Teach English in China with New Life ESL

I'm overjoyed with my new job and life in Beijing. Brendan took the time to get to know me and then setup a great school and interview. The help didn't stop there, he helped me find a house, offered suggestions and tips for those new to the area etc. I have to say it would have been very difficult to make this transition on my own but with New Life ESL it was EASY. Truly a dedicated, honest and caring team.

Thank you New Life ESL!

As the title implies, I have begun teaching English in Hanzhong, Shaanxi. I have had a a deep interest in language learning for more than a decade and now it seems surreal that I have the honor of attempting to spark the same passion for learning here in China! I am grateful to New Life ESL for providing me the opportunity to embark on this new career path. I worked with Brendan to get here and, from the beginning, I was impressed with how dedicated he was to guiding me through the process, educating me about important aspects of life in China, and giving me a timetable around which I could smoothly plan my transition. Work with New Life ESL if you want to feel confident about your plans.

I applied with New Life in March for a position with an international school position but only just got here in August. I had plenty of time to go through the interview process, secure my Visa, and take care of everything I needed to do back home. Brendan and I talked very frequently. Almost everyday either on Skype, Facebook, email, or WeChat. He answered all my questions and helped me get mentally prepared for my new career in China.

Almost 3 months here and everything has been great! I work at an excellent public school in Guangzhou with a great staff. My kids are great. The food is great. I've made so many new friends from everywhere and I'm even learning Mandarin!

I will recommend New Life ESL to anyone that wants to work with a legit American company going through this process. They still stay in contact with me to this day and I'm thrilled to be part of the team. Thanks New Life!

I've only been here for a little over a month. So far, I've had the opportunity to visit some really nice restaurants, shopping centers, and enjoy the city's greenery. I love being outdoors and the walking to and from the metro (and literally everywhere) is forcing me to finally be able to meet those health goals I kept putting off back home.

None of this would not have been possible without the help of New Life (Thanks Monica!), who helped me to cut corners trying to get here. I'm glad I took the initiative to attempt something I have been wanting to do for some time, but did not know exactly how to make it happen. :o)

Grateful,
~g~

A friend of mine has been working in China for the past few years and she told me about Teach English in China New Life (TECNL). I applied through the company and quickly heard back from them. They wanted to get to know me and what I was looking for first. After that they put my in touch with Sea Dragon who asked me for an interview. Sea Dragon were great, a little slow, but they have had sixty new teachers join the company all within 2/3 weeks its not going to be perfect. TECNL have stayed in contact with me through the whole process and once I arrived in China have messaged me a few times to make sure everything is going well.
I would defiantly recommend both TECNL and Sea Dragon for anyone wishing to come out to China to teach.

If you are applying for a teaching position in China, do yourself a favor and have New Life help find you a job. If you're like me, you are probably doing all your research online - finding positions, reading about what it's like to live overseas and how best to make it all happen. I didn't know anything about the ESL industry and it's difficult to wade through all the garbage on the internet. One website tells you one thing and another will tell you the complete opposite, it's hard to know who and what to rely on.
Because New Life is a small company created by expats who taught overseas, they know the ropes. They will pay attention to you and your needs, and place you with a school they have already vetted. This is very important! Most recruiters in China just want to fill positions, the quality of the schools is not necessarily a high priority.
I worked with Derrick, so friendly and he was consistently available to answer all the questions I had. And I had tons of questions! The transparency of our interactions was refreshing. I landed in an awesome school that cares very much about their employees. I wouldn't work with any other recruiter and highly recommend New Life.

