About John
| John was born on
November 5th,
1956, in Blantyre, a town in the central African country of Nyasaland.
John's parents didn't live in Blantyre. They lived in Dowa, a village
in
the central part of Nyasaland. John's father, a South African, worked
for
a company that recruited workers for gold and platinum mines. John's
mother
is a former journalist from Pennsylvania. She had been returning to the
U.S. from Norway, where she had gone to study, and met her husband
while
they were both traveling in Scotland. Things are easier to explain after this. John got a baby sister, Joy, and then a baby brother, David. Most children in Nyasaland spoke languages like Chichewa, Chitumbuka, and Yao. Being an expatriate, however, John was put in English language schools to begin his formal education. The family moved to Blantyre, the biggest town in the country. Small
boy with big tomato ----->
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In 1964, Nyasaland
became an
independent nation and was no longer ruled by the British. The name of
the country changed to Malawi. The country was ruled by His Excellency
the Life President the Ngwazi Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda, who controlled
the nation for 30 years and died when he was almost 100. A few years later, John's parents decided to send him to boarding school in another African country, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). John went to two different schools in Rhodesia for a total of seven years, coming home three times a year to see his family. Boarding school sounds like some kind of military camp (and there were many similarities), but John thought it was O.K. There were lots of sports activities, but there were also times when you could just run off into the bush, go wild and explore. <
-----
Malawi's stamps reflect its friendly people and its beautiful lake
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| After John
graduated from high
school, he went to work for a transportation company in Blantyre as a
bookkeeper.
However, soon the family had to come to a big decision. John's dad was
retiring from his company. They had to decide where the family was
going
to live: in South Africa, the fatherland, or in the U.S.A., the
motherland.
South Africa is a beautiful country, but it had a lot of political
problems
at the time, including the program of apartheid, or "separate
development"
of the races. The U.S. offered a much freer society. The family did a
lot
of research and decided that Oregon fit their ideas of a good place to
settle. The
advantages and
disadvantages of school uniforms ----- >
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The family moved to
the United
States in 1975. They bought a car in Detroit and drove to Oregon. The
town
of Ashland, in southern Oregon, seemed like a cozy little place, so
that's
where John's parents bought a house. John didn't stay there long. He
started
attending the University of Oregon in Eugene. To help pay for college,
he got financial aid and washed dishes. John graduated with a B.A. in
Literature
in 1977. Like many college graduates, John suddenly found himself confronted with the question: What should I do with my life? John had no definite plans, but he also definitely had no money. It was time to find full-time employment. After working in a jail, a university admissions office, and a taxi cab, John joined the Peace Corps, a government organization that sends volunteers to poorer countries in the world. Since John had always had the travel bug, this seemed like an ideal entry into the real world. < ----- The scene at the University of Oregon, December 1977 |
| The Peace Corps
sent John to
the Yemen Arab Republic (or North Yemen) in Arabia (North Yemen united,
much later, with South Yemen and is now just known as Yemen). They
decided
he should be an English teacher. For two and a half years, John taught
English to boys and girls at the Mohamed Ali Othman School in the city
of Ta'iz. John traveled a lot in Yemen, learned some Arabic, and
received
a monthly salary of about $100. In 1981, after his Peace Corps time in Yemen was over, John came to Portland to visit his parents, who had moved there from Ashland. However, he still wanted to teach overseas and eventually found a job in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. John taught English in Riyadh (and later in Taif) for two years. He bought his second motorcycle (the first one was in Yemen) and spent his free time riding off into the desert to explore. Another
graduation
day: 12th grade students at Mohamed
Ali Othman School, Ta'iz, Yemen, in 1981 ----- > |
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| When John decided
to leave Saudi
Arabia, he had saved quite a lot of money. He decided this would be the
time to indulge in his passion for traveling. He had no set plans, but
began in the Middle East, then went to Southeast Asia and Indonesia for
about six months. He bought his first car, a 17-year-old Holden, in
Australia,
and drove all around the continent. His next passion was several weeks
of backcountry hiking in New Zealand. He also spent about a year in the
South Pacific islands in countries like Papua New Guinea, the Solomon
Islands,
New Caledonia, Tonga, Vanuatu, Kiribati, Fiji, Samoa, Palau, Nauru, and
Tuvalu.
On the beach, island of Nui, Tuvalu ----->
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John finally washed
up in Portland
again. This time, he decided to enhance his teaching credentials. He
got
his Master's Degree at Portland State University in TESOL (Teaching
English
to Speakers of Other Languages) with a mind to finding another job
teaching
English overseas. This, however, was not to be. While at Portland
State,
he met another TESOL student, Christina English (now Sparks) and
they got married and had a baby named Jake. John stayed in Portland and taught at Portland State, Concordia College, Mt. Hood Community College and in the ESL program at P.C.C. before getting a full-time job in the ENNL (now ESOL) program at the Sylvania Campus. John and Tina bought a house in Multnomah Village and settled down. John admits that having a good family life, with a wife who is an excellent partner and a wonderful cook, and a son of many talents, is of the utmost benefit to the health and the soul. < ----- John and Tina in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado |
| This doesn't mean
that John
hasn't been able to get away. In all, he has traveled in almost 70
countries and, in the past few years, he has traveled
with
his family to Europe, Costa Rica and Mexico as well as all around the
western
and eastern United States and Canada. In 2008, John went to China and
Mongolia. Many future expeditions have been
planned and some will be realized. In 1996-97, the Sparks family went
to
Japan for a year. John taught at a two-year college (now a
four-year
college) in Isahaya, Nagasaki Prefecture. Tina found various
interesting
local personalities who were interested in English conversation, and
Jake attended the first grade in a Japanese elementary school. John
hiking below the North Wall ----- >
of the Eiger in Switzerland, July 2009 |
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John finds his
career particularly
rewarding. He has been President of ORTESOL (the Oregon organization
for
ESL teachers), organized the ORTESOL Conference, presented at several
of
the conferences, and written articles for the organization's
newsletter.
At P.C.C., the ESOL students come from all around the world and bring
many
interesting stories and experiences to the classroom. Immigrants and
international
students alike face the same daunting task of improving their English
so
that they can take regular college classes and graduate. Most students
overcome the language obstacles and succeed in their chosen field. To
be
able to observe their success is reward enough.
< ----- Level 7 Academic Communication class, Winter 2008 |