Immerqi Staff Opinion: My Teaching And Traveling In China| 3 min read
When I first made the decision to come to China my mum laughed at me, not taking it seriously. But once the flights were booked and my bags were packed the reality kicked in, she was losing her little girl to the big, wide world. Many of my work colleagues and friends said I would be back in a week, but look at me now!
Once the training is over, interns hop on trains to the schools and new homes for their teaching internship, I boarded the train with the 60 or so interns that were heading off to my old playground, Guangzhou.
As a teacher intern, I was working in a school in Foshan in the south of China, teaching 7 year olds their ABCs. 7 year olds are the most adorable little people ever, except they don’t speak much English. I was affectionately known as “Apple” by one of my classes, not because they didn’t know my name, but because they were little monkeys and wanted to annoy me.
Ange’s Teaching Tip: When teaching younger children, keep it simple, use big gestures and don’t be so serious. Learn to laugh at yourself!
I travelled to a few of the neighboring cities, but like many I fell into the trap of spending my weekends with my good friends. I did travel to Guangzhou a lot to catch up with the other interns I met in Beijing during the 4 week training, and to catch up on the gossip. I’d find out what everyone is up to, who’s visiting who or who is travelling where, and why nobody has come to visit me!
There have been a number of little trips away that the current interns have been on. Which they are either nice enough to talk to me about it, or I stalk them on Facebook, QQ or Wechat (the Chinese equivalent of Whatsapp). Either way, it’s nice to see them out their exploring and getting familiar with the Chinese culture.
Some have even adopted their own little Chinese family that take them on trips and show them the local restaurants, shops and locations that as a tourist you tend overlook. The latest holiday, Labor Day Weekend, saw many of the interns taking short vacays to places like Chengdu & Shanghai. Whether it was visiting the pandas in Chengdu or seeing the lights along the rivers in Shanghai at night, it was the company of the other interns that was most welcomed.
Ange’s Traveling Tip: with all the holidays around be sure to book your flights or train tickets at least 2 weeks in advance as to ensure you don’t miss out!
The exchange of horror stories, the bragging about awesome classes, reminiscing on the little trips away, or school-funded field trips – travelling to meet the other interns and catch up is always worth it, even if you don’t end up seeing the city that you had to travel such a long way to get to.
With a few events and holidays coming up to catch up with friends, there will be many more stories to exchange with the world, there is the Dragon Boat Festival, the English competition that some of the interns will be judging, the Color Run in Beijing & Chongqing, plus the end of semester travels to start planning and organizing.
Until next time!
