I live on the top (13th) floor of the school dormitory so I get pretty good views of the city when there isn’t too much smog.  There’s just me and the other ELA on our floor most of the time; the floor below is Chinese teachers and then it’s students and the canteen below that.  When we first moved in Paul (the other ELA) was told he was the only man in the building so he was a bit worried about being mobbed by female students but they seem to have got used to him now.  My room’s pretty big, I’ve got two single beds which is great for having people to stay, a little balcony to dry my washing on and an en-suite bathroom.  There’s a kitchen at the end of the corridor that has got everything we need and we eat out all the time anyway.

I’m not sure how true this is for other schools but my school has got really good digital facilities – there’s a data projector in every classroom and I’ve been provided with a laptop computer to use in lessons.  Therefore I’d really recommend bringing as many digital resources as you can, digital photos of home are great, as are MP3s and even some British DVDs would be good although you can get most popular DVDs out here for much cheaper than at home.  With 50+ kids it’s much easier if you can show them big photos etc on the projector rather than trying to pass paper copies round the class.  Also you can knock up a computer presentation a few hours before the lesson but if you want to get things photocopied you need to allow a couple of days.  Of the paper resources I brought with me I’ve used my UK and World maps the most

I’ve been really lucky that I’ve been placed with another ELA who I get on really well with, so we spend a lot of time together and we also regularly meet up with the other ELAs in the city.  I like the fact that I don’t see any other Western faces from day to day, but I know exactly which bar to go to if I want to find other Westerners.  There’s actually quite a big community of ex-pats near the universities but my school is right in the centre of the city so I don’t see most of them.  I share an office with 4 Chinese English teachers so I know them pretty well and they’re always willing to help with any language problems or questions about the school/city that I have.  One teacher in particular I would regard as a friend, we’ve been out for dinner and she’s invited me to her house although we haven’t found a time when we are both free yet.  There’s a teacher in Paul’s office who’s been really, really helpful – showing us around, taking us shopping and we’ve been out for dinner with him several times.

There are some essential items you MUST buy before coming to China that you can't get here. Blu-tak is essential both for putting pictures up in your room and for putting things up in lessons – plus the kids have never seen it before and are absolutely fascinated by it!  A lot of the cosmetics out here are “whitening” so I’ve steered clear of those, but you can get all the big brands: Olay, Nivea etc.  You can get roll-on deodorant but I haven’t found any spray, although I brought plenty with me so haven’t had to look yet.  I haven’t seen any tampons at all, so definitely bring a big supply of them if you use them.  Also ladies’ razors are a bit hard to come by, but you can get them if you search or just use men’s.  As far as food is concerned you can’t get proper bread or milk, so breakfast is a bit difficult, but you can’t really bring a year’s supply of them from home.  The instant coffee is pretty nasty out here so it would be worth bringing a supply of that if you’re a coffee fan.  There’s also hardly any cheese, but I’m really enjoying the Chinese food so I don’t really miss English food.

I’ve got Internet access in my room and my office.  I brought my own laptop with me, but the school have also given me one to use in lessons so now I’ve got two.  My only real complaint with the school is that the Internet is pretty slow; the school apparently slow it down on purpose because they’re scared of kids accessing inappropriate stuff!  That and the fact that the whole school (4500 kids plus about 500 staff) uses one connection makes it pretty slow.  Considering it’s free it’s pretty good, but it can be a bit frustrating when you’re trying to download images for a lesson.  There’s an Internet café quite close to school, so I can always go there when it gets too much.

Other Success Stories:

Tom Herbert at Beijing No.12 School

Nicholas Cornforth at Hangzhou Foreign Language High School