Testimonials

Kirsten Groen | University of Minnesota Alumni

The first time I traveled to China was in high school, and then again in college – both for studying abroad. So I, perhaps, had a leg up on some who hadn’t or who didn’t speak mandarin. However, I think that no matter what you’ve done before, working with Lanhu and teaching in Hunan are entirely different. Or, as my students like to say; ‘an unforgettable experience.’

I dove into this program right out of University where I worked as tutor in professional writing, so while I had some ideas about what to expect, I must say a lot of it was a surprise. And a good one, at that. Lanhu made the entire process as smooth and as stress-free as possible. Plus, the training they provided gave me some much-needed ideas for handling larger classes, as well as let me network with fellow teachers. Because, while some of us do work in the same city, we are still scattered around enough and busy enough that meeting up naturally before training was hard.

The school that I work at is Yali Yanghu Middle School (雅礼洋湖实验中学) – a boarding school outside of Changsha City. The environment working here is like a giant family. All the teachers are very supportive of each other and more than willing to give a helping hand. The school itself is beautiful. Recently built about two years ago; parts of the school were still under construction when I first arrived, and some parts still are. The most notable of which was a charming little ‘park’ near the dorms that hosts a small pond and pavilion that students and teachers can relax in – it finished being built about a month into my stay. The dorm that they provided me with is equipped with everything I need, including air-conditioning and heating (because, believe it or not, it does get fairly cold here in the winters. And I’m saying that as someone who spent their University years in Minneapolis, MN). And as much as I appreciate all these benefits, the best part of this experience is the students.

You see, I run two different spoken (oral) English curriculum; the first for the senior one (15-16 years old) students, and the second for the junior one (11-12 years old) students. I teach nine senior one classes and two personally hand-picked junior one classes. So, around five-hundred students give or take. While this doesn’t provide me with the ability to remember all their names, I have become very good at remembering faces. The students are very sweet, and there are many that have such incredible potential for learning and advancing in the English language. Honestly, when I have to say good-bye at the end of this school year, I will really miss them.

This program also gave me the opportunity to participate in a competition. More specifically, the Third Changsha Foreign Teacher Teaching Demonstration. It was a stressful experience, I’m not going to lie, and one that I hadn’t expected. But, it was also an experience that taught me invaluable lessons on teaching, handling large and small classes, and managing class time while making it fun for the students. In other words, it helped me improve both my ability to teach and my resume.

However, the students, the teaching environment, networking, and personal development aren’t the only up-sides to this program. After all, traveling and exploring a new country, city, and culture are priceless. You’re given more than enough free time to discover not only your new home, but also those areas beyond it. I’ve spent the past few months exploring Changsha – a huge, provincial city – and the neighboring towns and cities. What’s more is that, soon, I’ll be heading down to Huizhou and Shenzhen to meet up with friends and travel for the winter break.

Rebecca Kuang | University of Chicago Alumni

Living in China for a year has been an interesting experience for me personally. My situation is likely very different from other applicants because one of the main reasons I chose to do this program after graduation was to be able to spend time with and better get to know my family living in the Hunan region. Growing up in the U.S., I never really understood what living in China would be like and this year has given me real insight into the lives of my extended family and China as a whole.

The Lanhu program is really great because you are allowed to apply as a couple, which gave my partner and I the chance to endeavor on this program together. Initially, getting all of the paperwork for visas/work permits completed was time consuming and tedious, but Shazer and others at Lanhu were very helpful and informative in answering our questions. Once we arrived in China, we had an orientation week where we received some TEFL training and got a chance to mingle with the other foreign teachers in the program. This was nice as it helped us settle down a bit and make some new friends.

Our school provides us with an apartment and three different liaisons to help us with different aspects of adjusting to life in China. They helped us set up our phones and bank accounts within the first week which was extremely helpful because essentially all monetary transactions in China are made using WeChat rather than cash. Thus, not having a working bank account tied in with your WeChat account can make life very difficult here. Our apartment is very large and very livable, although there is not a real kitchen (just a hot plate) so additional kitchen supplies may need to be purchased if you want to cook often. We have generally not had problems with the apartment, and when we did, a school liaison helped us promptly.

