immerqi – Well Travelled Lass

May 14, 2019May 14, 2019

TEFL Tip Tuesday: In-class vs Online TEFL courses, which is better?

I have completed two courses since I began my TEFL journey way back in October 2017. The first was an online 120 hour TEFL course which I completed in my own time back in Scotland and the second was an in-class 120 hour TESOL course which I completed in Thailand with 14 other participants and one incredible teacher. Both are adequate tools for getting yourself an English teaching job overseas, both have their advantages and disadvantages but how do you know which one is right for you? Hopefully this post will help you decide!

39227353_154984865400415_2219872491390631936_o — My TESOL group in Hua Hin, Thailand

I want to preface this post by pointing out that having two TEFL qualifications is not at all necessary, I only have two because the opportunity presented itself and I’m not one to say no to spending three weeks in Thailand, next to the beach, learning how to become better at my job! (Does this make me a nerd? Probably…)

Online

My online course was part of the deal when I signed up to STA Travel’s teaching internship in China. The idea was, you complete I-to-I TEFL’s 120 hour online course, go for a week of orientation in Beijing or Harbin and then you get placed somewhere in China for a 5 month “internship”; essentially you arrive at a school with a basic knowledge of teaching methods and get thrown in at the deep end teaching 25 hours a week for around a £200 a month salary. They call it an internship because that way you can enter China on a student visa as you are there to study Mandarin and how to teach English as a foreign language.

In favour of the online course is the fact that it is a really easy way to achieve your TEFL qualification and it was included in the price of my internship package with STA. The reason it appealed to me so much at the time was that I had just finished 6 years of higher education and while TEFL had always intrigued me until that point I had assumed it was something you needed to study at college. The thought of going back into the college/university system did not appeal to me so to be told that I could do the course online from the comfort of my own home (well to be honest mainly coffee shops and my friend Hannah’s apartment) was music to my ears. A way to travel, earn money and I didn’t have to go back to college, perfect!

Who doesn’t love a study sesh in their local coffee shop?!

The best thing about an online TEFL course is that you get to move at your own pace when it comes to what you are learning. As someone with Dyslexia this is really important to me as it can take me longer to read large amounts of text than most people and sometimes that large amount of text doesn’t even sink in after I’ve read it so I end up having to read it again! My course gave me three months to complete the material and sit the test after signing up. This was the perfect amount of time and meant I could fit studying in around my other commitments such as my job and going to the pub every other night…

The downside to online courses in general is you really need to have internal motivation to get them done. The online TEFL course I did was no exception and while there was the external motivation of the 3 month deadline, it wasn’t until the last month of my course that this finally kicked me into panic mode and I crammed the material hard! It could be argued that the motivation should come from the idea of your new adventure, moving to another country and becoming an English teacher, but I have one of those personalities that doesn’t tend to 100% believe something is happening until I’m actually on the plane and there’s no chance to turn back. So it’s safe to say that this motivation didn’t really work for me, I’m more of a “works well under extreme pressure that I’ve only created by my own actions” kind of students.

Another downside to the online course is just the vast amount of information that you need to process alone. I like to talk about things when I’m learning about them but with an online course it’s just you and your computer so getting all that information to stick can be a bit tricky. I used up three notebooks writing notes on all the different topics and sections in the course, it was a lot to sift through!

When it boils down to it this is a great option for people who are good at getting stuff done and focusing on a project once they commit to it. You can move at your own pace and can fit it in around your existing schedule. Maybe if you are planning on travelling with a friend then doing the course together online would be a good option. You could even do the course as you travel, before you go for a teaching position. For people who find it hard to motivate themselves or find a lot of course material overwhelming in sort of “don’t look at it and hope it goes away” kind of way, I would not recommend. The sheer amount of material and no real pressure to get the work done was a bit of a challenge for me, luckily I’m a last minute kind of girl as I mentioned above and having to squeeze half of the course into a third of the time worked out to be the best way for me to do it in the end but I probably made it more stressful than it needed to be!

20170122_140420 — Friends who study together, stay together!

In-class

I was invited down to Thailand from China as part of my current job here in Myanmar; it made sense that if I was going to work for their language centre I should probably learn how they do things first, so in August last year I travelled to Hua Hin for Xplore Asia’s 4 week TESOL course.

20180803_110329 — Office dogs are definitely a plus! Xplore Asia also have a charity that works with the stray dog population in Hua Hin and some of their furry friends hang around the school during the day providing very appreciated cuddles between lessons.

The best part of the in-class course for me was how interactive it was, I could discuss the lessons with class members and there was a good amount of group work mixed in to our solo assignments. This isn’t for everyone but if, like me, you look externally for you motivation then it’s the best way to learn!

The course is taught with enthusiasm by someone with years of experience teaching English abroad and this really shows through the classes provided. Our instructor was probably one of the best teachers I’ve ever had and this really did help when it came to the atmosphere in class. His laid back but professional teaching style has really influenced my own and I have noticed a difference in my own classes since taking part in his course.

FB_IMG_1534329692625 — Me and my TESOL instructor Jaco (ignore the last name on my certificate… it’s a typo!)

Another obvious advantage of this option was the fact the course was taught in Thailand. Now I know not all in-class TEFL courses are going to have this advantage but to be honest why would you even choose any other course when you could travel half way around the world and spend your summer in one of the most beautiful countries in the world (and it doesn’t just have to be summer, they offer classes almost all year round). If you are choosing to do TEFL then chances are you are looking to move abroad anyway so why not just travel 4 weeks early and begin your adventure with some expert training. Extra bonus is that Xplore Asia offer a placement service after you complete the course, so they even help you find a job afterwards (I already had my job lined up but everyone else in the group signed up for this when they booked the course).

20180812_110144 — Weekdays in class, weekends at the beach.

Everyone in the course was there for the same reason and they had made the commitment of travelling all the way to Thailand so there was definitely a spirit of community within the group. This made my time in Hua Hin one of my all-time favourite travel moments from last year and is probably where I fell in love with Thailand.

Something that you really can’t get with an online course but that is provided with the in-class option is hands-on classroom experience. My course gave us two days in an actual Thai classroom to put all of our training into practice. This alone this alone makes choosing the in-class option worthwhile. When I arrived in China I felt so under-prepared and I had no idea what to expect from my first day of teaching, so the opportunity to have a practice run before your actual placement is unbelievably valuable in my opinion!

