The Team

I was born in January, 1949 on the eve of the Chinese Spring Festival, in Hastings, England. It is a small seaside fishing town and holiday resort on the south coast of England.

Brought up with my sister in a small village 80km south-east of London, my mother looked after our home, and my father was a primary school teacher. Life in the countryside provided rich and varied experiences, which have influenced me to this day.

In Bexhill-on-sea, a neighbouring seaside resort, I was educated at a Technical and Grammar school, I moved to Newton Park College, Bath and Bristol University from 1968 - 1972, where I graduated with a Bachelor of Education and Teaching Diploma, with distinction. I also obtained qualifications in Secondary School Management and a Diploma in Special Education, amongst other things.

My early career was concentrated in the West of England, mostly in Comprehensive education, (the equivalent of middle school education in China). However, I also taught adult students at The City of Bath Technical College, which is now part of Bath University.

Between 1974 - 1978, I was an examiner for the South West Examinations Board. At the same time, I was asked to set up and present courses for a nation-wide Adult Literacy Programme, in co-operation with the Government and BBC, as there were, and probably still are, a significant number of adults in England & Wales who were unable to read and write properly.

Throughout my career, I have worked on a number of projects for radio and television, both in the UK and China. My one outstanding ambition is to produce a VCD in China to help young people with English, that they may achieve their future dreams.

The purpose of this website, is to help and encourage Chinese students and Chinese Teachers of English (CTE's) cope with the problems of learning to speak or teach natural English.

The information it contains has been selected by an experienced team of people, and relates to the difficulties students and CTE's face, dealing with English as a second language. There are also other related topics which, I hope, will be of general interest. I hope that you find it useful and enjoy browsing it's pages.

Your comments and suggestions are welcome through the help-line contact address; e-mail: en Answers will appear on the website . Your confidentiality is assured. Nothing which identifies you as an individual will be published. E-mail: enjoyingenglishinfo@yahoo.com

The Game of Life is a great and rewarding experience, through good times and bad. So, who knows what lies ahead? For me, working with students and teachers in China is... 'Always a pleasure...never a chore!'

Name: Wang Bo.

Managing Director: Enjoying English Group;
Executive Director: Enjoying English (China)

Wang Bo: b.1983 Henan Province, graduated from a college in Shijiazhuang with qualifications in Business, Economics and Trade (2007) and Industry (2009). He is a Director of Enjoying English Limited and the Red Dragon International Partnership.

Don't be fooled by his apparent youthfulness; like his predecessors, he is multi-talented, extremely hard-working and a visionary. His primary responsibility is the management of the Enjoying English Group. In March, 2009 he gained teaching qualifications in China.

I am immensely proud that we have been able to work together with the development of our projects, and with the 2008 Olympic Volunteers Programme in preparation for the Beijing 2008 Olympics and Paralympics.

We have moved our business in China to Guangzhou, where he manages our activities, to be able to pursue our various interests, and work for the benefit of college and university students. It is...

'Always a pleasure...never a chore!'

We are immensely fortunate to have a Team of highly experienced professional people who can contribute their expertise to help young people. Our proposed expansion will, I hope, encourage input from writers and correspondents around the world, further broadening their own and others experiences.

Zhang Chenggang has been my closest friend and confident since my arrival in 2000. When we first met, he ran The League for middle school students in a school in Shijiazhuang. His leadership skills and organisational qualities are outstanding.

My confidence and trust in his decision making , were such that our friendship developed and he soon became 'My Manager', advising on things that I should and shouldn't do.

Attached to the Provincial Education Department, he achieved an MBA in Young Leadr's Management at Kobei University, Japan in 2007, one of only two successful applicants throughout China. A remarkable achievement!

Position 2004 - 2006. Manager. 2006 onwards: Consultant for Education Management

After suffering under me as a student in 2002/3, upon graduation, he took over as my manager. Like Zhang Chenggang, his command of English is excellent.

He worked as an assistant teacher with me at a vocational college in Shijiazhuang, and provided valuable advice concerning work related topics, relevant to students. This was largely due to the fact that his relationship with students was different from mine due to his age, and the fact that they would tell him things which they wouldn't talk about with me.

He is now Assistant Centre Manager for 'EF', (English First) - an internationally based English Language School, in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province.

Yang Lei is a computer wizard who helped me with the early computer stuff, about which I am almost totally clueless.

We first met when I was exploring the city, during my first days of arriving in Shijiazhuang. I ws near the Museum, searching for the Foreign Language Bookstore (now part of the Xinhua Bookstore Group). I had become dis-orientated, couldn't remember how to get to the store, or, for that matter, where my school was located. A deep, soft voice behind me said, 'Can I help you?'

I explained my situation; he took me to the bookstore and directed me home. That one simple sentence, has lead to a long-lasting friendship.

Another close family friendship, with whom I have worked over the past few years. Liang Lijun spent most of his early career in the textile business, where his wife still works as a leading designer of fashion apparel.

We have long discussions about anything and everything; and I am very proud to be 'grandpa' to their son who is 7 years old on December 19th, 2009.

Jamie attended my first Summer School at the Hebei Teachers Normal University in 2001. Can anyone tell me what an 'abnormal' university is about? We struck up a friendship, primarily based on the fact that he wanted to change his excellent middle American accent, to a British accent, like mine. I have shared many memorable moments with his family and their friends ever since.

Jamie has varied interests ranging from computer science to teaching. For several years he has taught young primary school children; a prospect which, frankly, terrifies me. Now an Director of an English Language School in Shijiazhuang, and teaches adults at a private school in the city.

