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Retired TEFL graduates Mary Perry, 69 and Ted Garner, 74 have published a book about their year of teaching English in eastern China. The book, Adonis & Bignose in China: Teaching, Travels and Tea, recounts Mary and her partner Ted’s experience of leaving South Africa behind in 2004 to embark on a TEFL adventure.
Both Mary, who is from Durban, South Africa and Ted, who’s originally from Derby, England, completed a combined TEFL course with i-to-i to prepare them for teaching abroad. Mary, who already had over fifteen years’ experience as a teacher, said: “The TEFL certificate was very important in landing jobs and the Chinese set great store by the qualification. It gave us confidence in teaching in a foreign language and also gave many ideas which we could later use.”
After posting their CVs on the internet the couple received a number of replies and, despite originally wanting to teach in Greece, decided on a college in the small city of Gaoyou, around three hours drive from Nanjing in eastern China. After settling into their flat on the college’s campus, they quickly became local celebrities:
While their students, who were training to be English teachers themselves, were shy to begin with, they soon opened up. Mary explained: “The students were wonderful, very concerned about our welfare – were we lonely? Did we miss our families? Could I cook Chinese food etc.”
Their experience of teaching was not without its challenges though. The couple were tasked with teaching 16-10 year olds conversational English, but discovered that with over 40 pupils per class they had to use every trick in the book to succeed: “We used bananas as telephones, a pair of rolled up socks as a microphone and had quizzes, songs and games,” Mary said.
“Despite all the challenges we loved our stay, explored the town at every opportunity and travelled extensively, only getting spectacularly lost once!” she continued.
“We went to Beijing, walked on the Great Wall, visited the Terracotta Warriors, went to Suzhou, Hangzhou, Putuoshan Island and joined a Chinese tour group to climb the Huangshan Mountain and watch the sunrise at Bright Top Peak. And we loved the Chinese and made wonderful friends.”
While the couple didn’t set out to write a book about their experiences in China, they were spurred on by friends and family. Mary explained: “We wrote a diary every night which we emailed to friends and family all over the world. About halfway through our stay people started telling us we should try to publish it so we turned it into a book.”
The resulting book, Adonis & Bignose in China: Teaching, Travels and Tea, is a bit of everything, mixing their experiences of everyday life in China with teaching tips and accounts of their travels. Mary said: “I think that if we could have read a book such as this before we went off to teach in foreign parts it would have helped us immeasurably in knowing what to expect.”
Asked about the book’s unusual title, Mary explained: “The female students kept coming to tell me they thought Ted was so good-looking, had such wonderful blue eyes and lovely hair, so I christened him Adonis. I waited in vain for the boys to tell Ted how incredibly beautiful I was; instead one young boy asked me why my nose was so big! Hence Adonis and Bignose.”
Asked if they had any advice for aspiring EFL teachers, Mary said: “Embrace the culture and customers, eat like the Chinese (it is so cheap and tasty), take lots to read and enjoy the differences.”
Copies of the book, priced at $18 or R170, are available from http://www.adonisandbignose.com/
Those who want to follow in their footsteps and teach English in China should check out i-to-i’s Teach English in China internships. They enable budding EFL teachers to get TEFL qualified, rack up 300 hours of teaching experience over 4.5 months in China AND get paid £1,300* ($2,124). There are just 19 spaces left on internships starting in February 2010 and those who book before 30th September can get 10% off, meaning this amazing experience now costs just £895.50 ($1,355.75). Visit http://www.onlinetefl.com/
*Currency conversion accurate at time of publication. Final bonuses and living allowances depend on nature of the work, the location required to work, and provided participants meet the minimum experience, training and qualifications as set out in the internship description.
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