IMG_20180808_180818_403 — Hands on practice in an actual Thai school was a stand-out feature of the TESOL course in Thailand for me!

In terms of disadvantages, for me personally, there aren’t really any to speak of but I know there are probably a few things that could present themselves as potential problems for some people. The first would be that group work does not always work out well for everyone and it can be frustrating trying to get work done when someone in the group isn’t pulling their weight, my advice here would be to use this situation as an opportunity to practice your patience and understanding skills because you are going to need them when it comes to stepping into the classroom as a teacher.

Obviously with this option you are restricted to the time structures and course start dates that just aren’t a thing with the online course. Instead of working your course around your life, you have to work your life around your course as far as moving yourself all the way out to Thailand (or elsewhere as Xplore Asia offers courses in a few different South East Asian countries)! As a mentioned earlier though, you are probably looking to move abroad anyway right? So why not do your TEFL course abroad too? If you struggle to work to a deadline then the in-class course might be the perfect way to train yourself into a more disciplined mindset, or it just might not be for you!

To summarise, this is definitely my preferred option and the one I would recommend to anyone thinking about becoming TEFL qualified but it is not for everyone and if you haven’t 100% decided if TEFL is for you travelling all the way to South-East Asia might be a bit of a daunting move. There are of course in-class course available at most local colleges in Scotland (which I know isn’t much help for those outside of my beautiful home country) so if you are interested in the in-class option but not quite sure if you’re ready to hop on a plane, then I would definitely advise looking into a course closer to home.

37829412_10213746329027421_8781303156295335936_o — WE ❤ TESOL

I hope this has helped you to make a decision and as much as I do recommend the in-class option over the online courses it really does depend on how you learn and at what stage of “ready to go” you are. If you are practically on the plane already then definitely look into Xplore Asia and their TESOL programme. If however you’re still on the fence then have a browse for online courses, they tend to start at around £50 and do still provide you with all of the information you need to become an English Teacher abroad, just without the practical experience that in-class can provide. As always if you have any questions about teaching English abroad feel free to leave a comment below or send me an email and I’ll try my best to help you out!

For more information about I-to-I TEFL, Xplore Asia and to see the internship programme I signed up to through STA travel follow these links:

For more TEFL tips check out one of my previous posts:

July 6, 2018July 4, 2018

Easy as ABC: How to Become an English Teacher in China

I have recently been receiving a lot of messages about how I became TEFL qualified, how I got my placement and what company I used to get here. I do always try to reply to these as soon as possible but with the time difference between China and the UK, the not so reliable internet access here in China and working a five-day week; I thought it might be a good idea to put as much information as I can in one place. This is not to say I don’t want to be asked questions, I am more than happy to chat about my TEFL experience, it is more about making it easier for anyone looking for information on becoming an ESL teacher to find what they are looking for in one post.

How did I become TEFL qualified?

I completed I-to-I’s 120 hour online course. This course requires you to work through a series of modules on I-to-I’s website, at the end of each module you sit a mini test in order to be able to move onto the next part of the course. The tests do not count towards your final mark but you do need to pass them with a certain percentage to be able to move through the course. Once you have completed all the modules you then have to submit a lesson plan and an essay explaining why exactly you have chosen to carry out a lesson in this particular way. You are then given three hours to complete the final test which, combined with your lesson plan, determines whether or not you pass the course and become TEFL qualified.
If you pass the course you are awarded a certificate, make sure your name on this is exactly the same as it is on your passport, including your middle name. This is important if you are planning, which I assume you are, to get a job teaching English as a foreign language because most embassies require all of you documents to be exactly the same when they are handing out visas.
They will email you the certificate and you will also have the option to get a hard copy sent to you. Get the hard copy, you will need it when you start applying for jobs. I did not get the hard copy when I was based in the U.K. and now I may have to pay around £60 to get it shipped out here to China! Not ideal…

How did I find my placement?

28699281_10212786267186475_878165724296594793_o — I loved my placement school so much I am staying for an extra semester!

I-to-I is partnered with a company here in China called ImmerQi. ImmerQi are who placed me in my current school here in Sanxiang, Guangdong. So really I didn’t have to do anything to find my placement.
I have since had to look for my next job which was easier than I thought it would be. My current school offered me a job here in the middle school. There are also a lot of companies that specialise in finding foreign teachers for Chinese schools and education centres, I had interviews with EF – Education First and TIC – Teach In China.
I-to-I’s website has job listings and placement options from all over the world, if this is your first time teaching abroad then I would highly recommend applying through I-to-I’s website as most ESL jobs require you to have at least one year experience in teaching before they accept a foreign teacher. This can also be the case when it comes to getting a visa, some countries give working permits or visas to people who do not have experience in the field.
Another thing to look out for is that a lot of countries, like Vietnam, require you to have a BA degree or higher in order to work as an English teacher in their country. Some countries will accept foreign teachers without a degree but the salary they offer you will be considerably less than those with a degree.

What company did I use?

As you can see from the two questions above I used more than one company to wind up in China. In fact I went through three companies in total:

28378157_10212736882271883_9146265066194145045_n — Orientation Week with ImmerQi in Beijing

The first company I used was STA Travel; STA, if you haven’t heard of them, is a student and young person travel company specialising in budget travel, working holidays and round the world trips. When I walked in to the Aberdeen branch of STA Travel, back in October 2017, I only had the smallest idea of what I wanted to do. I had looked into TEFL but thought I might have to go back to college in order to become qualified and after six years in higher education that was about the last thing I wanted. Essentially I wondered in, said “I want to travel the world, how do I do that?” and my travel agent Jordan helped me pick out a two year plan. Obviously that plan has changed slightly since arriving here in China but I never would have taken this first step if I hadn’t walked into the STA shop on a whim. If you are planning to travel on your own then I definitely recommend booking at least the initial stage of your trip with a company like STA, they have years of experience and a team of people ready to help you out if and when things don’t go to plan.
The second company I used was I-to-I TEFL. When I booked my Paid China TEFL Internship with STA Travel my I-to-I TEFL course was emailed to me directly. One thing to look out for with the course, that almost tripped me up, is to pay attention to your course deadline ( how many days you have to complete the course after you start) and when you actually need to have completed the course for your placement (these will probably be different dates). My dates only varied by a few days so I ended up getting very confused when I was asked almost a week before I thought I was meant to be finished, why I wasn’t finished…
Then third and finally I was passed on to ImmerQi. It was ImmerQi that I dealt with when it came to visa applications, arriving in China and of course they are who placed me after the orientation week in Beijing. To work or study in China you need a letter of invitation before you can apply for your visa. ImmerQi organise all of this for their interns before they leave their home country. The only downside to this process was that ImmerQi could not tell us where we were going to be placed until we arrived in China, for a number of different reasons. This meant that, because China has provinces stretching from way up North bordering with Russia to way down South in the Sub-tropics, I had to pack for any and all possible climates… no easy task when you over pack as badly as I do! Luckily I got placed in the nice warm Sub-tropics and the woolly jumpers have been in the back of my wardrobe since I arrived.

