Summer 2019 participant

I participated in the program this summer and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I think this was such a good opportunity to gain valuable experience, visit china and make a difference.
This program allowed me to visit china with free accomodation, food and a TEFL, on a budget. The only things I had to pay for were flights and my VISA, as well as the extra travelling I did after.
The company paid for a trip to Yangshuo after where we were able to meet other participants from other schools and exchange experiences. It did seem from other people that having a good experience was luck of the draw - it depended what school you got as they were all extremely different and what the other participants were like. Its also worth saying that the company give you information about the school and area before going out- although the information I received was completely inaccurate. The area was nothing like they said really, it was advertised as having lots of things to do and places to hike around which it didnt. it also said that we would be doing activities with the kids outside, but we did nothing like that except teach english. I think I only enjoyed the experience this much due to the people I met and my travels after. Had I not got on with the people, the teaching would have been far less enjoyable.
My only negative for the program was the lack of response from the company and the length of time it took them to respond to my emails; they were not contactable by phone either. This was annoying as when I initially started my application they were great at responding to questions but as soon as I had problems with anything such as my interviewer not turning up and changing the times, not hearing from the school or not recieving my deposit back, it took numerous emails to get a response.
Overall I would recommend this to my friends but make them wary of certain parts.