The working hours in your host family are limited to 18 hours per week. Of course, this may vary over the duration of your stay. There may be more busy weeks and weeks, where you will have more leisure time. Therefore you should be flexible.
Your internship will take place full time, which means at least 35 hours per week.
As you can imagine, internship plus aupair will be an intense time. Be ready for this! If you are, it will be worth it! You will gain unique insights into Chinese culture!
Usually, our Aupairs primarily take care of the host families children. This may include playing as well as teaching them English or helping them with their homework. Besides you will do some light housework, like preparing meals, cleaning etc. During the family interview, you will have the opportunity to talk with your host family about what you expect and about what they expect. During your stay, you will be a member of the family and live with them rather than being regarded as a worker!
We would recommend so. In most banks, you can withdraw money with a foreign credit card.
Another possibility is to open a Chinese bank account, which is easy and cheap.
Usually this is true. In China it is common to pay the rent for 6 months or the length of your stay plus a deposit in advance. Therefore, you should make sure you have enough cash when moving to the flat. Check your bank accounts’ withdraw limit! If necessary, you can bring cash in your local currency and exchange it in China.
One thing in advance: We do not charge any fees for mediating internships. However, this does not mean, your stay in China is completely free. When planning your trip, you should take the following costs into consideration:
- Flights from your home country to China bidirectional
- Visa costs
- Rent for your accommodation (if not attending Demi Aupair programme)
- Living expenses (a good overview can be found here)
- Fees for Chinese classes (click here for more information)
- where applicable: travel expenses
- Airport-pickup: If you wish to make use of this service, we will charge 300 RMB (8am to 8pm)/500 RMB (8pm to 8am). For Demi Aupairs, this service is for free!
The exact amount of the total expenses, of course, depends on many factors. Depending on your needs, you can spend a lot in China, but just as well you can find fantastic meals for 10 RMB. Besides, the season of your stay will influence the accommodation costs and costs for your flights.
We can give you more details information during our application interview!
Internships in Chinese companies are different to internships in “Western” companies.
Every internship is not only a professional, but also a cultural experience. You will get to know the Chinese way of doing business, which is probably completely different from the way you are used to. As an intern in a Chinese company, you will work more independently and you are supposed to do it “your way”. During your internship, try to engage yourself to this Chinese way of doing – this will ensure a valuable business-cultural experience. And one warm tip, which can be useful in not only your working environment: Remind yourself that you are in China – things are different here!
That depends on your particular situation!
Whether you should apply for the M Visa or the X Visa depends on several elements. Due to frequent changes in the visa regulations, we should talk about your particular situation. As soon as we have all information we need, we will tell you which type of visa to apply for.
You can expect nothing less than a unique possibility to have a very rich cultural exchange and to experience the real daily life of a modern Chinese family, as well as a great opportunity to improve your Chinese. Chinese people express their (guest) friendship through the preparation of special foods, eating together and sharing meals. Your host-family will be very happy to offer you a huge variety of traditional Chinese food, teach you how to eat with chopsticks and you can in reverse make them happy by trying most of the food and let them know, what you especially liked to eat. Besides it is considered very polite not to waste food. That means it would be great, if you can make sure that your rice bowl only contains as much as you can eat. Please be aware of breakfast and dinner times of your family and let them know whether you will be home or you will eat outside. It will be seen as very respectful. Sharing meals is most important in China, so please make sure you don’t miss too many family meals. The usage of water to wash laundry and to shower is seen as precious and it will express a lot of understanding to consciously use water. If you keep in mind that Chinese people often live very healthy and go to bed a little bit earlier, it will be definitely very beneficial for your relationship. Chinese culture has always been a gift-culture. If you prepare a little present, maybe something unique from your home-country, you will surely make them very happy.
Yes! We can guarantee this. All our host-families are selected with the greatest care. During the very strict recruiting process we obtain copies of the ID of every family member as well as the criminal record certificate of every adult family member. In fact, you couldn’t be safer anywhere else. Asian parents care about their children and of course host-children with greatest caution. We of course also make sure your host-families homes are up to standard with your own room being clean, WIFI being available and meals being prepared on time.
Application for a Chinese visa can be done via two ways.
1. You visit the Chinese Visa Application Serivce Center online, select your country and city, follow their step-by-step guide and have your passport with your visa sent back to you by post (Attention: Very expensive! Check their fees.)
or
2. Assign an agency in your country to carry out the application process on your behalf and send your passport back to you.
We have teamed up with TAICO-Visumcenter from Germany. You will receive a 20% discount on their service fees if you apply for one of our programmes. This way is strangely enough A LOT cheaper than applying at the Chinese Visa Application Cebter itself. Visit TAICO for more information on the visa application process.
Please contact us and we will call you back for a personal consultation about our student exchange programmes.
Binding registration for groups is only possible after personal consultation. We come to your school or university and will hold a small presentation about the Summer School programme and answer all your questions personally. Interested individuals who would like to join one of the many customized trips, please contact us and we will see what we can do.
The minimum age for participating in any of our programmes is 18. Participants under the age of 18 need the written permission of their parents. There is no maximum age for any of our programmes.
Demi Aupairs should be between 20 and 26.
Certainly! From a group size of 10 participants we will fully customize your programme according to your wishes. We would love to take the challenge and surprise you with a programme matching any major like Business Studies, History or Chinese. You will be amazed of what is actually possible and how unique and valuable our destinations in China can be. You determine start-date, duration and extras. Our multilingual staff will accompany your group at any day of the programme.
The quickest and easiest way to apply for the internship programme is via our online application form. This way we have all your information and documents in one place and can ensure speedy placement. If you have trouble with the form please send your application to hello@sinacon.cn. Attached we need your CV with a recent picture of you as well as a motivation letter. Please don’t forget to mention your desired start/finish date as well as your way of accommodation and your industry of interest.