If you are considering teaching English abroad then I hope this blog post has been helpful to you. I 100% recommend becoming TEFL qualified, it is one of the best decisions I have ever made! My advice would be to go straight through I-to-I to become qualified and find your first placement if your plan is only to teach English abroad. If you are planning a Gap Year or are travelling for the first time then I would definitely recommend STA Travel, it’s always nice to know there is someone in the know available to you if you find yourself needing to change travel plans and they have a huge selection of trips to choose from.

36236164_10213551862645883_7301011135489114112_n — Class 9

If you have any questions about TEFL or life in China please leave a comment below or send me and email, I am more than happy to help in any way I can.

June 4, 2018June 4, 2018

Staying Put: 10 reasons I can’t leave China quite yet.

I am about a month away from completing my internship here in Sanxiang and the original plan was to move on from here to Vietnam at the beginning of August… but I just can’t quite do that, turns out China isn’t finished with me yet. I have been offered a job at the middle school here. It might not be teaching my adorable little first graders, but it meant a chance to stay in China for another six months, an opportunity I just couldn’t turn down!

There are so many amazing things about living and working in China, but I managed to somehow slim them down into my top ten reasons why I’m staying in China:

1.Life is Simple: I’m not going to lie, I found life in the U.K. stressful, the pressure once you come out of university to go straight into a job and start your career is a lot to handle! This is especially true when, like me, you aren’t even one hundred percent sure a career in your chosen field of study is what you really want. I was stuck working in the same part time job I had taken to get me through university. I was working to make money and as much as I enjoyed parts of waitressing, it was obviously not where I wanted to be. I tried to find a grad job (admittedly I didn’t try very hard) but found the process anxiety inducing. Some may say the same about uprooting your life and moving it half way around the world but for me it just made sense. Life in China is a simple as working at a job I love, it might not pay much but that has never been a motivation for me in terms of finding work. The hardest part of my job is planning a lesson that will keep forty six-year-olds entertained for forty minutes, then I get to go home and relax for the rest of the day! The most stressed out I have felt since arriving in China was the weekend where my USB stick went walk about and I thought I had lost all my lessons, then Monday morning it turned up in class, simple as that. This is possibly the least stressed out I have been in my adult life, that alone is reason enough for me to stay.

You try being stressed out when there are two hot springs in your town.

2. The people are friendly: It is impossible to walk anywhere without someone saying “hello” to you or waving at you from across the street. You smile at someone walking past and they smile right back at you. Westerners in China are somewhat of a rarity which means that quite often you will be stared at but not once has it made me feel uncomfortable or weird. They aren’t staring to be rude, but because they have most likely never seen a westerner before, that and the fact that pale skin is considered beautiful here and I have never been able to catch a tan in my 24 years living on this Earth! Almost anywhere you go in China you will be asked for your photograph, if you want to feel like a celebrity then this is the place for you! Maybe this is just because I live in a relatively small town, but I don’t think I have been anywhere in China where the people aren’t genuinely friendly. It is such a contrast to back home where, my tiny little village aside, smiles are most often met with a blank face at best and a suspicious look at worst. It’s just the British way, but I much prefer to walk through life smiling outwardly and receiving smiles in return.

mmexport1523707384411 — I challenge you to go anywhere in China and not get asked for a photograph. (this photo actually has an interesting story but I’ll save that for later)

3. Everyone wants to help you: Not only are Chinese people incredibly friendly but they also have the most generous spirits. They are so helpful it is almost unbelievable, and they don’t want anything for it. No matter if you are friends or complete strangers they will help you and expect nothing in return, except maybe a WeChat add. I actually had a shop assistant insist on helping me pick a deodorant only last week. I know it is their job, but where in the U.K. could you go and have someone actively try and help you pick out a deodorant without it being considered ‘a little bit weird”? Obviously, I needed no help in this task and yet I received it anyway, I already knew what deodorant I wanted before I went in there to buy it, but how do you explain that when your Mandarin level is below beginner? I also walked out with a VIP card so no complaints here!

4. The food: Unpopular opinion but I am not a fan of traditional British food. I find it bland, boring and mostly fully of meat, the only British tradition I am partial to is maybe “Chip Shop Chips” and even then, I would never say I crave them. In China finding vegetarian food is so easy and it’s not just a boring old salad like everywhere in the U.K. seems to want to feed us vegetarians. My first choice in just about every restaurant is, of course, egg fried rice but I have also found a love for Hot Pot (just don’t pick the spicy option), Chinese BBQ (grilled garlic aubergine and spicy tofu is incredible) and my new favourite meal Egg and Tomato. This is served everywhere from the canteen to higher end restaurants and I have even learnt to cook it for myself, I love it that much! The food in China is just some of the best food I have ever eaten. I eat so much healthier here and I actually want to cook for myself. For once in my life I’m not living off of pasta, grated cheese and tomato ketchup (although I’m not going to lie, there is always a bottle of ketchup in the fridge for emergencies).

20180501_150012 — Egg fried rice IN A PINEAPPLE!

IMG_20180420_195705_414 — So simple but so good.

5. Cost of living: Honestly, I am not lying when I say I earn next to no money, I am an intern after all, but my small monthly allowance is more than enough to live on and that is taking into account my ridiculous shopping addiction! I can do a weekly shop for around ten pounds if I am smart about it. If you know where to look for it, fruit and veg are so cheap it feels like stealing. I take away plain rice from the canteen for no cost every day to use when I cook my evening meal and even eating out never costs more than a tenner at a time (I’ve even seen us have a meal for two for under a fiver)! Everything is cheaper here, even alcohol; a cocktail can cost as little as three pound and there are no entry fees for clubs or bars. I get my nails done every few weeks, something I would never be able to afford back in the U.K. but here it only costs about six pounds! The cost of living in China made the decision to stay here all that easier.

