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TEACHER TESTIMONIALS
WHAT PEOPLE HAVE TO SAY ABOUT
JOURNEYEAST
"Travel is Fatal to prejudice,
bigotry, narrow-mindedness, all foes to real understanding. Likewise
tolerance.. and charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by
vegetating in our little corner of the Earth." -Mark Twain
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I want to
take this moment to thank Keith Curran
and Journey East for a great year in
China.
I had no idea what to expect when I came
here. But having a support team like
Journey East really made me feel safe
and gave me people that I could rely on
for issues that needed to be handled.
Nothing is flawless. You have to take
the good with the bad and remember, this
is China.
Some people that have come to China to
teach just don't get the fact that this
is not America. Things seem similar in
some ways, but are very different in
other ways.
Sometimes you just have to go with the
flow and remember, this is part of the
experience that is China.
Put your best foot forward and make the
best of bad situations.
Don't cry about every little thing that
doesn't make you happy.
For example, "The classes are to big" or
"The kids won't listen".
Hey, kids are kids!
We have great apartments (for China) and
people that are willing to help us if we
need.
We make 3 times as much as a Chinese
teacher and work 16 to 20 hours a week
while they are at school from 7am till
9pm.Believe me, in my year in China, I
have had my share of things that
happened, that really pissed me off.
But I didn't make a big deal of them (or
even mention them on
my blog). I let the crap slide
right off my back and didn't look back.
With a smile on my face, I should add.
Come to China. Have an experience that
will last you a lifetime. But come with
the right frame of mind. You'll be
meeting people that have never seen a
foreigner before...from anywhere!
Have a little understanding about their
feelings.
Be polite, your an ambassador for
wherever you come from.
You don't want them telling people,"Oh,
I met a girl from Oregon, America and
she was the rudest person I have ever
met in my life". Gives Oregon a
bad name, let alone America!
So come to China, if your lucky you'll
get a chance to teach with journeyeast !
-2007,
James Phillips
read my blog
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My final
days in China were amazing. I am not going to lie, with
about four days left I was very ready to come home. I had
gotten pretty frustrated with being forced to teach book I
thought was stupid and at times questioned whether I was
doing any good at all. Every doubt, every reservation,
every negative feeling I had was completely erased on our
last day. I was excited to be done and after finishing
classes went to grab my luggage and make my way to our
waiting bus. I was not prepared at all for what waited. A
sea of children greeted me, including most of mine. All the
other teachers were already there saying there goodbyes and
loading their luggage. I was treated to shouts of
"Don't go!" and bouts of hysterical crying from several of
my children. It was without a doubt the hardest goodbye I
have ever had to give. I will never forget the looks on the
kids' faces as we pulled away and I would do anything to
relive the moment. Every problem or difficulty I had
encountered was completely vindicated in that moment. To be
able to have had such an impact on a number of children's
lives at a mere twenty years old is an incredible feeling
that I hope many others are able to share. I am completely
satisfied and will recommend this experience, and this
program in particular, to everyone I know.
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My
brother and I taught in china through journeyeast.org for a year
and grew to love very much. China is an amazing country,
everyone who has the opportunity should not hesitate to see and
experience it for themselves. Journeyeast.org were
accommodating in everyway possible. They understand in depth,
the Chinese culture, and if problems happen to arise they are
very able in settling them while keeping in mind both the
Chinese and foreign party, managing to make both happy. If you
want to experience China whether through teaching or touring,
journeyeast.org is the best way!
-2006, Joseph Wilkinson
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"Everyone in china was extremely
nice. It was a nice break from the fast paced American
lifestyle. I made a lot of great friends who I will never forget
and learned a lot about myself. The students were extremely
intelligent and knew more about American culture than I did.
Between the frustration with different cultural barriers, I
learned to be thankful for what I have." -2001,
Melissa Rocheleau, USA
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I am at a private high school just
outside of Nanjing, a four-hour train ride west of Shanghai, in
the province of Jiangsu. On my first day of classes, I remember
being a little hesitant as I nervously climbed the flight of
stairs to my initial encounter. I didn’t know what to expect or
how they would react to me, or, to my teaching philosophies. I
could feel their eyes focused squarely on me as I spoke
painfully slow about the merits of English. When I paused, I saw
a hand shoot up! “Teacher!” The boy shouted, he looked like he
was ready to explode, “Tell us more about you and Canada”. After
my first day I felt I had made an impression. Whenever I walked
around the compound I would receive “Hello” from all directions.
