Volunteering Abroad!

Volunteers’ Responsibilities

As a volunteer teaching English in China, your efforts will be focused on educating young children and preparing them for a brighter future. Depending on your individual interests and skills, and on the needs of the local staff, your daily activities involve, but are not limited to:

• Teaching basic English to the children
• Assisting the main English teacher with lessons and activities
• Teaching other subjects such as Math or Science
• Playing with the children
• Organizing extracurricular activities such as music, dancing, sports, art, games, etc.
• Teaching life skills such as painting, sewing, cooking, etc
• Holding debates and discussions to improve on conversational skills
• Promoting nutrition and health amongst the children
• Helping to raise funds for schools
• Organizing educational tours and field trips
• Work alongside the local teachers on curriculum development
• Assisting school administrations with daily tasks
• Helping with basic maintenance of schools
• Aiding local school staff in any way possible

How You Can Make a Difference

In China, there is growing demand for an English education. With the economic growth, the importance of English education is also growing. Many of the schools in China have established an 'English corner.' This is a place specially designed for teaching and learning English. These schools are very eager to get native English teachers.

Unfortunately, only private, expensive schools in city areas attract native English teachers. Most of the resource poor schools remain in quest for quality teachers for their English classes and especially for native English speakers.

Therefore, as a volunteer in China, you will teach English at these resource poor and rural schools. Our volunteers will be working with local public schools and mostly teach children from poor families.

You will work with existing programs and using their curriculum, (with your added style of course) help Chinese students to become confident English speakers. By improving their English, you can help to brighten their futures by opening the door to more opportunities for them.

Skills and Qualifications

Volunteers must be at least 18 years old. No teaching experience is required to teach English in China. However, volunteers must be fluent English speakers. Native English speaking is a plus, but not a prerequisite. You should have a passion to teach and aspire to help your students.

Volunteers should be good role models, flexible, patient, caring, creative, responsible and open-minded. Volunteers must also respect the locals and the host organizations, along with their rules and projects.

Project Location

The Teaching English in China project is Qingdao, (pronounced Tsingtao) which lies in the southeast part of Shandong Province and voted as “the Most Livable City in China”. Housing over 8.7 million inhabitants, it is a beautiful seaside city with clear, crisp air and an enchanting sea view.

Heavily influenced in the early 1900s by Germany, the city contains old German colonial architecture that is more than enchanting to explore. This city is bordered on both sides by the Yellow Sea and takes pride in having the longest sea bridge in the world to connect to major urban areas.

The city also boasts Asia’s largest bathing beach. To the east of the city, Korea and Japan lay just a stone’s throw away, making the city an important seaport for international trade. The Tsingtao Beer Company, Haier Group and Hi-Sense are all giant conglomerates based in Qingdao.

During the course of your program, you will have plenty of free time to explore China and be fascinated in the country of the old and the new, the rich and the poor, and the Yin and the Yang.