Melbourne's most specialised Arts and Education copywriter and SEO analyst
The times they are a-changin'...
2020 hasn't been a good year for many of us, and the global situation has led many people to make a change in careers. For the last fifteen years, I've been teaching English as an Additional Language (EAL) all over China and Melbourne, and writing, editing, publishing, and being involved in almost all forms of art and their businesses for nearly thirty. Therefore, I've now combined these experiences (and loves) by providing copywriting and SEO services to these two industries - the arts and EAL - because I know them inside out.
I hold Masters in TESOL (Teaching English as a Second or Other Language), a Bachelor of Arts in Arts Business, a Grad Cert in English Literature, a Grad Dip in Editing, a CELTA certificate, and various SEO certificates. Check out some of my academic qualifications here.
Very importantly, in 2006, I had an opportunity to teach English in Wuhan, central China. I intended to stay for one year, but I stayed in China (moving to Nanjing in 2009), for eight and a half. My diaries of these years became my debut book, “Chicken Same Duck Talk” (available here - keep scrolling to read more).
For the past thirty odd years, I've had my writing published in dozens of street press, magazines, anthologies, journals and websites. I combine that innate sense of how to make a piece of writing work, with all the knowledge of English that a Masters in TESOL, and fifteen year’s experience teaching English, brings.
Keep scrolling to read more about my book, or click here for more info on my writing services, or here for my editing services.
.jpg)
"Chicken Same Duck Talk - Diary of an Australian Teacher in China" (鸡同鸭讲 - 澳洲老师的日记), the memoir of an expat in Wuhan and Nanjing
The book has a long history.
Thinking of teaching in China?
I wasn’t either!
Regardless, not only did life take me there, but also my expected one-year teaching stint turned into a nearly decade-long stay.
Whether you’re planning to teach, do business with, make friends with or marry a Chinese person, this book gives useful insights into their language, culture, cities, customs, food, education system and business ethos. Why? Because I knew NOTHING about them before going – therefore, you learn it all with me, as I did, discovery by discovery. Also, very importantly, I didn’t just go to metropolises like Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou, but also dozens of smaller cities, towns, and villages, and made local friends, not just expats. I had the best jobs I’ll ever have, and met some of the most beautiful people I’ll ever know.
Thirteen years in the making, and very personally written, this is an average Australian’s reaction to street-level life in contemporary China, laced with a somewhat absurdist sense of humour. Everything I thought I knew about China was wrong. Come discover China with me, and get laughs throughout.
Oh, and what does "Chicken Same Duck Talk" mean? It's from a Chinese expression about miscommunication, ji tong ya jiang (鸡同鸭讲), meaning "I might as well be a chicken talking to a duck"...however, it literally translates as "Chicken Same Duck Talk". It's a wonderful, and wonderfully appropriate, bit of Chiglish.