First Time Teacher Living in Beijing!

EF provides its employees the opportunity to grow and develop within the company. I started with the company as a teacher and have now moved on to be a part of the Teacher Recruitment and Training team. Before arriving in China I had never taught before, everything I know about teaching I learned through EF’s training and development opportunities. EF provides a lot of development opportunities but it takes good performance, as well as personal motivation and determination to achieve these milestones.

I believe that traveling is one of the best ways to grow, while learning about yourself and the people around you. I’ve learned more about myself and what I’m passionate about through my experiences of living and working in China. My transition to China wouldn’t have been the same without EF’s assistance with the Visa process and my first weeks in Beijing!

When I arrived in China, I came in with a group of teachers that were experiencing the same things as me. Mostly excitement, but of course some fear, as most of us were moving abroad on our own for the first time. These people not only became colleagues, they ended up becoming, roommates, gym partners, travel buddies, and friends. The support system that EF initially facilitates by putting a group of people in the same training room, organically grew to become much more.

Wouldn’t necessarily think of this as a con and more of an adjustment. I was used to a regular work week (8am – 5pm, Monday – Friday) so I had to adjust myself to working on the weekends and having my days off during the week. This actually ended up being better than expected because I was able to enjoy the city and tourist cites without all the tourists! It definitely gave you the feel of exploring the city as a local.