Elina K.

As a babysitter I had to play with toys/dolls, entertain, show cartoons. As an online English tutor I do grammar/listening/reading/writing exercises with kids, play online English games, watch English movies/cartoons/series, etc. I also worked as an online Chinese tutor for complete beginners. My students learned phonetics, basic writing and HSK1 vocabulary.

Hello, host family! I would really like to participate in this program, as it opens up many opportunities for improving the Chinese language and communication skills, gaining completely new experiences, growing up, meeting new people and, of course, cultural exchange.

I would be very happy to go to China and see this wonderful, beautiful country live. I have been interested in Asian culture for a long time, but it always seemed to me that I would never be able to visit Asia due to various difficulties. However, this program seems ideal for a student like me who would like to study, work and travel.

I have been abroad several times: once in Prague and 3 times in England. I think I should tell you more about England. I was there for a week when I was 14 y.o. and a month when I was 15 y.o. It was an unforgettable experience. I lived in Salisbury, where the Babylon International School was located. I studied there in groups for students with a high level of English. We were given various creative tasks (for example, to write a story), and at the end of the course we had to conduct interviews with passers-by on the street and make a presentation based on their answers. In addition, during our studies we traveled to various places near Salisbury: Bath, London, Oxford, Stonehenge. I lived in several host families (but I didn't have to take care of the children). I got along well with the host families, and I have only good memories from interacting with them.

So, now it's worth telling you more about the experience of working with children. As a child, I looked after my cousin, who is 3 years younger than me. I taught her how to ride a bike and swim. I also helped my mom's friends play with the kids and entertain them when they were very young. In addition, since joining the university, I have been continuously teaching English online to children and adults of different ages. I like the teaching profession, as it allows me to constantly improve, learn something new, and apply various innovations and techniques. The teachers have a large and friendly community that helps each other and conducts various trainings. I plan to continue developing in this field, improving my skills by taking various courses, such as Celta, TKT, etc.

It is worth mentioning the languages I speak. I've been learning English since I was five years old. I studied at an advanced English language school and passed the Unified State Exam in English with 93 out of 100 points, which is quite high in my country. And now I'm graduating from a prestigious state university with a degree in linguistics (specifically, I studied pedagogy and translation). In addition to English, I chose to study Chinese at the university, and that became the defining choice in my life and forever connected me with Asia. In addition, I studied Japanese for 2 years with a private tutor. I also studied German for 6 years at school. All these numbers do not mean that I have a high level of knowledge in these languages, because English is my top-priority, and I am still spending the most time and effort on it in order to achieve a decent level.

Therefore, I believe that the au pair program is ideal for improving both teaching skills and proficiency in English and Chinese.

Thank you for reading this and hope to hear from you soon!