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ABOUT ME | 關於自己

Who Am I? | 我是誰? 

 

Pretty much self-explanatory - my name is Marco, or to be exact, Cheng Marco Chin Chiu. Cheng is my family name and Chin Chiu is my Chinese name, so don't be surprised by the fact that my name all starts with 'ch'. People in the UK create tons of nicknames for me, such as Chinese Chunder Dragon aka CCD, Chin, or even Chinderella. I am currently about to start second year at UCL (University College London) reading Linguistics, and I'm a big fan of many things - such as food, opera, classical music, writing short stories or novels and travelling. I spend most of my time in the UK (because that's where I study) and during the long holidays, I will be in Hong Kong.

 

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我的名字叫鄭展朝, 今年二十歲, 在倫敦大學學院修讀語言學, 主修社會語言學, 歷史語言學和音位學. 聽起來小弟好像是一名書呆子, 其實我覺得 '讀萬卷書不如行萬里路' 的理論是非常正確的. 我平常喜歡研究食物, 烹調, 聽歌劇和古典音樂, 寫小說和旅遊. 我大部分的時間都留在英國倫敦, 放長假的時候就回來香港.

A Bit About Me | 個人背景

I was born in Hong Kong with my parents, Danny and Agnes and my sister Natasha. I was told that my sister and I knew how to speak English first at a very early age, before we learned how to speak Cantonese and Mandarin. To be honest, I don't understand how this is possible, as most Chinese people are born to speak Cantonese/Mandarin first. At the age of 6, I was honoured to be given a place to study in a very prestigious school in HK - La Salle Primary School, and continued on to study in La Salle College at aged 12 after passing my grades in primary school.

 

In 2012, I finished my GCSEs in Hong Kong and set off for the UK to finish my A-levels in Uppingham School, Rutland. That was the time when I realised HK education was too much for me and I couldn't cope with their ways of teaching. 

 

My sister and I weren't 'typical Chinese' students (no offence to the Chinese people, sorry!); we disliked calculating and had no interest in any sort of science. When I finished my last A-level Maths paper, I threw away my calculator and let's be honest, good riddance. Normally, a typical Chinese parent would hope, or even force their children to study medicine, business and law in university so that they can earn a lot of money and bring glory to their family. We are more than lucky to have parents that allow us to choose our own paths for our future. I can't thank them enough.

 

 

 

From left: Danny (my father), me, Agnes (my mother), Natasha (my sister) and Zeny (our nanny)
 

(PS: Apologies, I couldn't be bothered to type that in Chinese!)

What I Plan to Do | 現在心得

Currently, my sister is reading Music at Royal Holloway, University of London in Egham, Surrey and is about to receive her masters' degree at the end of this year. As for me, I am but still a 20-year-old boy who enjoys learning new things and am not far from graduating (if all goes well) with a BA in Linguistics. My parents still work in different hotels and my mum has recently become the 'Queen of Baking' in our home.

 

I have worked as a chef, a receptionist, and for the last 3 years I have worked as an English teacher in China (places include: Beichuan in Sichuan Province, Luoding in Guangdong Province and Pu'an in Guizou Province, teaching Grammar and Modern Chinglish Issues to junior secondary (pre-Gaokao) and Phonics to primary school teachers. I also love cooking, and when I have friends over I tend to cook - ranging from 2 to 17 people the most. 

 

What I plan to do in my blog is to share my recipes, without using fancy ingredients to whip up something lush, so that students can also cook them without spending huge amounts of cash £££. (Student life eh?) I will also share my teaching plans and experiences, travelling life and other stuff that I can think of. I hope you all enjoy. x

 

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我這幾年來曾經擔任過兼職廚師, 接待員, 而從2012年在中國擔任英語教師, 去過的地方包括四川省的北川, 廣東省的羅定和貴州省的普安. 我主要都是教初中和小學教師, 培訓他們的英語發音, 語法和現代中式英語的問題.

 

在新開的博客裡, 我會分享我的食譜給大家, 去解釋其實做好吃的食物是不一定要用昂貴的材料, 等現代的當地和留學學生有機會可以多些煮飯. 我也會分享我的旅遊與教學心得, 和其他不同的東西, 希望你們都喜歡. x

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