British teacher finds balcony class can reach out to students

YINCHUAN－Matthew Lawrence Mears, 39, has led an even more fulfilled and balanced life since he and his wife followed expert advice to stay at home in Yinchuan, capital of Northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region.

Mears spends hours teaching English on his balcony every day. He sings and dances to interact with his students on the screen, while his wife, Feng Yanan, is busy with housework.

He corrects the pronunciation of his students and plays games with them via video calls. "Life would not bore us at all," he says.

Mears is from a small town not far from London. After obtaining a master's degree in children's education at the University of Manchester, he came to teach in China, where he met Feng who was also dedicated to English teaching.

In 2017, the couple moved to Yinchuan and established a children's English-language training school. The Mears have since built up a talent pool of teachers from China, Germany, the Philippines and South Africa.

Due to the novel coronavirus epidemic, schools in China including commercial training agencies, had to suspend their classroom teaching activities.

The couple had no other choice but to stay at home while paying close attention to Wuhan's epidemic situation and China's control measures.

"I wanted to do something for the people in Wuhan," says Mears, who called himself "a son-in-law of China" and also "a member of a big Chinese family".

The couple decided to take their teaching online. Every time a student finished his or her homework and shared it in the school's WeChat group, the couple would donate 2 yuan (28 US cents) for the virus fight in Wuhan on behalf of the school.

"We got our children to be part of this thing. And that's the way of getting children to understand the importance of helping people in a difficult time," he says.

By the end of February, the school had donated several batches of medical supplies, including face masks and protective suits worth 20,000 yuan, to Wuhan Union Hospital. Together with the donation went a letter written in both Chinese and English by the Mears, extending their regards, thanks and encouragement to medical staff on the front lines.

Nikki Li, a schoolteacher who is from Wuhan, has a sister who works in the hospital. The sisters have been in charge of the donation throughout the whole process.

"The Mears, instead of being my bosses and colleagues, are more like friends and family to me," Li says. "I was especially touched when I read their letter to Wuhan. They highlighted the words 'Go, Wuhan!' to cheer the medics up."

When the epidemic broke out, Mears and Feng bought masks using their own savings and organized schoolteachers to give them out to people on the streets.

"Many of our foreign teachers had a really hard time during the coronavirus because they can't get out of their home and some of them don't really enjoy cooking too much," he says.

Feng is a good cook, and she came up with the idea of making some home-cooked food and delivering it to them.

To maintain both physical and mental strength, the couple did a lot of exercise and reading at home. "While you're isolated, it's very important to stay positive," Mears says.

As COVID-19 has become a pandemic, Britain has also become a major battlefield in Europe. The couple worried about their family in Britain and made frequent video calls.

Mears mailed a batch of masks to his parents in Britain two weeks ago.

"Now the virus is spreading very rapidly in my home country, which makes me very worried," says Mears. "Home quarantine is the right thing to do, judging from China's experience."

"I think the biggest message that we take home about the coronavirus is not to blame anybody for it. It doesn't matter where the virus started. It's a human problem," Mears says. "We should face these kinds of problems together as a race with solidarity."

Xinhua