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lessons. We then had an afternoon activity which we joined in with or ran. Our evening meal was also eaten in the school canteen and sometimes we participated or led evening activities and on other days we were free. During the summer camp we were mainly based at the school and it was only on our days off in between that we went sight-seeing in Beijing. A couple of trips were organised for us by the school, but we provided a financial contribution. We socialised within our group

of ‘foreign teachers’- there were ten from various places in the USA and several of us from England.

Lasting Impressions

I found China very interesting and would really like to visit again. The only reason I wouldn’t like to live in Beijing for a couple of years is because of the air pollution. A surprising outcome of the internship was that I also got to learn a lot more about America as several of the foreign teachers were from there. I think

Josephine Altham, Final Year, BA Biological Sciences, Hertford College

Work Projects

I taught English on a summer camp at Beijing Royal School (BRS) with a group of 10 teachers from America and England. This was organised through IVSC. The projects involved planning and teaching lessons for four different summer camps. We taught lessons in pairs. We planned a series of five English lessons for mixed ability groups. There was little guidance on what to plan, so we had great freedom to teach about what we were interested in. We coordinated lesson

plans within the group of foreign teachers to ensure material did not overlap. IVSC also gave us access to TEFL course materials and the option to complete an in-house qualification. We also taught ‘chosen course’ lessons which could be on anything from PE to crafts to drama. Again we had full responsibility for the planning and teaching of these lessons, only working round the materials and space available in the school. We had teaching assistants in each class to help with translation (they were often students already at the school). There were also homeroom teachers to aid with discipline and pastoral care. The leaders of the summer camp were available to talk through problems or issues that arose.

Daily Life

I worked on four summer camps, each one was nine days long. Days began at 8am. We taught English lessons in the morning. Lunch was a two hour break during which time we ate at the school canteen and then had free time. The early afternoon was also occupied by English

IVSC (International Volunteering Summer in China) (Various locations, China)

Living in China for two months has given me a much more global outlook and more confidence to explore working in other countries.

Please note, as of 2016 have re-branded from IVSC to GOTOCO,

www.go-to.co

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living in China for two months has given me a much more global outlook and more confidence to explore working in other countries. During the internship we had a lot of freedom in terms of choosing and enacting our lesson plans and topics. This was brilliant for me as it has allowed me to explore my strengths and weaknesses in a way which university and previous work experience did not. This experience has afforded me greater clarity on what I want from a job as well as about my career goals. I now have the confidence to pursue what I wish to do wherever in the world it may take me.

Petr Vilím, First Year, BA Philosophy Politics and Economics, St. John’s College

Work Projects

The internship involved teaching classes - with an hour-long introduction for training purposes. IVSC also sent us on a TEFL course, which I found helpful.

Daily Life

The interns socialised with one another, I also made friends among the students and school staff. The food was very spicy and temperatures high.

Lasting Impressions

If all else fails, I’d go and teach there. I liked the diversity

of the country, which made me consider returning there as a traveller.

Esben Wilken, First Year, BA Economics and Management, Keble College

Work Projects

As the school we were teaching English at had very little experience running a summer camp, we were able to gain a lot of responsibility in terms of arranging the summer camp, preparing the teaching schedule/curriculum etc.

Daily Life

The amount of work was a bit overwhelming. It took us some time, negotiating back and forth with the local school and our agency in the UK, before this was limited to a reasonable amount, allowing us to have a little free time, which we often used in the local gym or exploring the city’s restaurants and attractions.

Lasting Impressions

I was surprised by how different the working/office culture is in China. A lot of tasks seem to be done on an ad-hoc basis, where you can never expect an undisturbed day, or even hour, working on your assigned projects. Working out here requires a great deal of flexibility and willingness to jump in and out of the projects you are working on.

David Parton, First Year, BA Jurisprudence, St. Hilda’s College

Work Projects

I taught English immersion classes to between 1 and 30 young adults of varying ability at three different schools across Chongqing. I was provided with hotel accommodation by the host organisation and given a teaching assistant to look after me while I was in the city, helping me overcome the language barrier.

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Daily Life

I usually ate breakfast at the hotel and would often begin the day by planning my upcoming classes, often on PowerPoint. I would then commute to the schools - two had an hour commute through the city, usually by metro, whereas one was right next to the hotel. After class I would then spend time with my teaching assistants, and go to dinner at a local restaurant, before returning to the hotel and continuing to plan my lessons.

