This is another in our continuing series of self-profiles from TEFL International graduates.  We let them speak in their own unedited words.  And by the way, any other TEFL International graduates who would like to write to us with their ESL experiences will be entered in a drawing to win a $50.00 gift certificate from Amazon.com, to be held on Monday, March 1.

 

First let’s hear from Faye Girsh:

 

—I am a 76 year old woman, a retired psychologist, who is a travel nut.

 

Where are you from & where are you going?

 

—I have been living in San Diego since 1978 having fled from the Chicago winters though I have lived in Atlanta, Boston, Japan and London and was born in Philadelphia. Though I love my life here I have the wanderlust. Would love to live in another part of the world and am working on it.

 

Why did you take a TEFL International course?

 

– Though I love to travel I thought it would be more worthwhile if I could do something when I am in a country, like teach English. I did teach in China and in Japan but didn’t know what I was doing. Now I know but haven’t taught since then.

 

What has happened to you since taking the TEFL International course?

 

–I have continued to travel extensively though it was just travel and not actually living somewhere. I think I am a little afraid to teach English now that I know that I have to do lesson plans and teach grammar.

 

When did you decide to take the TEFL International course?

 

— I had been thinking about learning ESL for a long time, maybe doing it in the US. Then I decided to take the course in Turkey but there weren’t any, fortunately, so I chose Alexandria — which was wonderful. After six weeks in Egypt I spent three wonderful months exploring the middle east.

 

What are you doing right now while writing to us?

 

About to go to a lecture on ancient ruins and the Amazon women. Also planning trips — hopefully to Africa and/or Central Asia. Later in the year to India (again) and Papua New Guinea. Also going through my pictures from my December trip to the Philippines and Hong Kong.

 

And now we introduce Mr. John Evans:

 

My name is John Evans. For many years I had worked in the banking and finance industry in the UK. I was bored and wanted to see some more of the world. I had no ties in the UK so started to look for some work in areas of the world that I believed would be interesting. I had previously traveled extensively in Europe, Africa and America so was naturally curious about the fareast and in particular China a country that has only really opened up in the past 20 years.

 

After looking at various things on the Internet I came across TEFL Int. “Zhuhai Project”. Although I had no previous teaching experience I had worked in the training division of a major bank and thought that teaching English could be both a good and fun way to help pay for what I intended to be a long stay in the far east.

 

I traveled to the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai not knowing what to expect. China for those who have not been there is different! We all know that it has a population of 1.3billion but until you actually see this it is impossible to imagine what this means.

 

Even though China is crowded, noisy and lets be honest not very clean, particularly by European standards I loved it from the start, the people are in general incredibly friendly and curious and you do not have to travel very far to come to towns where many people have never even seen a Western person, I remember once literally stopping the traffic in one town as people got out of their cars to see the strange man. Disconcerting? Well a little but as I said they are all so friendly it was more just plain weird being treated like you are some kind of “rock star”.

 

Having completed my course in Zhuhai in September 2008 I then had to find a job - not a problem in China as there is always an overwhelming need for native English speakers, in fact the problem was the amount of choice and where to go. Luckily for me I had met an Australian on the TEFL course who had been in China nearly 3 years and recommended I try the city of Hangzhou which is about 1 hours drive south of Shanghai.

 

It fitted the bill I wanted to be in a city with a few ex pats but not one like Shanghai where it is possible and indeed likely to fall into a life where the only people you associate with are ex pats (what is the point of being in a foreign country). In my first year I worked at a private language school. Typical in China - owned by a large Chinese company with many other business interests - very badly run - well meaning but incompetent staff.

 

Let me say the children were great in general - Chinese children still have a respect for adults that no longer exists in the West so discipline in the classroom is relatively easy which believe me for me as an inexperienced teacher was a major plus. I left the school after my contact ended and to be honest was happy to do so even though I liked the children I taught and many of the staff (I am still very friendly with a couple of them) the management was so bad as to be unbelievable and I found myself getting into more and more arguments and becoming more and more frustrated with them.

 

My experience unfortunately is far from unique in China. Many companies have senior managers in their middle ages with no management experience and the staff are poorly led. The most frustrating thing from my point of view being their refusal to listen to advice even when given with the best intentions. I am not going to pretend I am any sort of Donald Trump but I do have experience of management but even the most simple of suggestions were politely ignored. ( It would mean a loss of face to accept a suggestion from a foreigner).

 

 

As I write this I am working for another private school in Hangzhou however this one is Monday - Friday 9-5:30. ( most private schools are evenings and weekends) and because of good connections we have contracts to teach at ordinary High Schools so 2 days a week I travel out to a large school in the country and teach at a very good school (It is said to be one of the top in the Provence). The remains of the week I teach students aged 18- @23 who are going abroad to study and are taking IELTS or TOEFL exams. The management of this school is also occasionally a little frustrating but is so much better than the previous school.

 

I am pretty settled in Hangzhou which is definitely one of the better cities in China and I am looking forward to exploring some more of this fascinating country. - Thanks TEFL International for giving me the start.

Â