The
director of the British Council in Chiang Mai is a suave, softly
spoken Englishman, Jon Glendinning. He has also assumed the
mantle of being the honorary British consul for this region, so
he is going to be a busy, suave, softly spoken Englishman!
He was born in the UK, in the beautiful
county of Kent, but this was not to be his home. With a
stepfather who was assigned to posts all over the world, Jon’s
schooling was done in teaching institutions all over the world
too, gracing international schools in Germany, Greece, Denmark
and Saudi Arabia, as well as a boarding school in the UK, all
leaving their mark in some way or another.
With this ‘internationality’ part of him
as he matured, this may explain his interest in history as a
subject. Jon saying, “I liked the global look – how other
countries were put together. The links between the past and the
present.”
After finishing his secondary schooling, he
went to university for the next three years to study History and
Economics. Emerging three years later, the historian who could
count found the UK gripped by a recession, so he moved to London
and took a job in sales with a recruitment company for a year,
before moving into journalism.
This position at least required part of his
university training as he was involved in putting together
market reports for a financial news desk, and he was
(news)desk-bound for the next four years. However, his interest
in the “global look - how other countries were put together”
was not being satisfied in London. He decided it was time to go
travelling.
He chose South East Asia and India as his
destinations. “They were exotic, exciting and very different
from urban London in the late 80s,” said Jon. He had also
become interested in the protection of the environment and
visited an environmentalist in India who was inspiring people to
challenge the developers that were knocking down the trees, by
standing firmly resolute, embracing the trees and defying the
bulldozers. From this we get the term used today –
‘tree-huggers’. (There you are, history being made in the
80s and influencing us today – illustrating Jon’s “links
between the past and the present”, and thank you Jon for the
lesson!)
However, this deeply thoughtful young man
soon realized that travelling as he was doing, flitting from
country to country, was superficial. “I wanted to go abroad
and understand the normal existence in another country.” To be
able to do this, he believed the key was to become an English
teacher, and so took himself off for training in this subject.
Now with his certification to teach his
native language, he flew to Prague in the Czech Republic to
start his new career.
I asked why Prague, and Jon became visibly
enthusiastic. “This was a part of the world that had been
inaccessible for almost 40 years. This was history being formed.
In 1991 it was an exciting time to be in Prague, as the wall had
only come down in 1989, so there were plenty of opportunities
for teaching the English language.”
He had already been in Prague for two and a
half years when the British Council decided to open a teaching
centre there, and Jon was offered a post with them. (The British
Council is a charitable organization, largely funded by a grant
from the British government, but is an apolitical body. It
provides opportunities for people in different countries to see
what Britain can offer them, especially English language
skills.)
Jon stayed with the British Council in Prague
for two years, and then looked at increasing his knowledge and
understanding of foreign cultures with a posting with the
Council to Vietnam. This was initially to Hanoi where he was
there for three years and then another two years in Ho Chi Minh
City.
You must hearken back to Jon’s idea of
travel, as a way to understand world culture and see part of
that “normal existence in another country.” In his five
years in Vietnam he explored much of the local environment. “I
absolutely loved it! The dynamism of the people and the beauty
of the cities and countryside. The work we were doing was also
very interesting, teaching English to senior government
people.” He, in addition, developed an interest in some
Vietnamese art, with lacquer paintings becoming collectible
items for him.
However, after five years, the world
traveller had to move on, and this time to the British Council
in Cairo and becoming involved in looking after corporate
business, rather than straight English language tuition as he
had done before. This was a two year posting and this was
followed by one of Jon’s more interesting years. That of being
a house-husband!
His wife worked for the English language
IELTS assessment and standards organization and was posted to
Bangkok as the regional manager, and as a family they arrived in
Thailand, with their three year old daughter. Jon was
undertaking an MBA degree through a British university so it was
decided that he would stay at home to look after their daughter
while completing his studies. “It’s not as easy as it
sounds,” said Jon. Being a parent of a small daughter myself,
I could only nod in agreement!
However, it was time to return to the British
Council two months ago, and Jon accepted the post as director
for Chiang Mai, while his wife could move north as well. Here he
wants to appraise the people in the North of the work of the
British Council, and let them know of the opportunities for
English language tuition, and the opportunities for local people
to be educated in the UK, as well as fostering better
understanding of the modern Britain. This he has already started
to do, becoming known in the community (as well as through this
article!).
Jon Glendinning is an asset for Chiang Mai and will be a
wonderful ‘ambassador’ for Britain.