Lasting Impressions

Through my day off excursions and my travels after my teaching I was able to see more of traditional and ancient China, which gave me a lasting insight into a distant and ancient culture, whilst my teaching showed me modern, contemporary China, at the forefront of the global economy. The students showed me the ambitions of a developing country, and every day, just through my daily commute, I could witness a country developing in front of my eyes, with so much ambition and hope for the future. I would most definitely return to China and Chongqing in the future, to see them once their development is more complete.

Richard Lloyd, Final Year, BA Oriental Studies (Chinese), Pembroke College

Work Projects

While at Dahuwai in Yangshuo, I taught children English and led activities such as kayaking, fishing, cycling and hiking. IVSC was very helpful in organising flights and visas and helping resolve any issues we had at Dahuwai (mainly organisational).

The students showed me the ambitions of a developing country.

Daily Life

A normal day at Dahuwai consisted of teaching English for roughly two hours in the morning and then leading activities such as rock climbing, hiking and caving in the afternoon. Sometimes we took part in activities like making dumplings or bonfires in the evening. However, on many evenings we had free time and often went to bars in town, to meet other travellers and IVSC volunteers from other schools. As well as socialising in the evenings, we also went rafting, cycling and swimming with other volunteers and explored the beautiful Yangshuo countryside. It took a bit of time to settle in and find my way around Yangshuo but I have had a fantastic time overall.

Lasting Impressions

The internship at Dahuwai has helped further my understanding of China and has made me want to work or study for longer in China to get under the skin of the culture. I have really enjoyed the food and interacting with local people. The internship has confirmed that I want to work both in and with China in the future.

Jordan Banting, Second Year, MMath, St. Peter’s College

Work Projects

My internship was based on teaching English as a foreign language. Besides the obvious English lessons, other projects included talent show preparations, teamwork and leadership exercises and outdoor activities. The combination of these additional projects allowed the foreign teachers to form stronger bonds with the kids, which in turn enhanced communication and so improved our ability to teach. With all these additional activities, the host school (Beijing Royal School) was able to provide all necessary equipment.

Daily Life

The daily life centred around the English lesson, with some additional activities including a talent show and ‘foreign culture night’. Some days would last from 8am

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not actually being present in lesson time, was available to answer any questions I had and help me settle in.

Daily Life

Every day there was a complimentary breakfast at the hotel at 8.30, this was buffet style with dumplings, fried rice, sausage, corn-on-the-cob, cabbage, rice porridge, Chinese cakes and toast! From 9 am until 2 pm I would spend the morning sight-seeing in the local area with my teaching assistant, other students undertaking internships or students from my class I had made friends with. Often we had local noodles for lunch. At 3.30 pm I took the metro to the centre to teach. From 4.30 until 7.30 I taught two one-hour classes with an hour break in between. At 7.30 pm I took the Metro back to the hotel which took an hour. After this I would eat at a local restaurant with other students undertaking internships, and then spend the evening socialising with other students undertaking internships. Usually we’d go to a bar, do karaoke, or play Ma Jong.

Lasting Impressions

I really enjoyed my internship! I learnt a lot about China and the people that live there. It helped to negate some of the stereotypes I had ingrained about the country. The people were very hospitable and surprised me constantly with the sheer level of generosity and willingness to help. I probably wouldn’t return to live or work there as the culture, although fun to experience, would not be one I could see myself living in for a prolonged time in. It’s made me consider teaching as a career goal.

Haley Lemieux, First Year, BA Philosophy, Politics and Economics, St. Hilda’s College

Work Projects

The projects mainly revolved around teaching, I taught 37 English classes to Chinese students. The teaching process involved planning lessons as well as being responsible for my own classes. The host organisation provided training, a TEFL certification, and resources

to 8pm, with a long break after lunch. We were based on the school campus, so there was no travel involved. There were 10 foreign teachers, four from Oxford and six from the US. It was very interesting to see the cultural differences and backgrounds between people from the UK and America. Out of work we had plenty of opportunity to experience China and Beijing, from visits to the Forbidden Palace and Great Wall to finding some great bars and clubs.

