My time as a foreign editor at the English Coaching Paper (ECP)①

　　编者按:Nathan Hall于今年六月从英国来到英语辅导报社,担任外籍编审,这是他第一次来中国。 本版从本期开始连载Nathan Hall的文章,把他的简历以及在我报社工作的情况介绍给广大读者,您在了解Nathan Hall的同时,也可欣赏到原汁原味的英语。

　　I was working in a state school as an English teacher in the United Kingdom and held the level of a literacy co-ordinator, a language expert. This meant that I was responsible for teaching both English Literature (poems, plays and prose writing) and English Language (mechanics of speech and writing) to students aged between 11 and 18. I taught at a mixed school and had girls and boys in my classes. The sizes of my classes were much smaller than in Chinese schools with a maximum of thirty students in any class.

　　I was not enjoying the school at which I was working: the children were not respectful, they had little desire to learn and they chose to misbehave. This, I must point out, is not the case in all UK schools, nor the case in many schools where I have taught. At this particular school, however, it most certainly was the case and I decided that I did not wish to stay there any longer.

　　When I studied for my university degree, I was fortunate to have made some very good friends. One of my friends had always loved travelling and was very well qualified at language studies (linguistics). He wrote to me through E-mail and told me that he had found himself a wonderful job in a beautiful part of China. We exchanged letters and I realised that I missed the company of my friend very much. I came to an important decision to leave my job as a teacher and take a holiday to see my friend.

　　(文/Nathan Hall；英语辅导报高三版2003-2004学年第8期；版权归英语辅导报社所有，独家网络合作伙伴新浪教育，未经许可，不得以任何形式进行转载。)