Like father like son?

Most of you probably don’t know, but my father started his career teaching English. I recall this vividly as I was (and still would be) corrected if I said something like “me and Mike”. My father would say “Mike and who”. To which I would reply “yeah, yeah, Mike and I”. Baring this in mind I promised myself at a young age I would never be an English teacher. As it turns out that was one promise I was destine to break.

As a brilliant idea (mostly attributed to my wife) I decided to learn Chinese through the aid of a teacher instead of through a book or CD. Crazy idea right? So long story short, I found a Chinese teacher who would teach me for free if I volunteered to teach English for free. Having free time and wanting some work experience in a foreign country I agreed.

So starting in October (yes, yes… I have been procrastinating this blog entry) through December I have been attending Chinese class in exchange from teaching English. In defense of my childhood promise I am not teaching grammar, just the very basics.

My teacher is Sabrina Liu. Note the non-scary English name followed by the scary Chinese one. Many Chinese people have English first names they use around English speaking people. But, don’t kid yourself there real name is not English. My fellow student is Martina who was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, but lived 9 of the last 10 years in Memphis. My English students are Mào Huī Huī and Lín Hăi Píng. For my convienence, and their convienence, I gave then English names – Mike and Sean. They work at the lujia bang road fabric markets. These markets make everything from business suits to Chinese dresses tailored to you.

My Chinese teacher says that I am a great English teacher and wishes I didn’t have to leave for Japan so soon. So in return….Thank you Dad for all of your English lessons!