Arnold Vis recounts his experience in Wuhan - teaching for 6 months at a language institute.

Why did you decide to go teach English in China?

When I arrived in China many students and people in general asked me the exact same question. In my case the reason was that I had become interested in China by the stories of some friends from my university. Especially my Chinese flatmate kept telling me about China and life there, and it sounded so very different from the West. He would always say that "even restaurants in China were like apartment buildings, with thousands and thousands of people" and that China's ancient culture could not be compared to the Western culture. I was intrigued by his stories and hoped to find out for myself. After three years of university education it also seemed to be a time for a change, I wanted to experience something besides books and the city I had lived in for years. I had been accepted for a master's program LSE but I had deferred the offer, and China seemed the most interesting place to spend the next six months.

What was the best part of teaching in China?

For me the best part of teaching was the contact with the students. Before departure I did not have a clear idea about the type of students I would teach. As I was 22 myself at the time I assumed it would mostly be teenagers, but in China it turned out to be students of all ages; I taught little kids, teenagers and adolescents in the day time and mature students some evenings.

The contact with the students was very different from what I was used to in the West. I expected a quite formal relationship similar to the one most Western students have with their university professors. But it was nothing like that at my school, as the teachers often had meals with students and students would show us around the city. In many ways it is a natural thing in a place where you do not know many people and most people don't speak much English. The students became more like friends and the relationship with them because very informal.

Getting to know many of the students so well personally was great as I am still in regular touch with some of them, years after I left China. Teaching in China is also a also a unique way to learn about China and Chinese culture from the inside out. Genuine contact with people is often the best way to really find out what a different country and culture is all about.

Do you have any regrets?

I really enjoyed my time in Wuhan and it's an interesting city. However, before departure I had planned to travel around China before or after my time as a teacher. I came from Hong Kong and I loved being there for a few days. I was determined to travel to every big city in China, by myself if I had to! That slightly changed after taking the train from Hong Kong to Wuhan. It was a great trip but being the only westerner on the train and not speaking a word of Mandarin was daunting. I realised it would probably be quite a challenge to travel in China by myself, even being a fairly experienced traveller. I hoped I would be able to travel with some of the colleagues of my school after I finished my teacher job, but it never happened. The other teachers either stayed on or had plans of their own, so I went to Thailand with an old friend from university instead. Although Thailand was great I sometimes regret not having seen more in China when I was there.

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Culinary Memories of Liuzhou, China by Isabel Jones

The image that has stuck of my time in China is of dining on the crowded evening streets. Every evening between February and June, I ate dinner at the street stalls near my apartment in the teacher's block attached to the Number 13 Middle School in Liuzhou (Guangxi province) where I taught English.

At the start I ate boiled dumplings in a bowl; they were meat wrapped in a thin pasta-like covering. Then we moved across the street and I would buy a small heavy iron pot of food. The pots were taken off a small hob and they contained rice, meat, and vegetables; there was always a delicious boiled egg hiding in the stuffed interior.

Then it got warmer as it became spring so the iron pot people disappeared much to my disappointment. Sometimes the street restaurant next to the iron pot people would invite us to eat with them at a central table on the pavement. This would be a big feast of many dishes and beer.

They did not speak English or me Mandarin so we would entertain them by showing them English coins and pictures of the queen.

In the summer when there was sweat running down our legs and everywhere was humid, we ate bowls of piping hot noodle soup. This was a health precaution against untreated water and it made me long for salads. With the wide noodles came shreds of boiled meat and long green boiled salad-like vegetables.

My final nostalgia is for a particular street restaurant in Liuzhou: it is the only place where I actually have adored fried liver.

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Life in Wuhan, China by Tricia Chong

Arriving in Wuhan midnight, first time in China: I Am In China. I was greeted by a fellow teacher and was taken around for a tour of the area. Food stalls were still open, and we ate tasty barbeque. The weather was hot and humid in September, and was a blessing to go home to a spacious, modern, apartment with air conditioning.

Teaching is fun. I am currently teaching students from the age of three all the way to young adults. The kids are eager to learn English and have massive amounts of energy for each lesson. Teaching and conversing with the older students is always interesting -- as I always learn something new about the Chinese culture and lifestyle. Meeting and hanging out with the other foreign teachers is a refreshing break from the Chinese surroundings. I would also truly say that they are people who I will know for life.

When going out to buy food from the locals, I often try to converse with them, or communicate via body language, as many of them do not speak English and have not met someone who comes from outside of China. They are always up for a laugh and are very friendly.

The difference between London, a cosmopolitan city where I’ve lived for 21 years, and Wuhan is huge. It took me a while to adjust to certain habits, and still to this day I’m making many discoveries. After staying here for several months, I am grateful for the smallest things London has to offer. On the contrary I will miss Wuhan greatly when I leave. From the taxi rides to the local fried rice stall.

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Summer in China by Lisa Hyder

China is a fascinating country with so much to offer, making my stay there a real adventure. I went there for two months in 2006 to teach English and ended up having such an exciting time. By teaching I got to meet all those wonderful Chinese children and their families, who gave me a genuine insight in their everyday life and activities – far away from the usual tourist tracks and attractions. Only to see their great eagerness to learn about new cultures as well as to share their own culture made the trip worthwhile. I also had the advantage of travelling around, both in big cities and on the country side, and given China's enormous size in both land and population it was truly rewarding to see so many different parts of the country. I would recommend – or rather strongly advice – anyone to go to China at least once during lifetime.