Simon, from Handan, about 200km due south of Shijiazhuang, is an excellent junior school teacher who designs the most incredible lessons using a mixture of inter-active learning with computerised audio-visual programmes. They're stunning! He married in April,2008.

He doesn't know this yet, but I hope that he will join me at sometime in the future and produce a programme on the website suitable for 'Enjoying English with Juniors'.

Jim is one of the most colourful characters I have ever met. Always smiling and laughing, he is a highly skilled young Architect, working for a French Company in Shanghai.

We first met on a hot summer's evening in Handan. 'Sorry to trouble, can you help me?' He explained that he was going to become the greatest architect in the world; surpassing the likes of Sir Christopher Wrenn (UK), Corbusier (France) and Zhang Keiji (China), but he needed to learn to speak English.

Mostly self-taught, he has done extra-ordinarily well. His latest project was to design the frontage for a major new Costco Store ¨C they are second only to the US giant, Wall Mart.

Name: Du Zheng & Cheng Jing

Position: Translators.

My friends moved into the apartment next to mine in Bristol, south-west England more than 10 years ago. I knew from the moment we first met that we were destined to be close friends.

It was they that persuaded me away from moving into semi-retirement in France, and come to China instead. It was a decision that changed my life forever, and one I have rarely regretted.

Dave is aged 70 and lives in Seattle, Washington State, US. We met by chance in the Museum of the Revolution, Beijing, on a miserable wet morning, ain 2004, and have exchanged news and ideas regularly ever since.

Like me, he retired at 50, after spending much of his early career in senior management and sales for a number of US based Corporations.

On retirement, he set up his own businesses. For the past 13 years, he has been President of Interlake China Tours; www.interlakechinatours.com , and regularly lectures on Tourism & Travel Services at universities and businesses in China and the US. Next year will see his 50th visit to China since 1994.

'Our baby!' - as the youngest member of The Team. Another of my former students from 2002 - 3, through contact and frequent use, his English competency is very high, earning him a job at 'EF' as a Course Consultant, a position he never dreamed (dreampt) he could achieve.

He still has a holding of several 'mu' of pears in an orchard close to his family home in a village near Zhao Zhou Bridge - reputedly, 'the oldest bridge in the world', 40km south-east of Shijiazhuang. I suspect that it has been almost completely re-built, as most of it seems to be in bits in the local museum. It's well worth a visit all the same.

Carrey's confidence and skill level is increasing rapidly. He's good to have around, as he is always cheerful and contributes some well thought out ideas.

He has travelled extensively with David Guyer throughout China, and across the Qinghai Plateau to Tibet. During the summer of 2005, he and Zhao Wen Gang established a summer school in the countryside to the east of Shijiazhuang. In the summer of 2007, he spent a month in Vietnam, enjoying French cuisine and admiring 'pretty girls'.

He delights in the discovery of new English swear words, which launch him into peals of laughter, reducing him almost to tears. He's lucky. 'Rude Word English' will be a forth-coming addition to the 'Living English' section of this website.

David Guyer - As a fellow Englishman, about my age, I have often jokingly said that he is the only other intelligent person I know. Of course that isn't completely true, but he is certainly innovative, engaging, imaginative and has a better in depth knowledge of the English language than myself.

With a background in agriculture, and running his own TV production company, he later qualified with EFL at Cambridge and taught at the flagship Cambridge Business School. He now works in the public sector of education in Beijing.

Tom Bland...Texas Tom from Texas, USA - that's an excellent example of 'idiot English' and 'tautology' - the practice of repeating things twice. Also known as 'Christmas Father' by his students, he is a former friend and colleague in Handan, an excellent teacher, always good humoured, and with a professional ethos which is parallel to my own. He regularly uses card tricks in his lessons, making his presentations a truely magical experience. He has the dubious honour of being, 'my other foreign friend in China'.

It has come to my notice that he is possibly engaged in 'moon-lighting' with a number of part-time jobs, although this is an accusation he strenuously denies.

A gentle, generous man in the original, true sense of the words - look them up - as we would say at home, 'Tom's a bloody good bloke !'

Hao Jie - a young and talented teacher from Shijiazhuang Teacher's University specialising in Geography and Environmental Studies. I discovered his capabilities during the summer of 2007, when he was my assistant on a summer course at Shijiazhuang University of Radio & Television.

A rare talent, exceptionally gifted and contributing enormously to an enjoyable teaching experience. We replaced student's traditional 'English Corner' with 'Ping-Pong Corner', providing the opportunity to work with students in a relaxed, informal atmosphere, which was beneficial to everyone.

I met Peter at EF International summer school in Hastings, England in July 2008. When he heard about the enjoying English project, he suggested linking to our site with his archive of English exercises, created over some fifteen years working with individuals and groups from total beginners to university access course students.

Peter is also the creator of Rainring (1995), which he believes to be the first divination system based on a complete cosmology since the development of the I Ching in

China

in around 2500BC.

He has a BA in Linguistics from Cambridge University and a Diploma in Journalism. Mo is a very welcome addition to The Enjoying English Group, adding unusual and varied qualities and experience to The Team and our International activities.

Roy Kropp & Doug Pyke

Position: Trustees of Enjoying English Charitable Operations

Roy and Doug are highly skilled and respected craftsmen in the village where I grew up. I have been friends with Roy since childhood; more than 55 years. I am privileged that they have agreed to act as Trustees for the Company.

A Trustees job is to ensure that finances allocated to Charitable projects are used appropriately, prudently, lawfully and in accordance with its objectives. I am sure that the Trusteeship is in very capable hands, and that they will decisively rein in on my ‘flights of fantasy’.