Processed with VSCO with a5 preset — So pretty and so cheap!

20180414_224948 — Cocktails in Friends Bar are only £3!

6. Public Transport: This is something else that is amazingly cheap here in China, but not at the sacrifice of quality or cleanliness. I have used the subway, busses and DiDi (China’s answer to Uber) to get around in China and all three have been pleasant experiences. My most used form of transportation is probably the bus, it is cheaper than DiDi and there is no subway in Sanxiang as it is not a big enough town for such a luxury. The bus costs about 50 – 80p to travel between towns, some of which are about an hour away from us here in Sanxiang (imagine getting the bus from Aberdeen to Dundee for 80p). The busses are always on time, clean and they are, possibly most importantly, air conditioned! Take note First Bus and Stagecoach, China knows how to run a bus service.

7. Speaking Mandarin: I think learning another language is probably a plus side no matter where you choose to live abroad but honestly nothing makes me happier than when I say a full sentence (well an almost full sentence) to one of my students in Mandarin and I watch it blow their little minds! “Teacher you spoke Chinese!” and then they start talking to me one hundred miles an hour in Mandarin and I have to try and tell them that actually “Teacher only knows that one sentence in Chinese and now I have no idea what you are saying to me.” In all seriousness though I have never been the best when it comes to learning languages, despite really wanting to be able to, so when I pick up on random words or phrases that Chinese people around me are saying I feel like I have really achieved something. I am still nowhere near even being able to have a conversation in Mandarin and don’t even ask me to read the characters, but the longer I stay here the more I will pick up and it is definitely one of the best things about living and working in China.

8. There is so much to explore: I have been in China three and a half months and I have visited three of its provinces, I have barely scratched the surface of what this incredible country has to offer. Of the three provinces I have travelled to each one has me with a completely new and different experience. Firstly, there was my week in Beijing for orientation, this was a big city experience like I have never had before. from the bright lights to the crowded markets, the incredible great wall of china to the peaceful gardens of the Forbidden City; Beijing was a month of experiences packed into one week. Then there is the unreal natural beauty of Zhangjiajie Natural Forest Park in the province of Hunan. Sandstone Quartz pillars as far as the eye can see and more rain forest than anyone person could hope to explore in one life time all make Zhangjiajie feel like another planet and don’t forget the imminent threat of a monkey ambush to keep you on your toes. Finally, we have my current home province of Guangdong, I am discovering more and more about this area of China every day. I am still finding stumbling upon new places in my own town of Sanxiang let alone the bigger cities of Zhuhai, Zhongshan and Guangzhou. How can I leave now when China still has so much more to offer?!

If you don’t know where this bar is you’ll never find it!

9. I feel inspired here: I have always been a creative person, I didn’t choose to study a creative subject to pay the bills, but I had fallen out of love with my creative side back home. Maybe this is what happens when you work so hard at one thing for a long period of time (try six years of studying art and design in the same city you grew up in), but I think I just desperately needed a change of scenery. China definitely has no shortage of inspiration, whether that be for photography, blog post or any other creative projects I manage to sink my teeth into while I’m here! Living in China has definitely allowed me to revisit my creative side from a different angle and I find myself actively searching for places to go in my spare time that allow me to practice my photography, write an interesting blog post or even create exciting content for a video.

IMG_20180529_112811_701 — Sunset is my favourite time of day

10. No two days are the same: When I tell people I teach the same lesson plan twenty times a week to roughly eight hundred students I guess I can understand why they might think my life can become a bit repetitive at times but every day is a completely different experience. What works in one class might be a complete disaster in another, what keeps one class entertained for forty minutes might only hold another classes attention for ten minutes and it is through these challenges that I find myself constantly motivated. At home I think I had fallen into a rut, working four or five days a week and spending at least the other two or three (if not more) in one bar or another, occasionally a club if we were feeling particularly adventurous. I’m not saying I hated my life at home or that I wasn’t having fun but I knew the world had more to offer me than this and I also knew that I had more to offer the world. “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” Maybe one page is enough for some people but for me, I need to fill the book and then start a new one.

20180525_114858 — My first graders make me laugh everyday.

So there we have it, I’m staying in China! Not forever, there are too many countries out there for me to pick just one and stick to it, but for now if you need me this is where I’ll be…

June 1, 2018June 1, 2018

Moving Abroad: How to do it and why you should!

Moving to a completely new country can be a terrifying idea. Leaving everything and everyone you know behind, packing up and moving your whole life to another part of the world might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but for some it might be exactly the right move (pun not intended). I’ve been living in China for three months now and while I might not be an expert on all things relocating related, I like to think I have learnt a thing or two in the past couple of months. If you are trying to decide if moving abroad is for you and want some words of worldly wisdom then, well, I guess that’s why you clicked on this post (unless you are just my number one fan and read everything I post on here… Hi mum!) so keep on reading to find out how to do it and why you should!

WhatsApp Image 2018-02-18 at 13.35.46 — I am not a glamorous traveller…

How to do it:

The first thing you need to decide is what you want to do in your destination country. You can do almost anything you do in the you home country abroad; from waiting on tables to working in a hotel to teaching to volunteer work. Really if you have the skill then you can take it and apply it anywhere. One of the easiest and most common ways to relocate yourself is to become TEFL qualified. This is exactly what I did, and it was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I got my TEFL qualification through I-to-I TEFL, completing their 120-hour online course all from the comfort of my own home, various coffee shops around Aberdeen and my good friend Hannah’s front room (cheers again Hannah for letting me sofa surf). Pretty much, adding TEFL to your skill set isn’t going to do anything apart from open up your options in terms of what countries you can choose to work in.

