Teacher Gordon

This may be another of my more boring postings, as Mr. Gordon is another one of the good guys that passed through my former place of employment. Not much controversy with him. Most people like to read about other people’s ugly dark secrets, odd behavior and things of that nature. He had none of these that I was aware of. No dirt to shovel here.

Other than myself, I believe he is the second longest employed native speaking teacher that this particular school has had. (Oops, there is one other that has long time sporadic employment, but this individual is not a teacher.)

When I think of Gordon, I think of a proper English Gentleman for some reason. Mr. Gordon is from London and if I understood correctly was retired from the British Telephone Service. That’s may not the proper name, but something similar to that. Like most of us he was previously married and has adult children, also several grandchildren if I recall correctly.

He came to Thailand as an experienced ESL Teacher, gaining that experience teaching in Turkey. Shortly after his arrival in Thailand he ventured down to the southern part of the country and spent several years teaching there before relocating to the Bangkok area. He had many interesting stories about his time in Turkey and south Thailand. It was also though him that I began to gain an understanding as to how agents and language schools work in Thailand.

Gordon was rarely if ever late for work and he had a heck of a commute daily required two buses and a motorcycle taxi. When construction started on the Rama III road, he had to get up and leave his apartment extra early as traffic often came to a complete stand still at commute time. The already jam packed Rama III, three lane road went down to one lanes. He endured though all of that without a complaint though it was very frustrating.

At work he always went to class with a prepared lesson plan ready to teach. His tests were prepared on time and his records duly recorded. He went up to his classroom ahead of the appointed times, which many teachers find hard to accomplish and started his classes on time. He never took time off for personal business except on the very rare occasion. A true professional teacher.

When Mr. Gordon left Thailand he had plans to remain in the ESL teaching field. His mother was getting up in age and Thailand was so far away. After a home visit it was his intention to seek employment in Spain, Portugal or some other country nearer to the UK so that he could get home without a lot of travel time should he need to do so. For personal reason, which need not be discussed here, that didn’t work out the way it was planned and he remains in London.

Mr. Gordon visited the school not so long ago. It was strange to see him out of his traditional long sleeved shirt and necktie. He had gained a bit of weight from his teaching days; his hair was no longer long and red, but short and white. We had a nice chat and he said he was feeling well and enjoying himself.

Good luck Mr. Gordon and I hope to see you again sometime.