Children are the future... teach them well.

Its been a few weeks since I last posted, but it hasn't been for nothing.

I've been working hard on my TEFL course and now have 2 certificates under my belt. I have officially passed the 20 hr Grammar and 10 hr Teaching Young Learners modules.

I suppose technically I have finished the 60hr TEFL module, as I only have the final quiz on finding work to complete, but I have real (ok, pdf) certificates of the other modules now. Proof that the hard work is paying off and we are getting somewhere.

Now, all I have left is Business English, Large Classes and One to One, and only 17 days to do it. Oh and the weekend course on 2nd and 3rd November (my birthday weekend!).

Guess I'll have to bring doughnuts. Speak to you in 17 days!

God save the Queen

I'm very nervous as I sit sipping (OK, gulping) a Smokin Aces Lynchburg Lemonade, and hit refresh on my email.

I always knew this part of the course would be a challenge, but the extra hour I have to wait to get my result is killing me.

How does Mark do it? He had his result in less than 20 minutes and we pressed submit at the same time!

This part is so important; it's the last major test in the core material of our TEFL course. We need to prepare a full lesson plan and describe a cultural awareness activity.

The reality of the exercise is a quiet and studious night in on Friday to draft our lesson on hobbies, followed by refinements and YouTube scouring on Saturday.

We look at everything from Love Actually to Monty Python to find the perfect clip to represent English culture, but it's a search for James Bond that brings up a truly brilliant clip from the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics.

It had it all; traditions, Union Jack's, pets, sharp suits, formality and even a dash of English eccentricity in the form of the Queen parachuting into the games.

Rule Britannia!

I passed.

Do we have a heading?

The top 5 places I would happily start my travels in.

1. Italy
   
   
   The food, the wine, the language. It's hard to think of a downside to starting my travels in Italy. I first fell in love with this country on a whirlwind trip to Rome in 2010 when I got engaged to my now husband. Ever since then I haven't been able to get Italy out of my head, and have since returned to Rome and been on a whistle-stop tour of Tuscany (Siena, San Gimignano and Pisa all in one day!) whilst staying at a vineyard in the Chianti region. Heck, we've already decided than no matter what we will spend every last penny we have in Italy before we board our final flight home.
   
   
2. Vietnam
   
   
   I feel that Vietnam has been somewhat overlooked as a travel destination for a long time, in no small part I'm sure due to the war. That aside this is a beautiful country that is now coming about as the place to be, especially in the TEFL world. I'm intrigued by the french influence in Hanoi and mystified by Ha Long bay and think Vietnam would be a great place to start an exploration of South East Asia.
   
   
3. Indonesia
   
   
   Beaches, spirituality and number one on my list of places to visit, Bali. Part of my interest in travelling the world is to satisfy the anthropologist in me and learn more about the spirituality of each place and where better than Indonesia. Whats more, Indonesia to such a vast place. Who wouldn't be happy spending a month or two island hopping Indonesia?
   
   
4. Thailand
   
   
   The land of smiles, not to mention a cuisine to die for. I'm pretty sure everyone in my generation was first introduced to the idea of long term travelling by the book or film of the book, The Beach. Leonardo DiCaprio will be there, as well as a secluded beach that you can build a life on. It summarized why I want to go travelling; for something different, something exciting. The adventure of island life has lured me ever since.
   
   
5. Brazil
   
   
   Before planning a more long term life upheaval, my husband and I had thought we would use our annual leave each year to take a month long trip somewhere amazing. Brazil was the first place we planned to visit, along with Argentina and Peru. We've since discovered Brazil is a vibrant and multi-cultural country, made of a mixture of nationalities over the years (thanks Michael Palin). It also has the Amazon, the absolute summit of bucket list destinations.

Our plan is to live and teach in one or a few places for up to a year before doing more travelling independent of work.

Things are likely to change though, as money allows and jobs become available, but that all part of the fun. We really don't know at the moment where we will begin. Who knows, after a year we might be ready to come home, or decide never to come back (unlikely, mum), but right now there are no barriers, no deadlines. Yo ho, yo ho, a pirates life for me!

Y-O-U-R means 'your'!

We are one week into our TEFL course and have been working hard to re-learn the grammatical structures which govern the English language. These are rules we apply everyday without realising, but are very difficult to articulate, and differentiate. 

Someone commented that it must be simple to teach a language you already speak. Well, I can assure you that it is not as simple as it sounds. Can you remember the difference between the present simple and the present perfect tense?  Were we even taught that at school? I'm not so sure. I can only compare revising grammar to learning your own language again from scratch, just with a wider range of vocabulary!

This really hit me when it took me 3 attempts to pass an assignment on how to teach a class the use of 'going to' to show future plans. I passed eventually, but this showed me how difficult it is to learn the grammatical structures of a new language, let alone teach it. This will be a challenge, but I'm glad that my frustration with the task was based on not understanding the concept, and not over failing the task. If anything that proves the course and career change means more than a way out, I want to do it well!

I can't wait to get on with the rest of the course, and get some much needed revision done! 

Where's my highlighter! 

The students and me

Language students have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. As a child, each summer we would go pick up one or two students from "Stewart". He was an Englishman who, as far as I could tell, had moved to Spain and now brought Spanish teenagers back for 2 weeks each summer to learn English.

(Stewart used to joke about whisking me and my mother off to live in Spain whilst my parents were divorcing. Looking back, I'm sure he flirted with all the mothers on our lane, but the dream never really left me!)

So one summer evening, I'd wait with my mum at Baiter (back when it was just fields) to see who would be coming to stay with us. The itinerary would be put on the side of the boiler and they would become part of the family.

Each student fascinated me! They came from a different country, looked a bit different, spoke a lot differently and were always way cooler than me! Up to the age of 14 or 15 we had students come to stay with us; Pascale from Basel in Switzerland even stayed more than a year! She wasn't just any regular student, she became family.

One year I had an au pair. Her name was Marta. She was from Barcelona. She had a peace sign belt buckle!!

So this has to be where is all began right? This longing to travel, to be the cool outsider who is exotic and mysterious... well, as exotic as a pasty white British girl can be!

I want to live in a new place, not just pass through, but work, live, be there.

Today I am putting the wheels into motion to stop talking about it and do it.

Today, I start my TEFL training!