Screen Shot 2018-06-01 at 16.37.47.png — I-to-I TEFL

Speaking of, the next thing you need to decide is where you want to move to. When I was trying to decide on a place to travel to my plan was originally to go to Thailand, this didn’t work out due to timing issues but luckily second on my list was China and this worked out perfectly for me. Depending on what you choose to do abroad, the options of where you can move to will vary (there isn’t really much need for TEFL qualified individuals in America now is there?) but that is all part of the fun of researching your destination country. My original plan was one year of TEFL in China and Vietnam and then waitressing/bar working my way around Australia. That plan has changed slightly but my point is think about what your skills are and where you can apply them and choose the destination that best suits you. Another important factor is also, obviously, where in the world has always fascinated you, what culture interests you the most and what do you want to get out of your time living and working abroad? All of these things should affect your decision, I started with the idea of moving to South East Asia because visiting this part of the world has been at the top of my to do list since I was in secondary school (literally I made a binder on it and everything) and let it grow arms and legs from there until I ended up teaching English in the South of China!

I recommend finding yourself a company to apply for jobs through if you are planning to teach English. I-to-I are partnered with a company called ImmerQi who specialise in teaching internships and other work placements in China. From providing a week orientation in Beijing to the help and support throughout my placement (Ben I hope you are still reading these because this is the genuine and sincere shout out that you have been so desperately waiting for) they have been excellent! If it is your first time working abroad then going through a company like ImmerQi gives you that little bit of extra reassurance in case something goes wrong. It also means you have someone to fight in your corner if things aren’t up to scratch at your placement or like me you need a meal allowance because you are allergic to everything in the canteen .

Visas, they are a pain in the back side but an important and mandatory part of moving abroad, so what are you going to do? Apply for them, that’s what!! And don’t make my mistake and leave planning your visa application to the last minute. Honestly it was one of the most stressful months of my life! Even if you can’t apply for your visa until a month before you leave, make sure you get all of your documents organised and ready to go for when you need them. Your company should tell you what you need to do in order to apply for your visa, whether it is a placement company like ImmerQi or your new employer, it is in their best interest as well as yours that your visa is present and correct. Also, this probably won’t be their first time employing someone from overseas, so they are really the best people to ask all the technical questions to. Another invaluable source of information is the embassy you are applying for your visa through, I phoned the Chinese embassy in Britain multiple times and even ended up emailing back and forth with them to make sure everything was perfect in my application before I sent it off, Visa applications are expensive and non-refundable you do not want to mess them up!

It is sad but true, we can’t get anywhere without a little bit of money to help us along. As well as a bit of help from family members, I worked as a waitress from October to January to save up enough money to make my dream of travelling the world a reality. Everything adds up so keep track of what you have paid off and what still needs to be paid. Flights, visas, vaccinations and insurance are the most expensive costs that you will have to deal with when moving abroad, they are also the most important and should be at the top of your list. After these are dealt with you need to think about spending money, you probably won’t receive your first pay check until a month after you arrive at your destination country, so you will need a little bit of money to live on until you do eventually get paid. Then you need to buy a rucksack, first aid kit and a travel organiser (trust me this is an essential if, like me, you have a tendency to misplace important things…) Once all of this is out of the way then you can go and buy that perfect bikini or sundress to take with you to your new tropical destination.

I absolutely hate packing, I overpack like my life depends on it, I’m a “but what if I’m suddenly invited to the Oscars of China and I have nothing to wear” kind of packer. Basically, my years as a girl guide had a lasting impression on me and I like to “always be prepared”. The issue with this is that you end up with a rucksack that weighs more than you and won’t close without excessive force that you somehow have to get from one side of the world to the other. Not ideal, especially if you are travelling alone! It is in times like this I need to bring in outside help and as my Grampa wisely pointed out “you only need to pack for two weeks really, and then you can just wash everything and wear it again”. Words of wisdom duly noted and with my Nana supervising and questioning everything I tried to pack into my bag I managed to pack only the essentials. Anything you find yourself needing once you land can most likely be bought at your destination (I told you I needed to pack my blue denim shorts as well as my white denim shorts Nana…) or if they can’t be bought then they can always be posted over by a family member, if you really need it that desperately!

Why you should:

Living in a completely different country is such an incredible opportunity. China is actually the second country I have lived in, Scotland obviously not included, I spent three months living and volunteering in South Africa. When you visit a country for a short holiday you only get a snapshot of how that country works, maybe pick up how to say “Hello” and ask for the bill in that countries language and maybe have a cultural experience or two depending on the type of holiday you choose to take. Living in a country for an extended period of time allows you to truly immerse yourself in the culture. For me the thing that appeals most to me about travel is the opportunity to learn about another culture, this is why pool holidays or Ibiza has never really interested me. Before South Africa I had been on one holiday abroad and it was a pool holiday with a friend and her family when I was 16; I had a lot of fun on that holiday (I think because of the company and it was where I discovered my love of tofu) but I wasn’t involved in any of the planning, there was no sight-seeing and I didn’t feel like I learnt anything from my time there. At 18 years old and three months in South Africa later I knew what kind of “holiday” I preferred; solo, action packed and plenty of opportunity to learn about the country I am visiting.

DSCN1493 — The hospital I volunteered at in South Africa: 2012 was a good year for travelling but a bad year for my hair…

Moving away from everything familiar is also an opportunity to learn about yourself. This is especially true if you travel on your own, being solely responsible for yourself in a foreign country makes you learn a lot about yourself very quickly. Travelling alone for a long period of time means you have to learn to rely on yourself, your own sense of judgement and puts you fully in control of your own life. In South Africa I learned a lot about how to budget my money while travelling, I became a lot more confident in myself as time went on (the first night I arrived I cried myself to sleep, I had never felt so alone, by the time I it came leave I wanted to cry because I didn’t want to go) and I discovered that I could do a lot more on my own than I had thought possible. Since then I have achieved so many things that I don’t believe I could have done if it wasn’t for those three months in South Africa. In China I have discovered that I have a keen interest in language and how different languages grow and develop over time, I have realised that I am actually quite brave (turns out I am the only one in my flat that isn’t scared of cockroaches, who’d have thought?!) and I have found a job that I absolutely love!

IMG_20180530_162014_284 — How could I not love my job when I get to see these adorable faces everyday?

Working and volunteering abroad forms some of the strongest friendships you can find in this world. I have made some incredible friends and even more incredible memories from my time in South Africa. Thinking of those memories and friends will always make me happy no matter where I am in my life. When the opportunity comes to meet up with those you formed friendships with while living abroad it will be as if no time has passed, you know a friendship is solid when you only see each other every four years but it’s as if you only saw them yesterday (Hey Lynda, if you are reading this, two year until the next reunion)! When you live and work so closely with people who are just as far away from home as you are, are completely new to the whole experience just like you are and share the same passion for travel as you do, how can you not end with friends for life?!

