My name is Alex and I’m from Liverpool in the UK. I’ve been working at the Gu Tian branch of York English for just over a year now. I came here as a teacher with no previous teaching experience, now I teach students ages 3 – 12.

Since I graduated university the only thing I knew I wanted to do for certain was to teach English abroad. Initially I was a little apprehensive to choose China as my destination of choice; I was scared of how big the country was, and how far from home, not to mention how intense the culture shock would be. However, York English got in contact after finding my CV on an ESL recruitment site, and after putting me in touch with people who currently worked at York to ease my concerns, before I knew it I was applying for the role.

When I found out I got the job I was ecstatic, everyone had been so fantastic up to this point and even as I was going through the process of getting a VISA, sorting out my flights and even answering the hundreds of questions I had about life in China there was always someone there to help. That’s something that’s truly struck me about how wonderful York English are to work for, the sense of community you feel working here – you genuinely feel part of one huge family! China is an extremely daunting place at first, but as soon as I arrived and I settled I felt at home, and it was the people around me that made it that way.

Now I’m here, I’m part of the big huge York family and I am living the dream as an ESL teacher and I love my job. I don’t know of any other role where you would get to work as a teacher, earn a decent amount of money while still being able to see the world and socialise most nights of the week. In my first 6 months, I’ve been to Shanghai, Beijing, Xiamen, Thailand and Hong Kong.

I don’t quite know what the future holds for me yet; all I know is that I have fallen in love with York. Whether it is the country, the job, the people – everything! I plan on staying here a good while longer, developing as a teacher, seeing the world and hopefully showing people the same support that I experienced when I first arrived.