Abingdonian 2020

90 The Abingdonian Ailin Wang Ailin Wang graduated from Northwest Normal University in 2017. While she was pursuing her Master’s Degree in Comparative Literature and World Literature, Ailin joined us as a Chinese Language Assistant through the Chinese Hanban and British Council programme. Despite the different educational and cultural context that Ailin was familiar with back in China, she quickly adapted to Abingdon’s way of life. She soon became integrated into the department and her contribution was much appreciated by boys and colleagues. Ailin helped to create Chinese teaching resources and provided oral lessons to our Chinese GCSE pupils, as well as helping fourth year Chinese boys to prepare for the British Council Mandarin Speaking Competition. Ailin has found that during her time at Abingdon, she has developed many transferable skills and appreciated the care and help from colleagues, especially when she first arrived in the UK and also during lockdown. Ailin’s unforgettable moments at Abingdon include enjoying plays performed by Abingdon boys, teaching second year students to sing Happy Birthday in Mandarin in a taster lesson, capturing the beauty of nature in the Jekyll garden, sipping English breakfast tea with colleagues in the common room whilst sharing the progress boys had made in their oral practice; having fish and chips on sunny Fridays, and learning to cook western food during lockdown - at the end Ailin’s salmon omelette was winner of the Abingdon School Master Chef competition! Ailin will return to China to complete her master’s degree and we wish her all the best for the future. Alexandra von Widdern Marine Puireux Marine comes from Reims in France, which is a university city known for its famous cathedral where most of the French kings were crowned. She came to the UK hoping to improve her English skills and to gain good experience in working with students as her professional aim is to become an English teacher in France. Besides, she wanted to know more about English culture, landscapes and architecture. For her, the two years as a French assistant at Abingdon have been an amazing experience that strengthened her desire to teach teenagers in the future. She found Oxford very beautiful, and every visit to the city made her feel like she was travelling through time. She also visited London, Bristol, Bath and Brighton. However, her favourite trip was the four days spent at the Lake District. Her favourite moments at Abingdon are the Cheltenham and Marlborough College debating competitions for which she helped prepare the boys, as well as the Griffen Ball at the end of the school year. The one thing she will not miss about the UK is the traffic on the road. However, she will definitely miss the pubs! Marine will go back to university in September to complete her Master’s degree. We are incredibly grateful for her professionalism, great generosity and all she has done for the boys and for the French Department. Alexandra von Widdern Emir Kovacevic Emir Kovacevic is a Bosnian native who moved to France at the age of ten. He lived in Reims for more than ten years where he learned French as a second mother tongue. His love for languages led him to study French literature before selecting the English Language, Culture, Civilisation and Literature degree. During his university degree Emir took part in a two year educational programme allowing him to work part-time as a teaching assistant in a primary school where he acquired the basics of teaching. Emir joined us after his graduation in September 2018. Emir adapted very quickly to his new environment. His previous experience in teaching gave him enough confidence to work efficiently and autonomously from the beginning which made the whole process a lot easier for the boys, his colleagues and himself. He greatly helped the department by creating or adapting teaching resources and by providing oral lessons to our sixth form, fifth and fourth year pupils. Emir was always keen to accompany groups of pupils to languages days at Bath University or to Cheltenham and Marlborough College for French debating competitions. Emir took his role of debating coach very seriously and the boys who took part in these events did this with panache and remember the events very fondly. There are too many unforgettable moments to list for Emir, but, if he had to select a few, they would include the black-tie dinners with boys and colleagues, attending the Christmas dinner and the Griffin Ball with his assistant colleagues who became very close friends, the singing competition between the different houses that were always incredible to watch and to listen to, and the various school plays where he saw pupils’ amazing talents. Even more unforgettable are all the amazing people he enjoyed working with. He will Staff Farewells