Hello guys,
I'd seriously recommend this agency. I was recruited by Brendan. All the way through the recruitment process it felt like I was the only person he was dealing with. He always had time for me, he was there when I had even the simplest of questions and he listened. He asked me what I wanted from a job and matched these criteria perfectly with the school I am working in now. When unluckily all my documents got lost in the post (visa+ passport) and I was panicking, he was there, consoling me and presenting my misfortune to the school. I felt like he was completely on my side. I managed to sort out the documentation in due time in the end.
Also, he went out of his way to connect me with the teachers who had already worked in the location of my destination prior to my arrival; in order to erase any doubts I had. Well, I had doubts. The job sounded too good to be true. Having dealt with quite a few agencies and read many horror stories about China I was sceptical at best.
I am here now. I’ve been here for nearly 6 months and I’m still living a dream. My job is perfectly tailored to my needs and wants. Let me tell you a bit about it. I hate waking up in the morning; so he got me a job with afternoon starts. I prefer smaller groups; none of my groups is bigger than 16 kids. I travel to work by a taxi and the school reimburses me. I am treated with an utmost respect. The kids are sweet and loving. I have a lot of free time so I can plan my lessons and create materials for them. My imagination, not time, is my limit. Not once have I been stressed or angry at work. And for that all I get paid a really decent money as for China. Every month, despite having literally lavish meals in the restaurants and getting whatever I fancy, I still manage to save more than I ever could on a bigger salary and a serious budget in the UK.
I consider myself very lucky to have found Brendan. My life is amazing because he took time to listen. Even now, after having found me the job, he periodically checks if everything is OK. He collects reviews about schools from the people he got jobs. This way he can eliminate the dodgy ones. The guy would never put you up with a dishonest employer, he himself warned me about certain malpractices concerning tourist visas.Also,he suggested installing VPN prior to my arrival and even got me a good deal on one. Without that it would have been much more difficult to survive here.
Take it from me; a person who rarely leaves good reviews. Hope to see you here soon. It is a New Life indeed.

Firstly, let's be clear. Going to teach overseas, particularly going somewhere with stark cultural differences to your home country, is always going to be a 'roll of the dice' to a certain extent. You need to do your research and choose carefully the people or organisations that are going to be in your corner long after contracts have been signed.

I've had a fair amount of experience with recruiters, both positive and negative (mostly the latter), and I sympathise with those who are keen to just bypass the process completely and go for the direct hire positions. However, if you had the experience I did with New Life, you wouldn't ever consider going it alone again. Good recruiters are rare, but they do exist. You've just found one.

Now, I want to stress that I'm not some fresh-faced graduate straight out of university. I'm a well-qualified linguist. I'm also a skeptic, if not a cynic. My standards are high and I like to give credit when they are met so comprehensively. Believe me, if the opposite was the case, I'd be equally vocal.

Brendan did a great job of tailoring the opportunities he provided to my needs. He didn't try and railroad me down a particular path that was convenient for his workload at the time of my application. This is something you'll develop a sixth sense for when dealing with most other recruiters. Unfortunately, you often have to expect not to be treated as an individual. Let's be frank - in a market as vast as this, you're likely seen as just another warm body with a degree (maybe just a warm body.. maybe just a body, who know?). Not so with New Life. Not in my experience, at least. They listened and applied zero pressure. I honestly got the impression that if they had nothing on their books that they felt was suitable for me as a candidate, they'd have told me so.

They were also able to put me directly in touch with an experienced teacher currently working at the school I am now at, a teacher who was nothing but honest and generous with his time when it came to answering my many questions. This was a teacher who had trod the same path I was about to, not a shill employed to promote the school. All of this I found very encouraging. In hindsight I was right to feel that way.

My accommodation is absolutely fine. Not much more to say. It's not a flat/block owned by the school that all foreign teachers are shoehorned into. It was rented for the purpose, and we (me+girlfriend) had some input into what was being arranged. It's paid for by my employers and is both quiet and spacious. I live less that five minutes walk from my school. My work/life balance and overall quality of life is pretty high in the grand scheme of things.

Our branch principal handles much of our day-to-day needs/requests/queries/confusions. She has been beyond excellent. If all such schools had someone like her at the helm, English teaching would be a lot more popular. Problems, sometimes quite serious ones, were sorted within a matter hours. Pay is never late. Our teaching schedules are generally not messed around with with little or no notice. Perhaps most importantly (for me, anyway), we're allowed to plan our classes off the premises and office hours are absolutely minimal. I'm waiting for some sort of sting in the tail, but it's been many months now, so I can only assume it's not coming.

So, I've no hesitation in recommending New Life. I can't vouch for their work across the board, but I can tell you that my experience has been an overwhelmingly positive one. If we do choose to move on at the end of our contracts, it won't be due to any deficiencies in the school or the recruiters. I can say, however, that New Life will be a likely first port-of-call as and when we next seek employment. If you're in that boat right now, whether just starting out or having been 'around the block' a few times, give these guys a try.

Whoever you go with, I hope you have the best time. Good luck!