The cat thief of Gaizhou teaching (and learning) in China /|

New Zealand author.

Having always been what he calls, a wannabe teacher, Rob
Harris saw his opportunity in late 2003. At the time,
Robs New Zealand employer was going through a death spiral
towards receivership. One morning, he saw a small
newspaper ad with the intriguing title: Teach English
Overseas. A short course later and a chance online meeting
with a teacher, who had just returned from China, meant
that in February 2004, Rob was winging his way to Dalian
in the North East of the Peoples Republic of China. Now
10 years later, he has been able to put his experiences
and insights on paper. Coincidentally, it was a book by
another New Zealand teacher Jane Carswell that inspired
Rob to write. I picked up Janes Under the Huang Jiao Tree
and literally devoured it in one day Rob says. On every
single page of Janes book, I gave out a yelp of
recognition, of a student, fellow teacher or situation, I
had experienced Rob has completed two sojourns in China,
and is planning a third. His first in Dalian, in the old
Manchuria, close to the border with North Korea, was
followed by another in Qingdao, site of the 2008 Olympic
sailing regatta. The most memorable part of Robs China
experience, was six weeks he spent in Gaizhou over the
Northern summer of 2004. Living in the home of a Chinese
couple who ran a language school, Rob experienced
something of life in China away from the big city. At the
end of the holiday period, Rob wrote a play for the
students to perform for their parents. The play was
entitled The Cat Thief of Gaizhou, which is also the title
of this book. Note: The commonly-encountered syllable
zhou is pronounced Joe and simply means place.