English Teacher X, a shadowy and legendary figure in the world of Teaching English as a Foreign Language, follows up his debut book with this raw, lurid, and vivid memoir of his first five years teaching English abroad.
In 1995, after a year of aimless wandering, a young man answered an ad in a newspaper in Bangkok and inadvertently became English Teacher X, working, in the next five years, in 7 different cities in 5 different countries.
From a tropical island paradise in Thailand to an industrial hellhole of Post-Soviet Russia, English Teacher X describes, in violent imagery, the life of an English teacher overseas, encountering dishonest and exploitative employers, degenerate colleagues, corrupt police, gold-hearted prostitutes and cold-hearted "English groupies", with drugs and alcohol for all, while questing in vain for the Authentic Cultural Experience.
English Teacher X's world serves as a cautionary tale for young people going overseas to teach, or a titillating taste of the many perks of the darker side of English teaching.
In 1995, after a year of aimless wandering, a young man answered an ad in a newspaper in Bangkok and inadvertently became English Teacher X, working, in the next five years, in 7 different cities in 5 different countries.
From a tropical island paradise in Thailand to an industrial hellhole of Post-Soviet Russia, English Teacher X describes, in violent imagery, the life of an English teacher overseas, encountering dishonest and exploitative employers, degenerate colleagues, corrupt police, gold-hearted prostitutes and cold-hearted "English groupies", with drugs and alcohol for all, while questing in vain for the Authentic Cultural Experience.
English Teacher X's world serves as a cautionary tale for young people going overseas to teach, or a titillating taste of the many perks of the darker side of English teaching.