14212538_10208305929220826_8243010123786848750_n — 2012 vs 2016: Like no time had passed (glow-ups are real people)!

I hope this has been helpful for somebody out there, I know I could have done with a post like this before I left the U.K. for South Africa back in 2012, but I don’t even think I knew what a blog post was back then… Feel free to email me with any questions you might have about moving abroad or teaching English as a foreign language!

April 2, 2018April 1, 2018

“Can I eat that”: A Coeliac in China

Most people who know me will know how difficult I am to feed. I was diagnosed with Coeliac Disease at the age of eight; this means I cannot eat gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley and (indirectly through cross contamination in mills) oats. When I told people I was moving to China for five months one of the most common responses I received was “China?! But you can’t eat noodles or soy sauce. What are you going to eat?!” I’m not going to lie this was a concern for me as well, I never eat Chinese food at home because the risk of contamination is usually too high. Add to that the obvious language barrier and well, I knew it wasn’t going to be easy.

Having said all of that, I have never let my Coeliac Disease stop me from travelling before and I wasn’t about to let it stop me this time either. After a conversation with the ImmerQi team here in China, via skype, I was reassured that food would not be an issue. On arrival in Beijing we were each handed a name card along with our room key, on the back of mine was a hand-written note explaining in both English and Chinese that I am allergic to gluten (still not entirely sure everyone in China knows what gluten is but it seems to have served me well so far). I used this every day in the canteen in Beijing and they knew exactly what I meant.

Allergic to gluten card — Allergic to Gluten

I was placed in a Southern Province of China, I assume this because in the South it is more common for people to eat rice than noodles. As part of my placement meals are provided by the school cafeteria, I found after the first week that this was a bit of a hit or a miss for me in terms of what I could actually eat so I decided to apply for a meal allowance from the school instead. This was initially turned down. I applied a second and the this was accepted, thanks to the efforts of my awesome ImmerQi contact Ben and my wonderful school contact Rani. I will now receive a food allowance along with my living allowance that is already provided as part of my internship on the fifteenth of every month.

Healthy cooking for myself

My egg fried rice

Eating at restaurants has been an interesting experience, I find myself spending more time asking “can I eat that?” than actually eating anything. It’s a long process but eventually you get a meal out of it, even if everyone else is finished by the time yours arrives. It helps to have someone with you who speaks Mandarin if you don’t speak it yourself, this way you don’t spend the whole meal trying to communicate through google translate (not to put down google translate because I have to say it can be an absolute life saver in some situations).

I think the key to being a Coeliac in China is to have patience; be prepared to explain yourself, sometimes multiple times, it’s just one of those things. Coeliac disease and gluten intolerances aren’t really a well-known thing in China like they are becoming in the Western World. Also, it helps if you like rice…

Some tips for a travelling Coeliac (whether you are travelling to China or France, Tanzania or Morocco):

Before you leave the country visit this website http://www.celiactravel.com/cards/they have an explanation of Coeliac disease translated in just about every language. Print a few out so you can hand them to your servers in restaurants. I have been using them since I went to Portugal in 2010!
If you don’t have the card with you have “I am allergic to gluten” saved as one of your top phrases on google translate and LEARN IT! Before you go, while you’re there, up to you but if you can say it and show it then people are much more likely to take you seriously when you say you can’t eat something.
If it doesn’t look gluten free, it probably isn’t. Don’t risk it! There is absolutely nothing worse than being glutened abroad, especially if, like me, you tend to travel alone. Try explaining to 3 people you just met why you need full use of the bathroom for the next hour…
Be prepared. I always have snacks on me; not just because I like to snack but because if we go out to eat and it turns out there is nothing there for me, at least I have a back-up to keep me going until I can find a proper meal

March 26, 2018March 26, 2018

Too Hot (Pot) to Handle: Exploring Sanxaing and Zhongshan

This time last month was my first day in Sanxaing, I know I keep saying it, but I cannot believe how quickly time is going here. The last month has been an absolute blur of experiences but I am going to try my best to put them into words.

me at sunset.jpeg — One of the best days and the best view!

Our first week started with us finding a true hero, that hero is called Jack and he also works here in San Xin Bilingual school as an English teacher. We found Jack in a crowded cafeteria when I spotted the only other white person in the room and we descended upon his table like moths to a flame. He was then bombarded with the same set of questions twice as those of us at the end of the table struggled to hear the conversation. Luckily for us this was somehow not an off-putting experience for Jack and he has become our guide, translator, handy man, rice pudding chef and an invaluably useful friend to have around. He has helped us so much, we probably should have paid him some kind of fee to be honest! First stop on Jack’s guided tour of Sanxaing was a trip down the main road next to the school. Although affectionately known as “Death Alley” (due to the sheer volume of traffic, including busses, that somehow squeezes itself through the narrow street along-side pedestrians) by the foreign teachers we were quickly reassured that no one has actually died there… to the best of their knowledge. Here you can find everything you need; grocery stores, hairdressers, E-bike shops, coffee shops, the lot!

Next on to the main market street which runs on weekends, and then down to the shopping mall. This has everything from a two-story supermarket to a cinema, a KFC to more traditional restaurants and even a small arcade. Dinner was an experience that I’m sure no one will be forgetting in a hurry. Spicy Hero is a hot pot restaurant near the mall and really the clue is in the name, order spicy you will get spicy!! We ordered a mild spice soup for the vegetarians and plain soup for the meat eaters, but mild spice at Spicy Hero is anything but mild. I have never been reduced to actual tears by a meal before but here I was bright red, sweating and shivering at the same time and despite my best efforts eyes watering like someone was cutting onions under my nose. We took about two full cups of chillies and chilli oil out of that soup added litres of new water to it but in the end, we had to admit defeat and switch to plain soup. Mild spice in China is not the same as mild spice in Britain… lesson learnt!

not spicey not a hero — No Spicy Not a Hero (We are not heros).

That weekend we made the forty-five minute bus journey into Zhongshan, the neighbouring town, to visit some of the other interns and to see the Lantern Festival that marks the end of the Spring Festival celebrations. The festival took place in Sun Wen Memorial Park in Zhongshan which had been filled with lanterns of all shapes and sizes. Unfortunately, we missed the fireworks, but it was still incredible to see the park lit up completely by lanterns and LED lights. There are many theories as to the origin of the lantern festival, but its roots can be traced back almost 2000 years and it is most commonly believed to be linked to the reign of Emperor Ming of Han and the rise of Buddhism in China. In the past it was most likely that the lanterns would have been of simple design and would have probably been red to symbolise good luck going into the new year. Now the lanterns are shaped into everything from animals to buildings as well as the more traditional simple designs.