I teach two types of classes at the high school—normal first year high school classes and “international classes”. The international classes consist of only 2 students who are preparing to go abroad soon and I work with them one on one to help improve their reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills as well as introduce aspects of American culture to them. These classes have been very rewarding because I directly witness the kids improving and I am able to tailor lessons to their interests and needs. The normal first year high school English classes consists of about 50 students per class and are more difficult to teach. The students can be very rowdy and difficult to manage in the classroom and have wildly varying English ability, so any given lesson may be too easy for some and too difficult for others. In addition, many of the students seem uninterested in learning English and will instead try to joke around and be disruptive or just ignore you. Thus, it can be difficult to teach these classes and one must be very patient with the students. The school does not give much oversight in terms of what to teach— you are kind of on your own with what material you choose to use. This can be daunting at first, but once you find a rhythm it gets easier.

During the eight months I’ve been in China, I have gotten to travel around East Asia a bit which is very exciting. The school is not very forthcoming about dates (like what days we have off for which holidays, when test dates are… etc) so it is a little bit hard to plan trips ahead of time— more likely than not, trips will have to be pretty last minute. However, all the foreign teachers will get 3-5 weeks off for Chinese New Year, which makes it an ideal time to travel. One really awesome thing about China is the high speed railway system. It is extremely convenient and fast. I really love visiting cities and thanks to the high speed rail system I was able to take a couple trips to Hong Kong easily.

Lastly, living in China has given me a real opportunity to spend time with my extended family, which I rarely saw growing up. My grandfather lives in Zhuzhou so I am able to see him every weekend. I also am able to frequently visit Guangzhou and Changsha to see my cousins. It has been an absolute privilege to be able to spend Chinese national holidays with them and experience different aspects of Chinese culture in China with family. This year has been a whirlwind experience completely different from life in the U.S. I am very glad I took this opportunity and will remember this year for the rest of my life.

I first visited mainland China during Spring 2014 while on exchange in the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. My first footstep on the mainland was in Beijing, where I stayed for 5 days. I traveled with an American and a German, and we were all blown away by the culture and history of the place. We also went met with a friend of the German, a native Beijinger, who has now become a lifelong friend. He and his family brought us for dinner in one of Beijing’s most famous restaurants. I was in awe of the occasion. Chinese people can have a cold, reserved reputation in the west, but once you come here, you realize that reputation is a complete stereotype and that China is unbelievably vast and diverse. After a week seeing the Forbidden City, The Great Wall and other world heritage sites, I spent a few days in Shanghai. Shanghai has a very different vibe, its chaotic and intense, and business is king. Later during my exchange, I jumped across the border to Guangzhou and Shenzhen due to its proximity to Hong Kong. On returning to Ireland for my final year of University, I had the pleasant surprise of sharing my house with two Chinese girls. They often brought their other Chinese friends around and through them I became more and more interested in China.

During the spring of 2015, I saw an advertisement on my university campus for English teachers. Immediately I was sure that I wanted to do it. Following an interview and acceptance, I was flying to China that August. I landed in Changsha for an orientation, and then I was on my way to my new home, the otherworldly Zhangjiajie, famed for it’s unique, gorgeous mountains that apparently inspired James Cameron’s Avatar. I wanted to live near nature, learn Chinese Kung Fu and Mandarin, and travel when I could, which is exactly what I did. A very experienced, famous Kung Fu Master called Huang began teaching me martial arts free of charge, which I was amazed by. I still cannot believe how generous he has been to me. I feel honored to be his apprentice. During November 2017, I went with him and other masters to Changsha for the annual Hunan Wushu Association competition. I got a gold and bronze medal, and later I was interviewed by the People’s Daily newspaper in Zhangjiajie. I traveled to Yunnan, Sichuan, Shaanxi and Henan at various times in the year and visited places such as Tiger Leaping Gorge, Jiuzhaigou, Mount Hua and Mount Song.

I left China in July 2016 and spent a month in India before arriving home. I then started a master’s degree in England, but this was a very painful time for me, and I thought about returning to China every day, literally. I really love China.

