Four years ago today I was walking, half-dead, through Shanghai’s Pudong International airport, searching for a woman named “Apple,” who was supposed to be holding a sign with my name on it. My name, and that of a certain private English education conglomerate: I’d arrived in China to teach English.My legal immigration status notwithstanding, I was unprepare...

Chris thought it might be a fire inspection. Walking into his Chengdu, China, office at Disney English, a Disney subsidiary that teaches English through the antics of its animated characters, he was not alarmed by the throng of blue-uniformed law enforcement officers crowding the center's front desk. This was China, after all, and having been teaching in...

In 2010 Suz’s marriage was falling apart and her brother had just lost a brutal battle with cancer. She “wanted to die.” But instead of ending her life, she changed it, moving overseas to Europe and Thailand. Within four months of leaving the US, she was waking up in her little apartment in Thailand and feeling “pretty good about my life.”Although she had be...

Name: LauraYarbroughAge: 24Teaching City: WuxiCountry of Origin:USANative Language:EnglishChinese Level: IntermediateThe Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is a film I watched on a plane ride to the People’s Republic of China a few years ago. Little did I know then that I, a former university language instructor in South America with no experience with kids, s...

My first days at Nanjing’s Number One Elementary School were a blast. I loved the kids, they loved me, and we had some extraordinary lessons singing, dancing, playing games, and learning how to have basic English conversations. It was springtime, the air was fresh, and each weekend I would reward my week of hard work with some beers and fun at the local expa...

When I was offered a position teaching English in China, I was immediately interested. I had traveled outside of the US before, but living in a different country had always been something I had wanted to do. When I was nonchalantly offered a plane ticket to one of the biggest cities in the world by my US boss, I felt that something life-changing had just fal...

Name: Chad HeaterCurrent City: Xi’anCountry of Origin: USAYears of EFL Experience: 2Native Language: EnglishChinese Level: Beginner My Sudden DepartureBefore the start of the fall semester, I was due my travel bonus; the initial contract I signed stated that I would receive a bonus to cover my initial flight to China. It was the final payday on my old c...

Name: Chad HeaterCurrent City: Xi’anCountry of Origin: USAYears of EFL Experience: 2Native Language: EnglishChinese Level: BeginnerThis story isn’t meant to discourage future teachers considering positions in China. Nor is it meant to inspire prospective teachers to jump in head first into one of the most foreign cultures for a Westerner (which was my case)....