Playback: The Knock At The Door

About this episode

Glen Williams shares his experiences teaching English in Beijing and the unexpected challenges he faced.

Teaching English in Beijing seemed like a great opportunity for Welsh graduate Glen Williams, who had previously spent time studying in China. He could brush up on his Mandarin, work with kids… and earn up to £3k per month, tax free. The hitch? The agency that placed him told him that every three months, he’d need to spend the weekend in Seoul - a ‘visa trip’ that, he soon discovered, was commonplace amongst ex-pat EFL teachers. Then, one day, they changed their tune. “If the Police ask you”, they said, “tell them you sell whiteboards”. In this interview with Olly, Glen reveals what happened next… This episode first aired in August 2021. Now remastered and with an update from Glen, we're replaying this interview after this month's feature with Cheryl Bennett. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People in this episode

Host: Olly Mann

Guest: Glen Williams

Topics covered

• teaching English
• expat life
• visa issues
• China
• interviews
• personal stories

Keywords

• English teaching
• Beijing
• expat
• visa trip
• interview
• Glen Williams
• Olly Mann

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: megaphone.fm

Places: Beijing, Seoul

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