What’s the cost of living?

While China’s economy and the standard of living is growing at a fast pace, the cost of living remains cheap compared to other countries in East Asia and in the West. Housing prices in Beijing, however, are rapidly reaching parity with their Western counterparts.

Food is cheap, while imported Western products can run for about the same prices as they would back home. Housing in provincial and third-tier cities is significantly cheaper.

How do I get a visa?

After confirming with us that you will come to China, we’ll send you a visa invitation letter. You’ll then take this letter to a Chinese embassy in your home country along with other required documents. We’ll send you a full list of the necessary paperwork once you touch bases with us.

Alternatively, you can use a processing company to go and apply for you. If you’d like a list of reputable processing companies, we’ll be glad to find one for you.

What is the housing like?

Our teachers have single bedrooms with a shared common room, bathroom and kitchen. All accommodation is fully-furnished and comes with Internet access, a Western-style toilet, washing machine, television, AC and the necessary kitchen utensils and appliances.

What is the teaching like?

Great question! Part of our recruitment process includes determining if you will be teaching in a primary or kindergarten position or working with middle school students. After graduating from our proprietary teacher training program, DA teachers will use our methods to offer the best possible foundation for young learners.

In our partner schools, the students are primarily aged between 3-6, with about 15-30 kids in one classroom. No need to get nervous if you haven’t worked with young’uns before: All teachers will be paired with a Chinese teaching assistant alongside the students’ regular teachers.

As a DA teacher, you’ll enrich these young minds by making intro-level English fun and virtually indistinguishable from their ordinary happy time. In other words, the key is for the kiddos to get excited about learning without even knowing that they’re learning! You will do this namely by singing songs, playing flashcard-based games and coordinating other fun classroom activities.

What should I pack?

Everyone has different needs for living abroad. You can get pretty much anything here that you can find in your home country. For some recommendations, please feel free to [ask a current DA teacher] for advice.

What is the training like?

Our professional teacher trainers work with our new teachers after their arrival at the Guilin training center to ensure that they’re prepared to step into the classroom and immediately kick off a lifelong fascination with the English language. DA staff goes over the classroom routine, teaching activities, curriculum, our patented five-step teaching method and facilitates practice classroom simulations to smooth out all of the wrinkles before your first day of class.

Depending on your previous experience with kids, the introductory process and simulations can range from a single half-day session to multiple daylong sessions that last for one working week.

Materials include the Parade Book and Early Bird series audio-visual materials.