THE HOLIDAY SCHEDULE
During the placement applications will receive plenty of holidays to travel, relax, and purse other hobbies.
THE INCLUDED HOLIDAYS
MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL
AROUND 1 WEEK
The Mid-Autumn festival is the second largest holiday in China. It always falls during the first week of October (1st to 7th). The festival gives applicants their first good opportunity to travel to other popular destinations within China.
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During this time many shops provide highly discounted goods providing a good time for applicants to go shopping to buy goods for the upcoming year. The climate around this time is mild to warm in most areas of China (15-30c).
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We also recommend that applicants try the traditional moon cakes (as shown in the picture). Moon cakes are a staple part of the mid-autumn festival celebration for Chinese people. The roundness of the cake symbolises the full moon.
CHINESE NEW YEAR
3 TO 6 WEEKS
The biggest holiday in China is the Chinese New Year. During this time hundreds of millions of people flock back from the most populated cities to the countryside to celebrate the holiday with family members. Chinese New Year lasts around 1 week in China and can be compared to Christmas for Western countries.
Our applicants will receive a longer holiday than the official one with between 3 and 6 weeks (average 4 weeks) being given to applicants to travel. Applicants may use this time to travel to neighbouring countries or travel back to the UK to re-unite with family for the holiday.
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The majority of applicants will use this time to explore South East Asia (Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Philippines....) where the climate is hot and dry. Beaches and holiday destinations are plentiful, and the cost of travelling in these areas is relatively cheap compared to the salary that each teacher can save from working in China.
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For those applicants that like the cold climate neighbouring Japan and Korea provide inexpensive getaways with sightseeing, skiing, and other winter sports available.
DRAGON BOAT FESTIVAL
3 TO 5 DAYS
The Dragon Boat Festival is around a 3-day holiday that falls in June of each year. For some years (depending on the date) this holiday is combined with the weekend to make it a longer 5 day festival.
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Just like the Mid-Autumn Festival applicants may use this time to explore cities that are further away than a simple weekend getaway. This is also a good time to get involved with more traditional Chinese cultural celebrations, watch a dragon boat race, and eat some yummy gongzi.
OTHER HOLIDAYS & WEEKENDS
The working schedules at the schools is that of a typical western school meaning that applicants will usually have weekends free. This gives applicants the freedom to explore their placement location and neighbouring cities. As China has an extensive high-speed rail network (largest in the world!) applicants are able to travel further than ever for short weekend getaways.
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For those applicants living in the biggest cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, and Foshan there are hundreds of activities that you can do on the weekends. It's important to remember just how big cities in China are! Each of these cities have between 8 and 26 million people living in them.
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In addition to the holidays mentioned above there may be other times throughout the year where applicants receive an extended weekend either due to a public holiday, event in China, or just that the school is having a school trip for the week and doesn't need the applicant to attend classes.
POST PROGRAMME
From June/July applicants may decide to extend their placement for another year, ask to find a new placement within China, or decide to leave China altogether. Which ever option an applicant chooses at this point they will have some time post programme to explore China until their visa expires or their new school begins (usually September).
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So this would be a good time to visit any destinations either in China or neighbouring countries i.e. Japan, Korea...... that applicants have wanted to visit but haven't had the opportunity to do so.
VIDEO ABOUT CHINA
Check out the video below to see the amazing experiences that China has to offer.
A big thank you to Koen Frison for letting us post this. You can check his youtube channel out by clicking here.