Don't Squeeze the Turtle: Tales from an Online Classroom (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781916814165)

An eye-opening look at life as an online teacher of English.

Often funny, sometimes poignant, always real.

In this book, author and long-time educator Jinny Alexander takes you on a fly-on-the-wall journey into the world of online English learning.

Have you ever thought about how people around the world have learned to speak English as a means of global communication? Jinny has taught English classes to students as young as three and as old as eighty, but it's usually the children who have the funniest things to say.

Or the teacher:

• "Ask Grandma to put some clothes on."
• "It looks like you are at a swimming pool?"
• "Are you still in the bathroom? Microphone off."
• "No, not the European Onion."
• "Please don't squeeze the turtle."

This book presents Jinny's diary for nine months of online classes to children across the globe. In these pages, you'll find an eye-opening glimpse into other cultures alongside a heart-warming and often hilarious look at life in the online classroom with an experienced ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher.

Often funny, usually heart-warming, sometimes difficult, sometimes heart-breaking, but always trying to remain professional and compassionate, Jinny opens the Zoom window for you to peek into her daily classes. Eavesdrop to your heart's content, but please, keep your microphone on MUTE.

Jinny Alexander has over thirty years of experience in the education sector, from nursery school to youth work and everything in between. She's taught children to read, to swim, and to become proficient in using Zoom, sometimes all at the same time. She also writes fiction, and is the author of the Jess O'Malley Irish Village Mysteries and the Mrs Smith's Suspects series, among other works.