Lasting Impressions

China is an incredible place, Beijing is constantly busy. On our first visit into the city we were warned that Beijing is ‘wild’. I certainly have to agree. I don’t think I

will ever go back to Beijing, but could easily see myself in a more modern Chinese city like Shanghai. After this internship I doubt I will pursue a career in teaching. This is because I found that teaching the kids was almost like a factory. Once you finish with one group another comes in. I really bonded well with the first group of kids and it was hard to see them go. Only three days later we had an entirely new set of children to work with and I don’t think I would be able to let a class go, especially after teaching them for a year. The one thing that I think will last the longest from my internship is my friendships with the people that I have met. The other foreign teachers were fantastic, and I know that I will see most, if not all, of them again.

Molly Beck, First Year, BA Jurisprudence, Brasenose College

Work Projects

I taught English for a month at a school in Chongqing. I was provided with a teaching assistant who, despite

The one thing that I think will last the longest from my internship is my friendships with the people that I have met.

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as well as an invaluable teaching assistant to translate for the children when necessary.

Daily Life

I only taught for about 4 - 6 hours per day; however sometimes my travel took a fair bit of time commuting via bus or metro in Chongqing. I also spent some time preparing lessons. I socialised a lot with the other Oxford students on the internship (there were seven of us doing the same programme) as well as the Chinese teaching assistants (who were all generally college students in their 20s) and the Chinese students.

Lasting Impressions

Going to China ultimately gave me so much more confidence in myself and in my own independence, although at first it did feel like a culture shock. As I so enjoyed China and meeting the lovely Chinese people, I would consider returning to work/live there although only temporarily. I am also thinking of tailoring my degree to focus more on China as a region and even learning Mandarin.

William Dudley, Penultimate Year, BA Literae Humaniores, Brasenose College

Work Projects

I worked at a school in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province. Most of my work involved teaching classes (groups

and individuals) and preparing them for the IELTS English Language test. Besides providing me with accommodation and highly satisfactory meals for the duration of my stay, the host organization provided me with plenty of materials and advice on how to prepare students for this particular test.

Daily Life

I was working at a foreign language school in the centre of the city, about a 20 minute or so walk away from my hotel. I was required to be at the school for at least 5 days of the week, but although some of these days would be spent mostly teaching, on others I would have a lot of time simply being in the office and marking work. I got on very well with my colleagues and we would occasionally go out to dinner together etc., although at that time of the year they were seriously overworked and because not everyone had the same days off (weekends differed hardly at all from weekdays) we were rarely together as a group. As we were in the city centre there were plenty of things to do outside work: restaurants, bars, karaoke, exploring the city, and a water show that took place regularly during the evenings in the city’s main square. We also travelled to different areas of the province and country during our days off to visit mountains, sites of natural beauty, and more touristy cities.

Lasting Impressions

I think that an incurable interest and curiosity for China - its people, landscape, history and language - has been awakened in me by my internship there. The

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experience of living abroad in a strange land and very slowly coming to terms with its culture and language has persuaded me to try as hard as I can to seek a career that will give me the opportunity to visit such places again, and perhaps stay there for an extended period. I would certainly consider working there, but only once I had reached a respectable level of proficiency in the language.

James Borne, First Year, BA Physics, St. Peter’s College

Work Projects

The company we worked for, XDF, was a private tuition company, meaning the students in our lessons were school students wanting extra English lessons during their summer holidays, people preparing to go to high school/university abroad and older students who needed English for their careers. My main work was centred around 10 hours of teaching ‘immersion’ lessons. The aim of these lessons was to engage the students in conversational English, allowing them to talk with a native speaker. Also, there were several hours of one-to-one lessons each week. XDF were very supportive – they provided staff dedicated to looking after us and arranging our schedules, as well as taking

us out to meals every few weeks. However, they gave us little advice to prepare for lessons and telling us what/how to teach. Planning a two hour lesson normally took one hour.

Daily Life

There were three different teaching centres we taught at: one was a very short walk from our hotel, whereas the other two required an approximately 40 minute commute on the Chongqing subway and 15 minutes of walking. Outside of teaching, there was lots of time for tourist activities, trying out restaurants and spending time with the other interns. For example, I visited a waterpark, frequently ate dinner with students and went to UNESCO world heritage sites on my days off (normally two consecutive days).

Lasting Impressions

Living in Chongqing for two months was an amazing cultural experience and all the people we met were incredibly friendly and welcoming. I would strongly recommend visiting China and I would consider working here again when I graduate.