Jan. 13  Among the top moments of my November trip to China was a meeting with members of Global Volunteers at their hotel-headquarters in the city of Xian. This is the group that brings its socially-conscious do-gooders to places that have specially invited them, usually to work on projects (like digging wells, building rudimentary schoolhouses) that are charitable in nature and almost always in poor, underdeveloped nations. What were those volunteers doing in prosperous, self-assured China, I thought? For what volunteer activity were they invited?

In Day Four of our special series on Volunteer Vacations, we'll show you opportunities to get to know other cultures - as a teacher. We'll focus on a group that's been helping children around the world.

TO SPEAK ENGLISH, it turned out. To talk about anything and everything with Chinese students studying English. Although most Chinese schools have excellent English departments, with teachers well versed in written English and its grammar, they do less well at spoken English, the Chinese candidly admit. Global Volunteers, whose main office is in Minneapolis/St. Paul, has a standing invitation to send as many Americans as they can round up to speak English to Chinese students ranging from children in elementary schools to high school teenagers to university undergraduates. They presently plan to send out 15 teams in 2003, or more than one a month.

One Chinese teacher of English, who attended my informal meeting, told me that he and his colleagues advocated making English the official second language of China! One Chinese teacher of English, who attended my informal meeting, told me that he and his colleagues advocated making English the official second language of China! By the year 2040, he hoped, China would be one of the largest English-speaking countries on earth, the better to communicate with other nations. Radio and television programs teach it to the public at large.

At the time of my visit, more than two dozen volunteers for a three-week stint-Americans of all ages, both singles and couples' were living in a pleasant, three-star hotel in the center of Xian, to which cars were sent each morning by various schools located in and about this city of seven million people. So grateful were they to receive the volunteers that the schools eagerly accepted the expense of chauffeuring them back and forth to their duties.

All the Americans were quite obviously having the time of their lives. Not one of the volunteers with whom I spoke had a college degree in education or even any formal training in teaching English. Though each one of them read and followed a textbook supplied to them by Global Volunteers, and discussed it with their fellow volunteers, they were all essentially performing a common sense function that consisted of simple conversation, dialogue and story-telling. Global Volunteers has been operating the program for several years and the Chinese, including educational officials who attended my meeting, are apparently more than satisfied with the results-and eager to continue receiving volunteers.

Volunteers have breakfast and (usually) dinner at their hotel, and take lunch at the school to which they are assigned. But periodically, a special dinner is arranged for the entire group at a Xian restaurant, and such special events are also supplemented by frequent sightseeing excursions (including one to see the excavated Army of the Terra Cotta Warriors, the touristic highlight of the Xian area). Everyone lives in a double occupancy room (meaning there is no single room supplement charged to singles) and the entire setting is one of shared endeavors and pleasant conviviality. Volunteers work five days during the week, have the weekend for free time, and teach four hours per work day - no more and no less. The ones to whom I spoke, residents of states from New Jersey to California, were all so enthusiastic about the experience than many of them were already planning to sign up for an early return.

Because the volunteer experience involves three weeks of all-inclusive arrangements at a good quality Chinese hotel, and considerable administrative supervision, a fee of $2,395 per person is charged for the three-week stay, independent of airfare. But because that payment is regarded as a contribution to a non-profit organization (and it surely is), most participants deduct the amount from income on their federal and state income tax returns (consult your accountant), thus reducing the expense by a significant amount.

To learn more about teaching English in China, contact Global Volunteers at 800/487-1074 or log on to http://www.globalvolunteers.org/. Reprinted with permission from Newsweek Budget Travel, Inc Copyright © 2008 Newsweek Budget Travel, Inc. Arthur Frommer is Editor in Chief of Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel Magazine