And thanks for stopping by! I have hard time believing anyone besides my parents would read the nonsense I write, but if you're here, I bet you're in the same boat as I am. I've been living in France for a year and a half, and before that I was working in what I considered to be (and still do) the best possible job that anyone could have: an elementary ESL teacher in scenic Virginia. I loved my job, I loved the kids, I loved the school staff...but I also loved my husband (and still do) and was ready to start our new life together in France. Since I have a teaching degree in ESL, I felt pretty confident that I would be able to transfer my career here without too much trouble, and that has turned out to be true. On the other hand, I've found my role has changed and I still need to adjust. I can't imagine I will ever stop trying to find that "perfect" lesson and improve myself as a teacher. ESL is not the same thing at all as EFL, and I'm looking for other EFL teachers out there -- France, Japan, Saudi Arabia...you name it, I want it. I also spent 2 years in Japan teaching English through the JET Program, and while I found the country and people absolutely fabulous, I think my basic teaching philosophy and that of Japan just ultimately did not match.
This blog will serve a role for me...I'd like it to be a place where I can focus on my teaching experiences here as well as reflections on the educational system, and I hope that others will be kind enough to give me feedback. That's something I crave and don't get here, not formally at least, and another thing I miss about being in my old school is the constant companionship of other people who are genuinely interesting in serving students, sharing ideas, and helping each other improve as teachers. I do have a small support group here of fantastic people who I really respect, but the more, the better. I think I went from about 30 peers to having 5-6, and it's kind of strange. I also am a constant borrower of ideas, so if you have a lesson that really goes over well or have had some kind of epiphany, please don't hesitate to let me know!
More to come...
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3 comments:
Hey, great posts so far, I have a feeling I'm really going to enjoy reading your posts!
Hi,
I'm British and a former teacher of English. I haven't worked in a school here but give private lessons. I've found masses of useful activities etc on the internet including Onestopenglish. If I'm tutoring for school my lesson plans are dictated by the pupils' needs(usually grammar) but I have taken conversation groups where I use lots of fun activities like role plays et al.It's usually the only way to get the kids to relax enough to talk.
I've just browsed through your posts and am sort of commenting on all of them at once!
Good luck with your work.
Angela
hey, I just found your blog(s) today through a link from Samantha's blog and I think you are a very funny and talented writer. I enjoy reading your blog, and since I am an english teacher in France myself (I teach adults now, not children, but I was an assistant in a high school last year) I would be happy to exchange teaching ideas and experiences. Keep blogging :)
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