Qingdao – Where Europe meets China

Beer in plastic bags, KFC with draft beer and Medieval German churches. Where do I start?! The city of Qingdao is part of historic Shandong province where Confucius gained his claim to fame and it is also a place where you can enjoy a beach in the northern part of China. The city has a high speed station and a normal one allowing access to and from many areas of China and enjoys a pleasant climate of cool winters and warm yet not too hot…

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Romp N’ Roll Kindergarden in Jining Shandong

A truly Chinese experience it was, working in a company which was part kindergarten, part preschool and part training centre in which the  branch had only one foreign teacher hired at a time and for most of the late 2018 to early 2019 it was me! The school The company was based in a Walmart shopping complex that made for very handy trip to shop for things like groceries and was part of a chain of other teaching branches that were spread around China although…

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Me by the I love Shekou sign in Shenzhen

My life teaching at The Affiliated International School of Shenzhen University

Greetings from Shenzhen!  I have been living and working in Shenzhen for nearly four years now.  I started my English teaching career in China working for a company in Shanghai that hires foreign teachers and places them at schools throughout the city, which can be a good way to start your Chinese journey, but after four years in cold classrooms, I decided to move south.  I chose Shenzhen because it has decent air quality (for China, anyway), warm winters, and is just across the border…

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Picture of me with my students at I2 Shenzhen

Round 2. Returning to China to take on a new challenge at I2 English in Shenzhen.

Aaron Blake is an English language teacher who has taught in schools and language centers in Shanghai, Barcelona and, most recently, Shenzhen. Here he gives a quick insight into what life was like living and working in Shenzhen for i2 International Institute of Education. School Where was your school? My language center was located in Qianhai, Nanshan and was 1 of 3 i2 campuses in Shenzhen. It was in a good location, near supermarkets, restaurants and a metro station. What were the working hours like?…

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