After the leap...

By kmorgan

Sitting here in Seville, now a qualified ESL teacher, and re reading my last shiftlog entry written as a TV exile in London back in August I am amazed at how much has happened in so little (relatively!) time. The journey from wage slave, doing a job I hated just to pay the bills to doing a job I love in a foreign country where I already feel I could have a life has been incredible. I am dead chuffed!

Making the decision to do the CELTA course was the hard part. And renting out my flat, packing up my life and deciding to transplant myself abroad for a few months. However once that was out the way it was plain sailing! And it was definately one of the best decisions I have ever made.

The course itself was hard work but fun. Teaching from day two was daunting but necessary (if you had a choice I am sure most people would try and never actually stand up in front of a class - someone has to make you do it!) and the relationships with the students more than made up for any nerves.

The great thing about doing a course like this away from home is that noone arrives with any preconceptions of your previous life. You could be anyone from any background but this quickly becomes irrelevant as you all grow into your various new teacher identities.

After completing the course I was amazing to discover that people will actually pay me for using my newly acquired skills. I had spent so long doing a job I was indifferent about that to be paid for doing something I enjoy seems quite novel! Don't get me wrong, it can be hard work but I am interested in the subject and everything that surrounds it and this makes up for any bad or off days.

For now teaching offers me everything I was looking for; freedom to travel, working with people, writing, dealing with language and being creative. I am immensly glad I made the decisions I did and realise that the leap was not so scary after all, it was only my fear of the unknown that made me put it off for so long.

 

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