Teaching English in Shanghai: 4 Things I Learned About Myself Abroad

Living and teaching abroad can change the way you see yourself in a very short space of time. This personal story shares four important lessons learned from moving to Shanghai and starting a new life in China.

From building confidence and independence to appreciating a new culture, this reflection gives a real glimpse into how teaching English in Shanghai can shape you in unexpected ways.

Living and teaching abroad can change the way you see yourself in a very short space of time. This personal story shares four important lessons learned from moving to Shanghai and starting a new life in China.

From building confidence and independence to appreciating a new culture, this reflection gives a real glimpse into how teaching English in Shanghai can shape you in unexpected ways.

Hello, fellow travel enthusiasts. My name is Sophie, and I’m a 21-year-old English gal from a beautiful seaside town called Plymouth. I’ve recently made the best decision of my life, packed the contents of my life into a four-wheeled suitcase and moved to the other side of the world. I'm now lucky enough to call Shanghai, China my home! I tried super hard to think of just three things I've learnt about myself living and working abroad but as cliché as it may sound, I've evolved into a whole new independent blonde girl. I had to do four (I could have easily done a lot more !!) as they are all equally important things I've learnt.

1. Inner-Strength

Before moving abroad I had an extensive network of family and friends. They were always super supportive during hard times, and even now they are there for me even if it is just over a technological device. There are hard times and a lot of challenges when it comes to living in a foreign country, but this means my inner-strength skills have definitely been developed.

I knew I had become a stronger person through overcoming challenges and not feeling anxious about simple things like ordering food and using the public transport systems, but it was only when I was speaking to family back at home when they mentioned how mature I now sound as well as seeming more confident and settled within myself. Learning about my inner-strength has meant at times where homesickness has hit me hard or when I’m feeling low or sad, I know I have a sufficient amount of energy and stamina so that I am able to overcome challenges that would deplete me of this energy and inner strength. I still have enough left in me to act and continue being strong: this is even more important for teaching. I need to be high energy and confident in order for the class to go well and for the students to learn.

2. Independence

I went from living comfortably in my parent's house, with my mum still cooking and making my lunches to moving to the other side of the world living with strangers, not all of which spoke any English. This did wonders for my independence, I felt successful when I was able to do simple things like buying toilet roll to finding all of the ingredients to be able to make myself some dinner. Being away from the comforts that I grew up with, away from family and friends taught me how to enjoy my own company, to appreciate my relaxing time and how to rely on myself, as I never want to let myself down! Although I have made a lot of friends from all over the world there are still points where I am by myself, which is only natural. Apart from my work schedule I have the freedom of my own calendar, which is invigorating, I can have friends over to my apartment and do the dishes whenever I want- It will be hard to ever go back to living with my family and having to go with the status quo.

3. Confidence

With independence came a new found confidence, I would never dream of starting a conversation with someone on public transport unless they approached me first and even then it wouldn’t last long. When living in a foreign country I discovered I’m not as shy as I originally thought, in the right circumstances I can talk to anyone. Living in a country where English is limited means for me I’ll speak to anyone who can speak English, I once spoke to a girl on the metro as she was reading an English book, we exchanged WeChat’s (Chinese social media and instant messaging app) and have become good friends. China revolves around wechat, you could start talking to someone in the club, share a bottle of Baijiu from the local family mart (imagine jet fuel, poison and death made into a 50%+ bottle of liquor and that is Baijiu) and five minutes later you have exchanged wechat names and have planned to go for dinner the next day (This is exactly what happened to me!). It is super easy to make friends in Shanghai and once you become friends, you have friends for life which help life in a foreign country become a lot easier and more entertaining.

4. Working and Appreciating New Cultures

Living in a community really gives you a sense of culture, the majority of individuals only experience their own communities that they grow up in within the countries they were born. Meeting new and exciting people and living and working in a different country gives you a whole new insight into that culture, something that you only get a small sense of when travelling. Talking with locals and other tourists allows stories, experiences and different perspectives to be shared. Moving to and working in a new country has allowed for myself to do the stereotypical tourist things that Shanghai has to offer for example seeing the Bund at night, walking around YuYuan Gardens, appreciating the beauty of Jing‘an Temple and seeing Shanghai from a whole new view at the top of Shanghai Tower. Whilst being able to do other typical Chinese things that no amount of Googling would have allowed me to find out about unless I happened to come across them or learnt about them from the locals.

Appreciating and respecting a culture doesn’t mean you have to completely like or agree with it, every country has its positives and negatives. But to fully appreciate a new culture means you have to do things that scare you. The first big challenge is fitting your life into a suitcase and moving to the foreign and new country but this will soon feel natural. I have learnt a lot from appreciating the new culture to the extent where I now feel at home. I have learnt to not shy away from things that scare me; this has helped to influence the adventures I’m having living and working abroad. I try to eat local foods as much as possible, I now see western foods like pizza as a treat and have found myself to socialize with a combination of locals and individuals from all over the world. I watch local TV (with English subtitles) and don’t shy away from obstacles that scared me at the beginning of my move.

Making friends with people from the country you are living in has been one of the best things to happen to me. They have opened my eyes to parts of the city that I didn’t know existed nor found on Google. They taught me so many lessons regarding Chinese culture, life and to do with long-distance friendships and have honestly become some of my greatest friends. We are able to have a laugh and joke about different sayings and accents and it is super helpful to have a fluent Mandarin speaker to help translation and teaching me the language!

Conclusion

To conclude, there have been many things I have learnt from living and working in a foreign country but in my personal opinion these are the most important and apparent four. I am so thankful I made the move although it was the scariest thing I’ve ever done. It really pushed me out of my comfort zone. I now see Shanghai as my home and travelling back to the UK as a vacation. What was only meant to be a gap year in between education is looking more and more likely to be a few years of living and working (Sorry Mum and Dad!!). Over and out.

Sophie Digby 

Sophie is currently a teacher of English in Shanghai, China. To see the TEFL Heaven program Sophie chose to start her adventure, see the Teach English in China Program.

Teaching English in Shanghai can build independence, confidence, and a much deeper appreciation for life in a completely different culture.

This reflection shows how living and working in China can push you far beyond your comfort zone and help you discover strengths you did not know you had.