Program Reviews

My boyfriend and I moved to Shanghai with Travel Grad in 2019.
Travel Grad helped us navigate how to get out here smack bang in the middle of the pandemic (it was no easy feat!)

Andrew was happy to answer any of our questions, put us in touch with other grads out here so we weren't loners and went out of his way to make sure we knew what to do.

Coming out here was the best decision we've ever made; choosing between an office job in the UK and teaching out here was a no brainer. Even with office hours, we leave school at 4 and are drinking by 5; we travel, go for bottomless brunch basically every weekend and regularly enjoy a rooftop cocktail (or 5). There's no way we'd be able to afford the lifestyle we live out here in the UK.

We're also surrounded by other like-minded people who took the plunge like we did. If you're thinking about giving it a go, do!

Thoroughly glad I did it. Travel Grad are a genuine, down to earth & trustworthy company. Super dedicated and helpful throughout a difficult and complicated covid period as well. They helped me change, free of charge to Thailand from China due to late covid changes.

The experience was fantastic, the country is as beautiful and crazy as it is made out to be, with so much to do, Thailand is huge! Lots of friendly, like minded graduates there too.

Work life is very relaxed compared to the UK with free time during the day too. The students and the teachers are fascinated by you (especially if you’re 6’4), always wanting to talk and take photos with you or of you.

The pay is great locally, and cost of living is incredibly cheap, my beautiful accommodation was £60 a month & I rented a brand new motorbike for £60 a month, a tank of fuel is £2…. I did almost everything I wanted to do in Thailand and was actually able to save around £1600 over 4 months!

Would recommend to anyone as a gap year & would certainly recommend going anywhere with Travel-grad, they will take good care of you!

Me and my partner used Andrews company to go to China in 2019.
Very helpful, quick to reply and very calming during stressful times!
Helped with the whole process of documents, Visas, school placements, flights and all the other bits you need to get by in China. All within a timescale. Ended up in a lovely school in Tongzhou Beijing and a nice 2 bedroom apartment. I absolutly loved living and working in China.

Best review I can give is that we are using them again to go teach in Thailand!!!!!!

China Teaching Experience has been excellent. The support provided is second to none on the market & I'm still getting checked up on 2 & a half years in!

I came to China adamant I’d only be here for 1 year… I struggled in the first few months coming to terms with being away from home. I overcame this with help from China Teaching Experience & honestly they settled me down.

I’ve had the experience of a lifetime & it’s all thanks to these guys making sure I was placed here with my friends.

I decided to sign up for the program due to it's great reputation, openness and clarity. It's not some big soulless corpo only trying to make profit out of you. You get all the help you can possibly need but also a lot of freedom to choose the type of experience you want to have with the company (keep it professional or more relaxed). I found that in the workplace you could also make a similar choice so what's there not to love? I was super happy with my placement so I stayed there for another year and my only regret is that I couldn't stay longer.

The China Teaching Experience gave a springboard for my girlfriend and I to come and work in China, while making it possible to ping around and travel SE Asia completely stress free (until covid hit).

Since then, China has felt like the safest place to be in regard to the way the dealt with the virus. Nowadays it would be nice to see less restrictions on borders and quarantines as the rest of the world is moving towards a way of co-living with it.

Overall. If you decide to choose The China Teaching Experience, you'll love it and feel very support!

Go do it!

Wasn't expecting to enjoy it as much as I did. The school were fantastic as was the ongoing support from TravelGrad which well surpassed what I reasonably expected. I've kept in contact with Andrew from TG for years!

One of the major benefits is the community you find yourself in before you go. Whether you want to be a lone wolf or make loads of new mates, it's equally as easy. Couple that with the kind hospitality of the Chinese as well as all the opportunities there are available and you'll find yourself having an unforgettable experience!

I came to Shanghai with my partner through TravelGrad. Even from the first step it was incredibly easy and we were supported through the whole process all the way from application to getting onto the plane. Even during the height of the UK pandemic and lock down they helped us in every way we asked. I couldn't ask for more.

Moving country requires quite a few different hoops to jump through and boxes to tick. But, with the help of TravelGrad, this felt so easy. One step at a time we prepared and knew what was coming next. Honestly it wouldn't have have possible with our the help of TravelGrad and their team. So friendly, so helpful and always there for a chat when things are feeling rough! Thankyou!

I arrived in China at the end of August 2019 and the support I received from Andrew before departure and upon arrival were second to none. Before leaving the U.K. he helped with everything from visas, degree legalisation, criminal background checks, the TEFL qualification, and was available 24/7 if you had any problems or questions. He was also incredibly flexible in terms of placement and takes all of your preferences into consideration - I was actually placed in my first choice school.

When I arrived in China I actually spent the first 8 days in Beijing at a teacher training camp, with around 30 other applicants from the Travel Grad program. This experience was invaluable and allowed us to make friends with each other - some of us were being placed in the same schools/cities, and some of us visited each other around the country during holidays.

I’ve met a lot of people in China who came here with many different companies, and I’ve heard a lot of horror stories about dodgy companies - taking too much money from their applicants, not providing support etc. I haven’t had any of these problems with Travel Grad and cannot recommend the program enough!

I was a 2020 applicant, and due to the pandemic it was such a challenging year to go to China. I have to say, the support I got from The China Teaching Experience was fantastic, and I don’t think I could have gotten that anywhere else. There was constant communication every step of the visa, travel process, quarantine and even when I started work in my new school. Whenever a challenge presented itself, I never felt like I had to deal with it on my own. I would definitely recommend CTE to anyone thinking about traveling to China.