Page 26 - ELG1706 Jun Issue 448

PEOPLE .

The hitchhiker’s guide to the (Tefl) galaxy

Peter Harris volunteered in
an orphanage in Cambodia

Dodging bullets in a civil war was one of the scarier moments in a long and
intrepid career, veteran Peter Harris tells Claudia Civinini

re you embarking on a Tefl and colleges, he travelled through many set up his own language schools in Australia
adventure? You may not need ‘challenging’ parts of the world, from Nigeria and New Zealand, which at that time focused
to bring a towel, but sound to Kurdistan. In the early 1980s, he switched to primarily on Chinese and Japanese students.
Aqualifications, open-mindedness the British Tourist Authority (Visit Britain) and He then returned to the UK in the late 1990s
and a sense of humour are essential, says EFL became its representative in the Middle East to found the King’s International Study Centre
industry veteran Peter Harris, who has spent and Africa. in Ely.
forty years in the game. Peter said that Saudi Arabia was a different Of all the places he saw around the world,
Peter started out in the mid-1970s as a country back then. ‘My literature was none was more meaningful than the Centre for
marketing manager for Bournemouth-based confiscated because the brochures contained Children’s Happiness (CCH), an orphanage
King’s School of English. His first business trip for children from the Phnom Penh (Cambodia)
was to El Salvador in Central America, and it rubbish dumps. ‘I travel all over the world and
threw him into the deep end. This is something I am often in Asia,’ said Peter, ‘but nowhere
‘A civil war had been raging,’ Peter says. every Tefler can do: has quite touched my heart like the CCH
‘My taxi’s windscreen had a bullet hole and school.’
the driver assumed I was an American gringo. find their mission Many of the teachers at the school are
Fortunately, I was able to show my New Teflers who volunteer their time while teaching
Zealand passport and he agreed to take me to while teaching in Phnom Penh. This is something every Tefler
my hotel. abroad can do: find their mission while teaching
‘As we approached the central square, we abroad. It can be hugely rewarding, Peter says.
were fired on and I ducked as the glass from In this case, six former pupils of the school
the rear window cascaded down on me. The attached to the centre are now studying at
driver skidded to a halt outside the Sheraton pictures of churches, men in kilts and women university in the US. Peter recently published
Hotel, where I was given an armed guard.’ showing their arms. a book titled A Wayward Spirit to raise funds
Peter realised his life was going to be ‘Public executions took place on a Friday in for the school. In the book, he recounts his
‘different, but interesting’. the central square. Men did all the speaking adventures around the world
His next trip took him to Tehran shortly and women stood three steps behind.’ as a member of the EFL
after the Shah had fled and Khomeini had However, he adds that it can still be a industry.
taken power. ‘I soon developed a “Boy’s Own” challenging place for a woman, and anyone Peter Harris
attitude to war zones,’ Peter says. working and living there should ‘not fall foul of His book A Wayward Spirit
In pursuit of recruiting students for the religious police’. is available on Amazon, all
UK language courses, boarding schools After his time promoting British tourism, he proceeds will go to CCH in
Cambodia.
26 June 2017

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