. Furthermore, I have gained the confidence to prepare lessons and teach children of very young ages and students of my own age. Both these things require very different skill sets, and I feel that this experience has very much facilitated the development of these skills

Gave me the opportunity to take part in an experience I could never organise alone.
Met some amazing people and learned a lot about Chinese culture.
Made friends for life with both the Chinese teaching staff and the other foreign volunteers.
The school also arranged several excursions such as hiking and going to a water park, and we regularly went out to local bars or borrowed mopeds.
Spent a lot of time with my lovely host family who were incredibly welcoming and generous.
Would love to go back one day!

Overall, my experience with Gotoco was very positive; from the beginning of the application process, I was provided with lots of support and opportunities to have the best time in China. I was very appreciative of the help that was provided in regards to applying for a Visa as I would not have been able to do this on my own. Also, my allocation to a school within Yangshuo was very well suited for me, therefore I would call my trip an overall success thanks to gotoco.

I really enjoyed spending time with the Chinese teachers outside of the classroom. We did many fun things together, and I enjoyed getting to know them, practicing my Chinese, and learning about China and the Shantou region from them.
My students and the Chinese teachers were the highlights of my lessons! The students were a joy to teach, and the teachers were so helpful and nice to me. My favorite cultural excursion was to Na'nao Island, it was so beautiful and the water was so clear and clean to swim in!
This experience has given me so much!! I have so many new friends, and have so much more confidence as an English teacher. I have also loved being in China and learning the language, and about the Chinese culture and Jieyang (the city I was placed in).
It is honestly very hard to pick one thing that was the best, but I would say that the people were the best thing. All of my Chinese teachers were very helpful, kind, and fun. All of my students were so much fun to teach, and my classes were such a joy to me! I am very sad to be leaving them. I would
absolutely recommend this to anyone! Teaching is an absolutely amazing experience, and having a TEFL opens so many doors for you, so I would definitely recommend a friend!
I also felt that all of the Gotoco staff were very helpful with the recruitment process! If I had a question, I emailed them and got a response back within a few days. Very nice people to interact with!

Had an amazing six weeks teaching in Yangshuo. Would whole heartedly recommend to anyone wanting to get some teaching experience in the summer whilst travelling. China is a beautiful and diverse country and it was beautiful to be fully integrated into a community and be able to get to know kids for six weeks and see not only their English improve but also their confidence. This is a great chance to see how teaching works in different parts of the world.

I was made aware of Gotoco through my university, and so I sent their quick application form. Most of the process of learning more about the trip and acquiring the necessary documents proved automatic and simple to do on the Gotoco website. However, some parts of the process were more difficult than others, such as using a visa application service and acquiring traveler's insurance. The other volunteers at my program said that email correspondence should have been faster, but I had no issues working my way through the online forms on the Gotoco website. I got my visa, travel tips, and a six week program in China all thanks to Gotoco, and I recommend them to anyone who is interested in travel, teaching, and growing professionally or personally.

Despite some complications during the visa application process, and very little support from staff on site, the programme was very enjoyable, and I would definitely say that being put in at the deep end was a good technique to improve my teaching abilities.
The children were always keen and ready to learn, and the assistants we were given (who were students at the school during term time in their early teens) were really helpful and desirous of our praise alongside our own students.
The support amongst the higher leadership team, however, was quite minimal- especially considering our zero prior experience of teaching.