Born and raised in South London, I was a wanderer from an early age.
After moving to Australia and meeting my husband, and teaching in outback Australia, we joined the international teaching circuit and moved to Qatar in the middle east. After a couple of years, we ventured further into Asia and taught in Almaty, Kazakhstan for four years. The winters were tough, and four of them was enough for me, so we went deeper into Asia and now teach in Chengdu, China, at Léman International School.
I teach English language arts to grades 8, 9 and 10, and the International Baccalaureate Diploma in grades 11 and 12. I’m also a workshop leader for the IB, as well as an examiner.
We are joined on our travels with our dogs, sadly one of which did not make the trip from Kazakhstan, going on his own journey over the rainbow bridge, but our mad, epileptic cross-breed dog, Romi, who we adopted in Qatar, is still with us.
Oh, and my first name is Merion 🙂
It’s a funny thing being called “Mrs T”, short for Mrs Taynton, as most of my students do. And it’s an experience I share with my mother. My maiden name was Taylor, and so my mother was often referred as “Mrs T”. Her maiden name, however, was Tee. For her, Mrs Tee was her mother.
Hi Mrs. T, I’m a teacher in Boulder, Colorado, and a fan of Visible Thinking, but I was most intrigued by your mention of your unit on identity. I wondered if you had any favorite resources to share. Thanks so much, Lauren
Hi Lauren – first of all, I’m sorry. It was very rude of me to ignore your comment. I think it must have missed it – or lost track in the haze of Christmas break, et al. Thanks for checking in.
My unit on Identity takes different forms. For the last couple of years, I been using poetry, with grade 8, to explore ideas of identity and how poets explore their sense of belonging / identity / connection with ancestors. I’ll collate some stuff together and send it to you – what would be the best way for me to do that?
Merion 🙂