During my time in China, I taught three classes of between 24 and 40 first and second year university students for six hours a week each. Initially, I remember feeling pretty nervous – I worried endlessly about what I was going to teach, how I'd cope with such a large group, whether I'd fill the time and what sorts of activities my students would enjoy. But these initial concerns disappeared very quickly. As well as being able to apply many of the techniques and skills I'd learnt during my teacher training course, I found the wide range of resources online – some of them more useful than others – and in books, which made excellent sources for generating lesson ideas. The latter were particularly useful, especially for someone with my inexperience.

I was treated exceptionally well by the school and my flat was comfortable, if basic. Access to medical facilities is easy and cheap, and transport plentiful and also cheap. At no stage did I have problems with day-to-day living and working in Guangzhou.