Ahhh.. High school, the awkward moments and the abundance of raging hormones. I honestly thought my share of it was over, but here I am in China teaching 16 to 18-year olds English.

Right after middle school in China, students are required to go through a high school exam to gain placement into better high schools. When you thought that was it, some schools are harder than others as they have a ranking system based on students’ yearly achievement. Thank the heavens I wasn’t born in China. (⁎❛ᴗ❛⁎)

The school I’m teaching at is Tian Chang Public High School, the top high school in my district. The school only enrolls 1,000 students each year with an additional 100 with an English International programme attached. These students are then divided into 22 classes of strictly 50 students which, also is ranked with Class 1 being the top students. Did I mention that 50 students in a class is considered okay-ish? Some schools even exceed 70 students per class! ヽ(。_°)ノ

High school is a three-year program here in motherland China, so there’s a total of 3,300 students where about 500-700 students live in the dorms and some reaaaally lucky ones are renting apartments nearby by their parents.

Bonus fun fact. You think high school was torturous? Chinese kids have to go to school from Mondays to Saturdays from as early as 7am and they finish formal school time at 10pm. Hell, they even have to come back to SCHOOL ON SUNDAYS at 6pm for self-study session until 10pm. Sorry, and you were saying? ☞(ﾟヮﾟ)☜

Welp, there you have it guys; a TESL expat’s guide to education and way of life in China. With so many students year-in year-out, these poor souls are grinding teeth and nail just trying to get into a decent high school hoping for a better life. Leave a question or comment about your thoughts below.

I’ll be talking about awkward moments in China for my next post, so don’t forget to follow me and stay tuned! Thanks for reading!

Pictures: All them pics are from yours truly 📸