China Post Descriptions

Since availability of posts varies from year to year depending on the applicant pool and the number of volunteers staying for a second year, applicants should be aware that they may not be posted at their first choice. At the same time, VIA takes great care to match volunteers' qualifications, preferences, and interests with program needs.

For applications, go to How to Apply. For further information, please contact VIA's China Program Director, Anjali Mutucumarana, at china@viaprograms.org or visit VIA's FAQ page.

VIA has been working with USTB since the early 1980s. The school is a national key university famous for its research on metallurgy and material science. It has been awarded 153 prizes of various kinds since 1998, including the National Invention Prize and the National Prize for Advancement in Science & Technology. The University has roughly 20,000 students and offers 39 undergraduate programs, 65 masters programs and 26 doctoral programs. 

Beijing Huiling is a community center for special needs adults aimed at improving their quality of life, teaching them the skills for independent living, and educating the public about people with mental and physical disabilities. Huiling members also receive training in printing, arts and crafts, cooking, and playing musical instruments--both for the pleasure of these activities and as a means of supporting the center.

Role: English Teaching & English Resource - The VIA volunteer teaches 10 hours per week, with each class lasting two hours. The volunteer teaches mostly oral English classes for undergraduates, but one or two content-based courses for graduate students might also be included. VIA volunteers are also active members of the school community outside of the classroom. Previous volunteers have facilitated English corners, hosted Christmas parties and guided student community service project activities. In addition, the volunteer will spend six hours per week at Huiling. The exact nature of the work depends on the volunteer’s strengths and abilities, as well as the particular needs of Huiling at the time. Past volunteers have helped to identify potential donors and facilitate networking opportunities with these organizations.

Housing: The VIA volunteer is provided with a one-bedroom apartment in a campus building for foreign teachers and PhD candidates. The apartment contains a substantial collection of fiction, nonfiction, and teaching materials that have been donated over the years by VIA teachers.
Place: As the political and cultural center of China, Beijing is big, bustling, international, and always stimulating. It contains more famous attractions than any other city in China and is also a center for nonprofit organizations working in China. There are more than ten universities within a five-mile radius of USTB and a large foreign student population. 

Role: English Teaching- The VIA volunteer, the only foreign teacher at theschool, teaches two or three oral English classes and usually one writing course (business or creative). The English levels of the students range considerably and class size is usually less than twenty students. In addition, VIA volunteers in the past have guest taught various night classes. Outside of the classroom, past volunteers have spent quite a bit of time with the students and served as informal role models and friends. For example, volunteers have traditionally hosted weekly pasta nights and movie nights for their students.

The volunteer also has opportunities to help the school with translation of school brochures as well as articles to post on the school web page. The school also welcomes the volunteer's assistance in coordinating communication with local and international businesses and organizations that might be interested in helping students with job opportunitiies/training, internships, and educational activities related to culture, language and disability.

Housing: The volunteer lives in a one-bedroom apartment on campus. The apartment is next to student and teacher dorms, enabling volunteers to integrate into the small tight-knit community.
Place: This is a great place for a volunteer who has experience and/or interest in working with disabled students. Also, being located in Guangzhou, heritage seekers have the opportunity to improve their Cantonese language skills. The school, located just south of the Pearl River, is situated in a charming, older neighborhood, off a maze of smaller alleys. The neighborhood is friendly, quiet and peaceful.

Role: English Teaching - The VIA volunteer teaches 17 oral English classes per week, all of which are 40 minutes in length. Most students have low intermediate to intermediate English language skills and classes typically average 35 students. Past volunteers have spent quite a bit of time with both teachers and students outside of the classroom, participating in activities such as banquet dinners with teachers and hikes at nearby mountains with students.
Housing: The two-story apartment provided by the school is in a faculty-residential complex next to the campus and has a large living/dining room, two bedrooms, one bathroom, and a small kitchen.
Place: Guyuan was an important city on the silk routes and enjoyed its golden age during the Tang and Northern Song dynasties. Its old city wall can still be seen on the edge of the school grounds and was nearly intact until the Cultural Revolution. Over half of Guyuan’s population of 100,000 are Hui, one of the Chinese Moslem minorities, and the student body is made up of a combination of primarily Han and Hui students from a variety of economic backgrounds.  Today, Guyuan is in an agricultural area with an income level that is fairly low. Due to the dearth of foreigners in the area, this post provides volunteers with a unique opportunity to immerse themselves in a local and diverse Chinese community.

Role: English Teaching/English Resource - This post requires the volunteer to have high-intermediate Chinese language ability. The volunteer will work in the Social Welfare Division of Amity three afternoons a week doing primarily Chinese to English translating and editing. The office environment is friendly and dynamic and provides the volunteer with an excellent opportunity to contribute to, and learn about, a well established and well run Chinese NGO. The volunteer will also teach approximately ten 45-minute classes per week at Hohai University.

Housing: The VIA volunteer’s apartment is located on the campus of Hohai University in a building with other foreign teachers. It is a fairly large apartment with a bedroom, living room, kitchen, bathroom, and internet access and is equipped with air-conditioning and heating.

Place: Nanjing is a major Chinese metropolis, but its tree-lined streets and centralized neighborhoods make it more pleasant and manageable to get around than either Beijing or nearby Shanghai. The VIA volunteer’s apartment is located minutes from markets and shops. There are many restaurants, both foreign and Chinese, within a short walking distance.

Housing: The volunteer lives in a dormitory room for teachers on campus.
Place: Currently the college has two equally large campuses that are several miles from downtown Nanjing. Both campuses are near metro stations and the Nanjing system is a convenient and fast way of getting around the city. Nanjing itself is a bustling modern city with tree-lined streets and a number of public parks. It is a cultural center with three well-known museums and a number of colleges and universities, including Nanjing University, one of China's key schools.

Qinghai Normal is a key provincial university offering a liberal arts education and training for future and in-service teachers. It has 2,500 students who come from all parts of China.

Shem is a women’s group founded in 2004 by VIA volunteer Michelle Kleisath and several of her students in a small-scale development course she taught as a VIA volunteer in Xining. Shem’s aim is to empower Tibetan women and their communities through grassroots development.

ETP is designed exclusively for Tibetan students from all over the Tibetan plateau. ETP students are the very best from high schools, middle schools, and teacher training schools throughout the vast area of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. All students are on full scholarship and most have never studied English when they enter ETP. In addition to their coursework, students work on cultural preservation and small scale development projects aimed at improving the lives of rural Tibetans.