The Author, the Philosphy and the Blog

About the Author

I was a computer guy for over twenty years.

Not the guy you ring up and ask for help when it goes wrong, the guy that wrote the software in the first place. Specifically I wrote software for industry and software for the police. As time passed I progressed from programming. I became an analyst and then a systems designer, I was good at it. And I was bored. So I gave it all up, travelled around the world and then became an English teacher.

Now anybody and everybody can be an English teacher overseas. I don't mean that as an insult. It's just a truth. For most countries the qualification to find a job as an English teacher is that you can speak English.  That was my original plan but I like to have bits of paper with my name on so I trained as a teacher - first getting my CELTA, then a Cert. Ed. Then QTS.

I taught in the UK, taught refugees and asylum seekers how to speak English and how to cope with everyday life in the UK

I was happy, I was satisfied.

Except that, in the end, I wasn't.

Oh, I loved the teaching. I loved everything about the teaching from the planning of the lessons right through to the reaction of my students when they passed their exams.

I didn't love the paper work, the bureaucracy, the endless Government initiatives. Most of all I didn't love the year on year reductions in provision, the cuts, the utter lack of respect the powers that be seemed to have for the people doing the job.

So I quit and went to China.

Drastic? Certainly! Worthwhile? Absolutely.

And there I was, teaching middle school in Baiyin, in Gansu - one of only five foreigners in the whole city. 
Now it's ten years later and I'm still in China and still teaching, though in Weinan now. I also used to train new teachers though I no longer do that. It's been a good time. I intend to go on doing it for as long as the Chinese Government allows although that may not be as long as I'd like.

The Philosophy

When I was teaching in England I also had a summer job. I taught kids at a very good summer school. That was great too. One year I started two weeks later than usual and took over a class from another teacher. I asked if I could see her lesson plans so that I wouldn't duplicate any work she had done. She was reluctant but eventually let me see them only to come around a week later and accuse me of stealing her plans and ideas. 

It was silly and petty and above all untrue. It did make me think though. We are constantly told that sharing ideas and experiences is good practice. We are encouraged to share anything of value that we learn about our students or teaching. We are taught not just that reflective practice - thinking about what we have done - is good but that passing on the fruits of that thinking to our colleagues is also good.

Be honest though. Isn't there always that little voice inside? It whispers "I made this. This is mine. Let them make their own. (My precious.)" 

Don't you always feel a little put upon when someone takes your idea for a lesson and uses it for themselves?

You have to learn to let go. That's the basic philosophy behind my attitude to teaching.

You can't steal my lesson plans. It isn't possible. You can't steal something that is given away freely. I love having people come to watch my lessons. I love it even more when they say, "that was great, I'll try it next week."

I routinely send people not only my lesson plans but also all my resources and anything else they want to take.

The Blog

In this blog you will find advice on approaches to teaching in China, advice on how to cope in a city where almost no one speaks your language, advice on how to stay sane when confronted with the need to teach a couple of thousand kids a week.

And you will find Lesson Plans. There's quite a collection of them and it grows every time I teach a new lesson. All my plans eventually turn up here. Take them, change them, use them. Do as you will with them. I hope you find the advice and the lesson plans useful.

Now, on with the blog.