| Vaughan
Jones
I suppose I’ve been
involved in TEFL in one way or another for all of my working
life. I stumbled into it early on in Grenoble, France where I
had gone straight after university to seek glory on the rugby
field. Sadly, in the early eighties, rugby was still very much
an amateur sport so I needed a job to pay for the beer. Through
various rugby contacts I got a teaching post at the local
Chambre de Commerce and spent two very stimulating years
relearning my native tongue through the eyes of my French
students.
Attracted by the idea of ‘TEFLing’
round the world but worried that I still didn’t know much
about teaching, I decided to hang up my rugby boots, do the
4-week preparatory certificate at International House,
Piccadilly and try and find a job outside Europe. After a very
bizarre year teaching for a door-to-door sales company in
Yamagata, deepest Japan, I returned to International House and
spent three fabulous years in Northern Spain: one in IH Bilbao
and two in IH San Sebastian.
In 1987 I got married to my Spanish
girlfriend, completed my Diploma in TEFLA, moved to Madrid and
thought, "Now what?!" I was just about to take up a
post with the British Council in Kyoto when an opportunity to
join Macmillan Madrid as a Sales Rep/Teacher Trainer
presented itself. I jumped at the chance and spent the next
couple of years careering round Spain in my Fiat Uno, talking to
teachers, giving workshops and trying to explain to my
publishing colleagues what sort of materials I thought were
really needed in the classroom.
Macmillan was expanding fast and in
1990 I swapped the Fiat Uno for a Tokyo train pass and spent
four very exciting years establishing Macmillan in Japan and
setting up marketing operations in other parts of Asia. After
twelve years abroad, and with a baby recently arrived, my wife
and I decided it was time to move closer to home. So we returned
to Macmillan HQ in Oxford and I took up a regional role
travelling throughout Europe, talking to teachers, giving
workshops and trying to explain to my publishing colleagues what
… etc. etc. It suddenly dawned on me that instead of trying to
explain what sort of materials were needed I should try and
write some myself. To the mild consternation of my wife and
three children, I gave up a perfectly good job, returned to the
chalk face as a teacher and trainer at the Lake School in Oxford
and have spent the last few years co-teaching and co-writing
Inside Out with Sue. It’s been incredibly hard work but great
fun. I can only hope that you have as much enjoyment teaching
with Inside Out as we have had writing it.
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