- The beauty of the program is that it is the best service to the students to NOT speak any Chinese to them at all, but to speak English only with them! In fact, the program forbids students to speak Chinese during the entire duration of the session, helping keep the Total Immersion English-only environment. Any effort shown or explained to students regarding your work in learning Chinese can be an encouragement to them and can help in relating with your students. But learning Chinese is by no means required for serving at TIP. In terms of getting around Beijing during your free time, it is a challenge at times to get around or accomplish simple tasks without being able to speak Chinese, but the good news is that it is possible to survive in China only speaking English!

-Summer or Short term (1-3 months): Yes! We encourage families to serve together at TIP. As long as the children have a heart to serve, for the most part, they can have a place alongside their parents or even other adults in the classroom. If they are young children, they are welcome as well, given a few adjustments made. There are options for child care to be arranged. For specific details on what that could look like, please contact us at humanresources@esec.org and we’d love to discuss the possibilities with you.

- Year-long: Yes! We encourage families to serve together at TIP. Life of course is a bit different for families, so we’d love to talk to you more in detail about what that may look like for you. Please contact us at humanresources@esec.org and we can discuss the possibilities with you.

- Summer or Short term (1-3 months): Teaching experience is not required for serving at TIP. At TIP we do not “teach” English, but “facilitate” the English learning process for students. ESEC will give you a short training on how to do this effectively. The amazing key to learning a language is really just putting it into practice! So your most important responsibility as a facilitator at TIP is to get your students speaking, and to help them to have fun while they do it. This can be accomplished by any facilitator who speaks English – no experience or skill necessary.

- Summer or Short term (1-3 months)N/A

- Year-long: Facilitators committed to serving for the year long (11 months) receive a monthly stipend. Upon completion of the year, facilitators receive a reimbursement for their airfare to China. Housing is also provided free of charge, as well as Chinese medical insurance.

- Summer or Short term (1-3 months): You do not need to raise support. There is a suggested donation or fee of $50 USD to cover miscellaneous costs that ESEC makes on your behalf, including things like airport pickup, small site-seeing trips, team meals, etc. Housing is provided on campus free of charge. Facilitators need to cover their own visa costs, airfare, and meals. For these costs, a facilitator may choose to raise support, but it is not required by our organization.

- Year-long: You do not need to raise support. There are no organizational fees or requirements to raise support. All major costs are covered (housing and medical insurance) by ESEC, and the monthly stipend covers the remaining costs for food, personal items, in-city travel, etc. Some facilitators may choose to raise support to help cover additional costs of choice, such as funds for international medical insurance (coverage back at home in the U.S. and also for international hospitals here in Beijing), or for travel to visit students on breaks, etc.

- Summer or Short term (1-3 months): Please contact us for the latest info.

- Year-long: For facilitators serving for the year, or 11 months, we will help you to obtain the Work (Z) Visa, valid for a one year’s stay in China. The requirements for this visa are that you must be a native English speaker, citizen of the U.S., Canada, U.K., or Australia, have a Bachelor’s Degree or higher, and are under 60 years of age. If you do not meet one of these requirements, please let us know and we can discuss possibilities for any alternatives. Once accepted to the program, we’ll instruct you step by step on how to obtain your visa.

- The students participating in TIP are primary, middle, and high school English teachers from different provinces around China. Some have been teaching for many years, and some have recently been assigned to teach English. Most students arrive at TIP with fellow teachers from their local districts, most of which are from the more impoverished provinces in the western areas of China. Guizhou, Shanxi, Yunnan, Gansu, and Qinghai are provinces that are often sending their teachers to TIP. We also serve a handful of more affluent school districts such as the Chaoyang District in Beijing, and Shenyang, Liaoning province. Each session a small percentage of the students may be non-teachers. They may be recent college graduates that desire to study abroad. Or they may be professionals seeking an English qualification to boost their career. Students ages have ranged between 12 and 77 years old, but most are in their 30s. Just as the age range varies, the English level of our students ranges widely. China basic education requires 3-4 years of English study, but many have forgotten it since those years, and have especially not had much practice speaking or listening in English.

- Yes, ESEC will help you in your preparation to come to China, including instructions on how to obtain your visa, packing lists, etc., as well as being available for any questions you may have! ESEC will help obtain any official documents you may need for your visa, and will walk you through how to use a visa agency or how to go into the visa consulate yourself to obtain your Chinese visa.