First steps...

Having spoken to one of the agencies that place English teachers in China it soon became apparent that I wouldn't be able to blag a position on the basis of my PhD. Whilst it is possible to get work simply having a British degree in China, I was told that most of the time this is done illegally on tourist visas or at poor quality schools.

What is needed to get a bona fide work permit to teach English in China is a 120 hour TEFL certificate. (Teaching English as a Foreign Language). So last night I registered and paid to do such a course with an online company called i to i (they are here)

Of course it wasn't until after hours after registering for the course that I realised that I, myself, was crap at English! And that is despite having a decent degree and a PhD - thank god for Word and computers.

A little bit of background here.

I went to a secondary modern for boys school in the late 1960's. It was called Walliscote Secondary Modern Schools for boys and it was in Weston Super Mare. In the 1960's in Secondary Modern Schools I don't think grammar was taught. At least I cannot remember being taught it and in fact I know very little about English grammar. Secondary Modern schools were there to churn out workers. Fodder for the factories. And yes, I entered a factory at 15 as an apprentice.

So I have little conception about what a verb, noun, adjective is. No idea what a 'past participle' is and have only just found out that there is something called a 'gerund' (or 'A traditional grammatical term for a verbal that ends in -ing and functions as a noun.) (I'm still confused)

So even though I'm a bit scared of the English and of being a student of English grammar but its still exciting. I have 90 days to do the courses, before I suppose in a quasi mission impossible way the internet course self destructs.

I am on day 89!