So, after finishing my studies, I decided to return to Zhangjiajie, and I am here happy again, and my Mandarin and understanding of Chinese culture is improving with every passing day. Teaching is a huge amount of fun and the students and I have a very good relationship. Chinese students are generally well behaved, but a lot of fun, much to many westerners’ surprise. It’s also very easy to save money in China. It’s the perfect balance here. In Japan, salary and cost of living are both high. In Vietnam, salary and cost of living are both low. China gives you a high salary with a low cost of living. China is still not yet developed everywhere, making it interesting to westerners, but developed enough everywhere so that nothing is too arduous. Don’t hesitate if your gut and heart say do it – Take the jump!

After graduation, my partner and I had a strong desire to move abroad and teach. I had worked in classrooms for five years, but after months of searching could not find any program that would accommodate a pair of teachers. Finally, I heard about Lanhu through my university career advisor, and was shocked to find this incredible opportunity for both of us. Lanhu not only allowed us to come to the same city, but they arranged for us to teach in the same school. Not only are our utilities and housing taken care of, but our university had two months of paid vacation during Chinese New Year, which allowed us to travel extensively. I have never heard of another program like this- it is the perfect opportunity for a couple, friends, or an individual to live comfortably in a beautiful province that’s a bit off the beaten path. The relaxed schedule (I am only working around 8 hours each week) is perfect for learning about China’s history, culture, and language in addition to your own creative pursuits or graduate school applications. Lanhu offers its teachers an amazing experience with a great deal of freedom. The best part about my day-to-day life in China is, without question, my students- they are hilarious and endlessly curious undergraduates. Having freedom over my lessons in the classroom has allowed me to teach classes that are interesting to them as well as me- we can read poetry, write sci-fi skits, and play charades if we like. Outside of class, my students readily talk with me about life in China, explaining festivals and cultural differences. I would encourage those who are coming into the program to be as open-hearted as possible. I was nervous at first about lunging head-first into a totally different environment, (especially since I couldn’t find a lot of information online), but Hunan is a very welcoming place. I have learned this from the kindness of my school’s workers as well as the incredible Lanhu staff and fellow teachers who have made me feel at home. Also, prepare yourself for the best food of your life.

Before making the move to my new home and life in China, I experienced a flurry of emotions: stress, confusion, excitement, a joy for something new. All my friends and family were expressing their opinions to me, telling me all the assumed pros and cons that someone who’s never been to China would have. Upon boarding my international flight from the U.S. to China, I hadn’t the slightest clue what was about to happen. Not knowing any Chinese or frankly too much at all about the cultural experience to come, I just kept my positivism and was open to whatever was about to happen. 18 hours of air travel later, I was just scratching the surface of the most amazing and life changing experience to come. Teaching and working with kids wasn’t something foreign to me, but in a literal sense I was extremely foreign to my classes. Within a class or two, everyone becomes comfortable with you, the setting, the language, and their classmates, from thereon out, everything moves along extremely well. Working with my Chinese students, the most amazing thing was recognizing how fun they all were, and at the end of the day they are just so happy to work with you. Whether it was inside or outside of the class, everyone I had the opportunity to connect with were just so sincere and excited to be able to interact and work with you, an experience that I’ve never felt to such a degree in the States. Upon arrival in the city of Changsha, I was greeted with open arms by my school’s liaison, that made the time to pick me up at 1 a.m. while juggling numerous other task. He helped me get my bearings, and set me up for all the success to come. The only real hard part at this point, was to gain the courage to get out and explore by myself. After learning the ways of the transportation system, every time I’d go out was a new adventure; meeting new friends, exploring new places, trying delicious new food, everything felt so surreal and wonderful. After a week and a half of learning where I’m located in China, I was ready to start my classroom duties. When reflecting on my time here and the most important elements, it really came down to the fear of the initial move, the amazing and relieving arrival to my home in China, and the wonderful interactions that were to come inside and out of the school I was working with. Those three elements are really just the skeleton, and what you end up doing to fill the rest of this experience in, just comes down to you. In between working and exploring my city, I’ve made lifelong friends, traveled more places in Asia than I ever had in North America, and ate the best food of my life. When thinking about it, there’s no good way to sum up all the fun I had in one paper, but the best advice I can really say if you are doubting yourself is, “JUST DO IT” (Nike 1988).

