Teaching - CHINA Daily Life

Daily Life of Teaching Volunteer

All volunteers teaching in Wu Jiang will be placed with a host family, providing the chance to see what it is like to live with a Chinese family on a day-to-day basis. On a cultural level this experience is unrivalled to anything you might achieve by coming just as a tourist to China. It will allow you to assimilate, observe and partake in a culture that is both different and diverse. Predominately Chinese culture centres around food and on a daily basis volunteers will get to experiment and try many different foods. You will eat the same food as the family and eat at the same times. During your stay you will also be invited to banquets hosted by your school and be offered some unusual delicacies, anything from chicken feet to ducks chins!

Most volunteers wake up quite early to have breakfast with the family and go to school where you might spend some time preparing classes or chatting with the English teachers about various ideas and events. On average you will be expected to teach at least three classes a day lasting 45mins.

Outside of school volunteers usually meet up at one of the city's tea houses, Ming Tien is the most popular of these serving a variety of sweet and hot drinks. Here volunteers exchange stories and ideas about teaching and no doubt many anecdotes about their experiences of living in China.

At weekends volunteers often travel to areas surrounding Wu Jiang. These areas are as diverse and beautiful as the Chinese culture itself. From the water town of Tongli to the traditional gardens of Suzhou, to the lakes of Hangzhou, you will never be short of new places to visit or new things to see. Alternatively you can hop on a bike and ride 15 minutes out of the city where you will find a traditional landscape of paddy fields and friendly locals.

Shanghai teaching volunteers have a completely different experience. You live in one of China's fastest growing cities. During your time in Shanghai you will constantly be amazed by the skyline and rate of development around you. In Shanghai our teaching volunteers live in shared flats with other volunteers rented by Projects Abroad.

Since the majority of our teaching volunteers teach in a language centre these classes and discussions normally only take place in late afternoon and evening, which means you have the mornings to explore the city's sites. Once you have exhausted all these options you can always resort to the favourite activity of the Shanghainese - shopping!

For meals, Projects Abroad distributes a food allowance on a monthly basis and you can choose the type of food you want to eat. Since Shanghai is a city that is developing so fast it has also in many respects become very westernised and this extends to the food available. Volunteers are encouraged to try the local cuisine but for 'a bit of home' there are plenty of western establishments to choose from.

During the evenings and weekends teaching volunteers are likely to meet up with other volunteers in Shanghai to try out the city's hottest nightspots and clubs!