Photos of the Author

My first month in China, taken at Tiananmen Square.

My first job in China as an EFL teacher for Delter International Business Institute in Beijing. It's a bit blurry, which could be interpreted as symbolic since I wasn't clear on what I was supposed to be doing in the classroom. Also it's the only teacher-esque photo I have of myself in Beijing.

My first Spring Festival (a.k.a. Chinese New Year), lunch at the Uncle's house in Hefei, Anhui Province. This photo was probably taken around the 5th glass of baijiu; I'm quite impressed that I still had the presence of mind to hold up the photo of his niece he wanted me to meet.

Same Spring Festival lunch, Uncle and I. This was taken after the 11th glass of baijiu. Needless to say, I have no recollection of posing for this photo or of anything else that took place thereafter. Did I mention that this was lunch, and this ritual was repeated for lunch and dinner, everyday, for the whole week? Just the smell of baijiu still makes me ill, but then again it does the same for just about anyone who's not Chinese.

My second Spring Festival. This photo was taken at that same Uncle's house. This time, however, having a foreigner at the table was commonplace and didn't require so much commemoration with baijiu, much to my relief. This Spring Festival felt much the same as a Thanksgiving dinner to me.

My second job in Shanghai. I worked as a trainer/consultant for a Taiwanese kindergarten-EFL-resources-developer and training company (say that 3 times fast) called Melody (双美). This job involved a lot of business trips to cities around China to conduct seminars, such as this one in the city of Xiangfan, Hubei Province, for audiences averaging at least 100 kindergarten teachers and up to 500 teachers.

A Melody seminar in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. These seminars were largely conducted in Chinese as most kindergarten teachers can't speak English despite it being part of the curriculum for their classes. My goal was always to make sure they knew basic classroom vocabulary, could use it properly in their classrooms, and wouldn't make any horrible pronunciation errors while doing so. I think more than most teaching jobs, these seminars required me to be an entertainer at least as much as an educator.

For just over a year I was the Director of Studies for the Shane English School in Dongying, Shandong Province. I got this job because of my experience as a teacher in China and because my employer needed a liaison between the Chinese staff and the foreign teachers. Our teachers couldn't speak Chinese and only a few members of the staff could speak limited English. I also recruited, trained, and managed new teachers. Later I was given responsibility for scheduling and otherwise managing Chinese teaching assistants and administrative staff as well.

A demo lesson of the Shane teaching style and curriculum for prospective students and parents at our school. Another important duty of mine was drumming up business for the school. This meant doing as many demo lessons as possible for students, parents, and principals. It also meant dropping the name of my school in every supermarket and elevator conversation ... and plugging the school on my website.

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