Being an English teacher in China has been an incredible honor. Being in a country with a deep history and culture, surrounded by warm and welcoming people, is a wonderful experience. Teaching in a different country will require you to be an adaptable person, but because of the amazing people at the Lanhu Cultural Exchange Center, you will always be taken care of. At the beginning, I didn’t know how I was going to manage being in a place so different from my home. I had always wanted to travel and work in a different country, but I was worried that I would not be able to handle the culture shock. However, I quickly became accustomed to this new place and the opportunities and challenges that come with it. The students and teachers at my school have been extremely helpful and have went out of their way to make this place feel like a second home. I am surrounded by beautiful mountains and live in a vibrant and rapidly developing city. After a few days here, I knew I had made the right decision. Teaching in China will not only give you insight into a different culture but also change the way you view your own culture. A heightened sense of self-confidence will develop from knowing that you can thrive in a new environment. You will become a new person mentally and emotionally, and this is all for the better. I would like to thank Lany for making this opportunity possible. If you like traveling and the opportunity to teach students about your language and culture, I highly recommend teaching in China through the Lanhu Cultural Exchange Center.

As one would expect, the decision to leave home to live, work, and travel in a land, in which to myself is on the opposite side of the world hailing from Ireland and all was not an easy decision, but one which I would definitely not change. With my own journey here, I have to admit that on arriving in China, I realized that I knew very little of this ancient and massive country, and my nerves had definitely set in as I was standing in the middle of Beijing airport terminal, with a bag on my back and a pocket book with a few Chinese phrases, which I know I was not able to pronounce correctly. I think I’m still not pronouncing them correctly and I assume every Chinese person thinks the same, but is too nice to say anything.

I am glad to say that I feel completely settled after four months living here. The massive point which has amazed me and no doubt all the foreign teachers and travelers is the friendliness and warmth of the Chinese people. Hailing from a country as Ireland which is known to have one of the most friendly and welcoming citizens, I can return home and say the Ireland has fierce competition in that area. One example being and there has been many, during my first week exploring Xiangtan, myself and two colleagues who were just exploring old town different shops and premises were treated to a sit down for a meal with a family we had just met 30 minutes earlier. If that’s not hospitality I don’t know what is. China being so vast I have only been able to travel to a few places at this moment, but what I have experienced and saw has been truly breath-taking. From seeing the scenery in crossing the yellow river through the heart of China and visiting a Tai-Chi village near Luoyang, Henan, to climbing Mount Huashaun to watch the sunrise in Xi’an (although I’m fit, it was very tough), I know those views will stay with me for the rest of my life, and I am so happy to experienced them. They have also fueled my want, and need to see much more of China’s beauty which I know is in great abundance. My teaching life in China has been also been great. Having studied Law throughout university, I really wanted to travel and experience something new before I turned 30. Which surprisingly isn’t that far away, Irish people are a bit similar to Chinese people in that way too – we look younger than we are. It must be all the whisky and baijiu we drink. Which in Irish translates to the water of life. I must admit that stepping into a classroom and having to teach 40-50 children was actually more nerve racking, than the actual moving to China. But in all honesty, I love it. The children’s energy and general inquisitiveness in turn gives me energy. I won’t lie and say that it has been plain sailing, as all teachers can agree with, but you move past the hard times, continuously developing as a teacher and person, and as such the hard times have become less frequent. Through all the support, I and Luibomir have received from the more veteran teachers at No. 12 Middle School, especially Miss. Liu (Susan) I can wholeheartedly say, we are different teachers for the better. With all that said, I am truly looking forward to the rest of my time in China both in terms of teaching the kids for another semester and that of travelling and experiencing more of what China has to offer.

I came to China back in 2012 working in Hunan for two years in a small training center through the LHCEC’s teaching program. Because of my experience there, now I know and want to further my education and certification as a professional teacher. I am working towards that goal at the moment.

Now, I work in an international school in Beijing with more than 3000 students and I love every minute of it. None of this would have been possible had it not been for the opportunity given to me to teach in China by the LHCEC. I’ve been able to work, whilst also travelling all around China (and Asia) meeting wonderful people and seeing things I’ll never be able to forget!