Panda Lanterns.jpeg — Of course I found the Panda Lanterns.

A trip to one of Sanxaing’s hot spring resorts provided us with the most relaxing day. There was a pool for every flavour you can think of; vinegar, coffee, rose petal, lemon, wine, mint, the list goes on! For around £16 you have access to the hot spring, swimming pool, buffet and nap area for the whole day (provided you don’t leave the resort). They will even help you organise a car back into town, just be prepared to wait a little while for it to arrive…

Me at the hot springs — Chrysanthemum Pool.

Jack also introduced us to his friend Enrico who owns an Italian restaurant in the centre of Sanxaing. Between them they have shown us some of the best places to eat around town, but we always go back to Enrico’s, and why wouldn’t we with Nutella Pizza and Tiramisu on offer for desert!

The crew.jpeg — Jess, Jack, Jessi, Molly, Luke, Me, MC and Justin at Enrico’s.

everyone at enricos — More of the crew at Enrico’s.

One of my favourite days so far has to be when we climbed the hill at the back of our school for sunset. From the top you can see the whole of Sanxaing and it was one of the most spectacular views I have ever seen. The hike up only took us about an hour and for the most part there was a very clear path through the trees, only towards the end did it get a bit overgrown, but we made it through with a bit of effort. Coming down we got a little bit lost as I suggested we avoid the overgrown path in favour of a path that looked a bit more manageable in the dwindling light. Despite this diversion we did eventually make it home and joined up with the rest of the group to go bowling at the bottom of “Death Alley”.

Jumping sunset.jpeg — Jumping photos are hard to perfect… I think we need a bit more practice.

There is still so much more to see and do here in Sanxaing and I cannot wait to experience all of it. There are probably things that I have done here already that I have missed out from this post just because this month has passed by me in such a blur. I am slowly starting to figure my way around the area and to be honest as quickly as it has gone, it also feels like I have been here my whole life at the same time. I don’t usually find it hard to settle into a place, but I didn’t really think I would feel as at home here as I do. This is my home now, for now at least.

P.S. Benjamin is Awsome…

March 20, 2018May 2, 2019

Organised Chaos: the First Few Weeks of Teaching

Teaching English: just when you think you’ve got it, you lose it and just when you think you’ve lost it, you crack it again.

Class hard at work drawing Nessie — One class hard at work drawing Nessie.

My first day of teaching I realized I had lost my USB stick somewhere between getting on the plane in London and arriving at my placement school. As a result I gave my first three lessons by placing my laptop screen under a projector which was set up by a six-year-old! Good start… A quick trip to the computer shop at lunch time for a brand new USB stick and the problem was sorted, until the computer in the next class room didn’t work and this time we had no projector! Time for a bit of blackboard improvisation and a few games (there maybe about forty Chinese children who now think that Scotland’s flag is pink).

When the computer doesnt work and you have to present your class with just a black board and chalk — Improvising a lesson about Scotland.

The first week I focused on introducing myself, explaining where Scotland is and showing the kids some Scottish wildlife. Being placed in a southern province meant that my pictures of the snow back home left each class gasping in amazement. I also decided to teach them about the Loch Ness Monster which meant I got to enjoy their take on the Scottish myth in the medium of crayon and felt tip pen (I was even lucky enough to have been gifted some to decorate my bedroom wall with). I have to say though some of the kids are extremely talented at drawing, especially considering they are all between the ages of six to eight years old!

Some very talented children in the class — Drawing Nessie

In the first week of teaching I was introduced as “The New Beautiful Foreign Teacher” in at least two of my classes, which made me want to turn around and run out of the room. Especially when it is followed by 40 small children giving me a round of applause (if you are anywhere near as socially awkward as I am then you will understand why)!

One of my favourite parts of the job so far is how every day I am greeted with consistently enthusiastic “hello”s, hugs and high-fives. Some of the children have also figured out that my favourite animal is a Panda. This means that “Panda” is shouted almost instantly every time we play Pictionary, every circle is a Panda in their eyes! My name has proved a struggle for some of the kids and so to about half of my 800 students I am known as “LeeLee”, which I have decided is close enough…

28698600_10212795065726433_4588586475982599531_o — Some of the students outside class during break.

We were lucky at our school, we got to pick what grade we wanted to teach. As a result, I am teaching 1^st grade, which is nothing but endless fun, games and colouring. The good thing about 1^st grade is, because they are so young, as long as you are animated and lively enough they won’t notice it you suddenly have to improvise for the last ten minutes of the class because you got through your lesson plan in record time! So far I have played “Who Stole My Pencil”, “Heads Down, Thumbs Up” and a new version of “I Spy” that I have recently invented; it involves a class room full of small children running at me with various objects of a whatever colour “I Spy” in order to high-five me first and win a point for their team (because you try explaining how to play “I Spy” to 40 children who speak almost no English).

So far, I am absolutely loving teaching English! The kids are incredible, the school is beautiful and I have already been for lunch with my Grade One Contact and Mandarin Teacher at her home here in Sanxiang, cooked by her lovely mother who looks after the children in their dorms at night. I’m not even a month in yet but I know this is going to be a hard place to leave when it comes to July! As they say, find a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.

March 12, 2018March 14, 2018

Beijing: Rice for Breakfast, Halloumi Chat and the Great Wall of China

I have been in China for three weeks, I did mean to start these blog posts earlier but time has been flying by! Now that I have settled into my placement and got my timetable of classes, I finally have the opportunity to sit down and write about it.

My journey began with a couple of days in London to catch up with friends and, because it actually worked out cheaper to fly from Heathrow than Glasgow or Edinburgh, it just made sense to travel from there. London to Beijing involved two seven hour flights, one airport sprint and about zero hours sleep! Add this to a time difference of eight hours and it might just be understandable that I made a bit of a strange first impression on my fellow interns… Let’s just say that if you don’t want to be known solely for your favourite type of cheese, then maybe don’t spend ten minutes talking about Halloumi the first time you meet a new group of people. Luckily I wasn’t the only jet-lagged traveller in the group and soon enough the conversation had escalated to what can only be described as over tired nonsense, but hey if you can’t bond with a group of strangers over the classic Nintedo game Nintedogs and British tv drama Dr Foster then what can you bond over?!