I answered them by yelling back, waving and showing a big
friendly smile. My teaching philosophy: Entertain. Intrigue.
Inspire.
Email Me
-2002, Blair Lesage, TORONTO
CANADA |
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Before I arrived in China as an
English teacher, coming to China was only one of those dreams my
best friends and I would always talk about, but never
follow-through on. Needless to say, my family was initially
concerned and worried about me living so far from home, in a
communist country in which I do not speak the language. What
I've noticed is that the citizens of my town have had minimal
exposure with the Western world. The locals have been incredibly
hospitable and take it almost as a personal obligation to take
care of and share their culture with their Western friends. To
their perplexity, and my humor, I am short, with curly brown
hair, brown eyes, rarely drink, I'm a pure vegetarian (vegan), I
have been very privileged to work with incredible colleagues and
have wonderful adult students that have been more than happy to
share their culture, language, and way of life with me. If I
had the opportunity to go back in time, knowing what I do now, I
wouldn't change a single aspect (except maybe taking a course in
Chinese prior to arriving in China.)
-2003, Luis Aponte, USA |
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Our organization has cooperated with
JourneyEast.org for about four years and we are very happy about this
collaboration.
BESI has an ideal operating system; a
standard way of cooperating with a sense of responsibility towards its
customers on a consistent basis.
We developed a good impression about
the organization even before our cooperation. In our particular situation,
we needed a foreign teacher urgently during the two months prior to the
beginning of our school term when we signed a contract with JourneyEast. It
was this organization that solved our significant problem for free, which of
course we appreciated very much. More importantly, JourneyEast has always
paid close attention to their customers to make sure they receive the
suitable teachers.
When our first teacher arrived, they
noticed that she was not advantageous enough for the school and therefore
decided to replace her with a better one. Then they provided us several good
teachers immediately without interruption before our new teacher came.
That’s really wonderful. In addition,
JourneyEast also cares about the development of its customer. They always
help us cultivate good ideas about new programs and enhancing the reputation
of our school.
Now, we are not only good operators
but also have a great relationship with the president of this organization.
We should say that we are really lucky to find such a good organization and
hope to have a long-term cooperation.
- August 30, 2002, Jenny Xu
By Jason McGarry
www.McGarryPipes.com
My name is Jason McGarry. I am a military veteran, and
currently a PhD student in an educational program at the University of
Connecticut. I have been to many different countries and have taught in
both elementary and high school settings.
When I signed up to join the China teaching program with
JourneyEast (BESI LLC), I never thought that all of my travel and teaching
experiences would be forever changed. I was not just an English teacher,
but a student.
Living in China taught
me how the Chinese people live within their social, economic, and political
structure. Myself, and other English speaking teachers, learned how the
Chinese culture shapes the true character of its citizens. This character,
no matter where we went, involved both a kind and inquisitive nature. As we
learned how to eat, speak, and live as the Chinese people do, we were able
to teach English and our culture.
Teaching English not
only involves speaking, reading, or writing English. Every language
revolves around a societies’ culture. As an American English teacher I had
to teach both my culture and my language. I would sometimes have to teach
not only with words. I found that I would have to visually show an English
word or action by performing an action or using the blackboard. This was
challenging because not only was there a language barrier, but a cultural
barrier.
Never in all of my
previous travels or teaching experiences had I experienced such challenge.
This is because myself, and the other teachers I was with, were relatively
the first foreigners that the city or the school had ever seen.
After returning to the
United States I found that I better understood the Chinese people and the
culture. My impression of China is forever changed.
Living in a country is
the best way to learn about a country and the people. But there is a closer
connection that a person receives through teaching. As a teacher, a teacher
is also the student. I would recommend a JourneyEast (BESI LLC) program not
only people who love to teach, but also, who wish to learn.
-September 10, 2002
Because of the risk of
spammers and due to new policies regarding the privacy of our customers
and teacher delegates; we cannot publish emails for you to contact
individuals directly. |
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