Aihua

Hello my name is  James. I am 27 years old and I am from British Columbia, which is on the west coast of Canada. I grew up in a small city of about 10,000 people near the Rocky Mountains called Nelson.  After graduating from high school I traversed  back and forth across the country to go to Carleton University which is in the nation’s capital city, Ottawa.  I received a  Bachelor of Arts Honours degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice with a concentration in Psychology in 2006 and then took additional courses at the Justice Institute of British Columbia in adult probation officer training. I enjoy traveling to Mexico as much as possible and have usually been able to find myself there for at least one or two weeks a year for the last 15 years. I enjoy flying four line sport kites, playing video games, going out for dinner, and staying current on all of the newest movies and TV shows.  A secret goal of mine for before I’m 30 is to save enough money that I can go on a 1 week adventure tourism trip to Mexico to swim with great white sharks(with me “safely” inside a shark cage of course) .

Working at Aihua has been a great experience so far. I would recommend it to anyone who is willing to come with the right attitude.  To fit in here you must be a hard-working and self-motivated individual who is coming for the work experience not the travel experience. To put it as plainly as possible, work will take up a large portion of your time and you shouldn’t come thinking you will have lots of free time during the terms. The staff at Aihua put in a great deal of time and effort to deliver a product that is worth the price of admission to the clients.

Everyone at work is fantastic and will always be willing to help you sort out any of your daily life needs. At the campus where I work at the majority of work happens on Saturday, and Sunday, and then there are classes during the week which the hours will vary for each teacher.

To speak to what your lifestyle will be like in Beijing, it should be great. Depending on your needs, you can live on a shoestring budget and save your kuai, or you can live like a rock star. It’s up to you and there are teachers here living each of those lifestyles.

There are lots of shopping markets and malls everywhere and your salary out in Shijingshan will go a long way. Dinner per person at most of the local restaurants is typically less than 25 kuai each. The school itself is situated very close to a subway station which will take you right into the heart of downtown.  This is a temptation that you must watch out for though if you are trying to save your money as downtown Beijing prices are easily 5x that of what you would pay for the same things out in the local area.

All in all, I knew within 2 months that Aihua was going to be a longer term choice for me than just the 1 year contract that I signed up for. How long will I stay you might ask? I don’t know, I stopped thinking about it.

Living in Beijing:
While I have only been here for 8 months I can confidently say that there is a definitely a multicultural feeling to the city. In addition to this there are always local people who are kind and willing to lend a hand. As for entertainment there is a great deal of shows and museums to keep one busy when they are not working. Of course to every city there are positives and negatives; some examples are the overcrowded buses, subways and general pedestrian walk ways. However this can be solved by bringing or purchasing a bike at any of the local shops, I have only recently purchased a bike and I feel that it was an extremely worth wild expense. I am in better shape and I am able to explore the city with greater ease.

Work and life at Aihua:
In my opinion working at Aihua can be a very rewarding experience as long as you make sure to properly prepare and consider each of your classes. The staff I work with are all very capable people who work hard and support me in and out of the classroom. With regards to the life here at Aihua I would say it boils down to what you make of it. The people here are friendly, good hearted and experienced, they try to include all staff foreign and Chinese alike. If a person would like to make friends there are plenty of opportunities to create long lasting friendships; as long as you work hard and are an open-minded person there is no reason not to love the work and the life that Aihua English Academy provides.

What is Aihua:
In my opinion Aihua is the ultimate attempt to bring quality English teaching to as many people in the most efficient and creative way possible. The school has been around long enough to know how to teach English and how do it the right way. There is no doubt that the Management has a singular goal to educate and promote learning to young people regardless of personal capability. With the three campuses all working the school has been able to reach out and help hundreds of children be introduced and enjoy learning English. There is a philosophy here which says that no student should leave Aihua without having an affection for English regardless of what level they leave with. I believe this to be an important part of the Aihua and I strongly believe in this cause.

Life and Work at Aihua:

My ESL teaching career started at Aihua, and I have since taught in many other schools in a few other countries and in the U.S. I’ve been teaching for five years; and I think it says a lot that after 4 years I have returned to China to teach here at Aihua again. The school has grown from its humble roots as a community English school here in Shijingshan to one that spans two full city districts. What is so refreshing is that even despite the growth the school directors, staff, and head teachers continue to be an active part of each branch. There are weekly meetings and training sessions, which illuminate new teaching strategies and allow us teachers the time and space to express concerns and pool ideas to better the quality of our classes. From my experience, training is golden. If you’re at a school that gives you good training, you’re at a place that is investing in you as not only a teacher, but as a professional. Whether your long term goal is to be a teacher or not, you will leave the school with a new sack of professional skills. In Asia, too many ESL schools forgo training for lack of a real teaching mission. Instead, such schools only see green, and don’t really care whether their students truly learn and experience a new language.

Aihua is a straight-shooter. That is to say: they pay on time, the foreign teachers’ assistants are immensely handy, they help you find great apartments, they make the million hassles of getting a Chinese work visa seem relatively less of a hassle. They’ve always been there to answer and assist. In the end it’s up to the individual to use best his/her resource. I think a good rule of thumb for your life and work at Aihua is “seek and you shall find,” but know that they will never undermine your trust, bottom line.

Hannah Pierce-Carlson

ESL instructor