View from bedroom window training center.jpg — The view from my room in the Training Centre.

Week one in China was orientation week; a chance to meet the rest of the interns, learn some Mandarin, gain some cultural knowledge and explore Beijing. First thing I did was join a couple of interns to a convenience store at the end of the street, this was definitely and experience! With my knowledge of Mandarin limited to “hello” and “sorry”, no existence of a queue system and a 100RMB note that was clearly far to big to be buying one bottle of water and a chocolate bar with, I have to say I have never felt more British in my life! Thankfully, we survived the ordeal and legged it out of there and back to the safety of the training centre until we had a bit more of a clue as to how to communicate with, well, anybody.

The first official day of orientation and with a good night sleep, a freezing cold “refreshing” shower and the shop incident pushed to the back of my mind we headed down for breakfast. I don’t know what exactly I was expecting but when I was met with a plate of rice and a boiled egg, I did wonder for a minute if I had slept in and somehow wandered into lunch time. It was breakfast though and I should have saved my judgements because it actually tasted incredible! For the non Coeliacs there was also a choice of interesting looking fried buns if rice was a bit too adventurous for a Tuesday morning.

Orientation began with a quick introduction about ImmerQi and what we might expect from our placements and time in China. We then organised Chinese sim cards (so if you have tried to text my old number I’m afraid I won’t have received it) and spent the majority of the remainder of the day using the WIFI, reasuring family members that we had survived the journey.

Day two and we were up bright and early for a Tai Chi demonstration in the grounds of the training centre, if the cold shower didn’t wake you up that morning then the temperature outside did the trick, but I would not have missed it for anything! The instructor was quite possibly the most chilled out person I have ever seen. He made each move look completely effortless as he flowed from one leg to another gliding through every motion with an ease that put us all of us wobbling and falling about to shame. He also had the best sense of humour, “attacking” some of the boys in the group to show why each step was important in terms of defending yourself against someone if they came at you in a fight.

After this we were taken to a Calligraphy class where we were shown how to write Chinese symbols with traditional brush and ink. It is fair to say my attempt was not the best in the class, but at the same time I don’t think it was the worst either, so at least I have that. (This is also where I learnt that “squint” is used only to refer to someone “squinting their eyes” in every other country apart from Scotland… where it can also be used refer to something being squint, or off centre as everyone else calls it!) Traditionally the symbol painted on red paper for the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) is done so with the paper at an angle. I was not very successful at this part of the task; for some reason, even though I started with my piece of paper squint it somehow ended up straight again. The important thing is I tried.

After lunch it was Mandarin class and then a group of us decided to take the subway system into the centre of Beijing. I always knew Mandarin was going to be hard but, man is it hard! A few more lessons are definitely required before I can attempt to have a conversation. The centre of Beijing was an interesting experience, I had been told about Chinese people taking photos of westerners on the street but I don’t think I fully understood what that involved. I am not exaggerating when I say that we were, at one point, surrounded by a group of about ten all trying to take photographs of us and telling us we were on tv.

The highlights of the week for me were definitely getting to explore the Forbidden City Gardens and visiting the Great Wall of China. The Forbidden City is breathtakingly beautiful; the moat was completely frozen over and the art work was so delicate and perfectly painted on to each structure it was like nothing I have ever seen before. We spent a whole afternoon just wondering around the gardens before heading back to the training centre, where I promptly passed out after such a full week.

Our last official day of orientation was our trip to the Great Wall of China. The Great Wall has been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember and it was at the very top of my list (after visiting Pandas) of things I wanted to do while in China. It did not disappoint; the views were incredible before we even started climbing, some of the steps were higher than my waist and it was actually surprisingly warm considering how cold the rest of the week had been. It took us around an hour to reach the top of the section of wall we were climbing, including rest stops for photographs and water along the way. From the top the views were even better than expected and I have to say that it was the perfect way to end our first week in China.

view from great wall — The Great Wall of China.

March 8, 2018March 8, 2018

Back to Blogging – P.s. I’m in China!

I’ve not written a blog post in over a year! Well not for this site anyway, but I’m in China and I want to document it. So as of Monday I hope to be posting a weekly blog about my experience.

I arrived in China on the 20th of February and it has been a whirlwind of adventure and friendships and experiences since then! All of which I will update you on properly in the blog posts that follow this one.

After I graduated University in July I realized that as much as I loved my course and everything it involved, a desk job just wasn’t for me, not right now anyway. I had the travel bug, I needed to GO somewhere, anywhere, and where better than China?! A completely different culture, new people, new places and a chance to try my hand at a possible new career. Also… Pandas! The decision was obvious, the choice easy. So to China I went…

28379118_10212736679266808_7098885629240771718_n — View from the window flying into Beijing.

To give you a basic run down of my current situation, I recently passed my TEFL qualification certificate which allowed me to apply for a teaching internship in China. The lovely people at STA travel, I-to-I TEFL and ImmerQi all helped in setting up my trip and I will also be writing posts for I-to-I TEFL so keep an eye out for those, I’ll let you know when they are posted. I have been placed in the South of China in a Province called Guangdong, my school is in a “small” (I use inverted commas because it is bigger by far than Aberdeen but by China standards it is classed as small) town near the city of Zhongshan. I’ll go into more detail in a future post, but it is BEAUTIFUL! I could not be happier with where I’ve been placed and the people I’ve been placed with!

My plan as it stands just now is; complete my internship here in China, spend a month travelling around South East Asia and then go on to do another 5 months’ internship in Vietnam. Who knows where from there but I feel like trying to plan further than a year ahead is just not how I work.

I left home almost a month ago, after a wonderful send off from my friends and family, I spent a week in London and then hopped on my flight to Beijing for a week of orientation, cultural classes and exploring. It was a ten-hour journey by bullet train down from Beijing to Guangzhou and then a further hour to our town. As I write this I am sitting in Sanxaing, Guangdong Province, China, in my new home, with my new flat mates, easting pancakes because it’s International Woman’s Day so what else are we meant to do?! (I should be creating a lesson plan for my first graders… but I thought I’d post this little update first).