Things have been crazy the last few months, what with starting a new job, and another international move. Now suddenly it is Christmas, which brings with it the usual round of teaching children English language Christmas songs, and discussing Christmas traditions ‘in your country,’ with the adult students.

Now, I know of course that I don’t have to do these things (actually, with the songs, I don’t have a choice) or I could be more imaginative with my activities, but I’m exhausted! Things have been so busy and tiring that I’m not sure I have the brainpower to think of anything else.

This week has been long and busy. One of the main problems I’ve had is a cold. This has meant headaches, which are annoying, but more importantly a runny nose (too much information) which is the most annoying thing to have if you’re trying to teach. Firstly, it’s disgusting. Secondly, whenever you have to blow your nose, the students all stare at you. Also, I sneeze very loudly and violently no matter what I do.

The second problem is that one of my classes that I used to love has become horrible as the nice students have left and been replaced by a group of teenage Italians and Spaniards who are more interested in each other’s pheromones than learning. This is to be expected of course, but the fact that the textbook is dry as the dessert and our class is at the end of the day makes it nightmarish. I did have some comfort in the fact that my co-teacher for this class also can’t stand them. Luckily, many of them left yesterday, so maybe next week will be better.

Finally, I’ve had a bad week for IELTS. 2 of my students are taking the test next weekend, so they need lots of practice and a quite intense class. However I also have a really lazy girl who is taking IELTS but seems to have no interest in studying for it, and another girl in the class who isn’t taking the test. Therefore balancing all of these factors is a pain-in-the-arse.

Rant over, I just needed to vent. Next week will be better.

I guess it’s inevitable in this business. We have a large group of people coming over from foreign lands, stuffed into classrooms, talking with each other at close quarters, then probably going off and getting off with each other most nights. (I may be a little unclear on how Swine Flu is spread, but I expect many of those things may contribute.) So, the chances are that the language schools of B’mouth are likely to start falling like dominos.

It’s not so much the absence of students that would be the problem, but rather the shortage of teachers. We already have full timetables, so if even one of us goes down with it, I believe the whole system will start to crumble. I know that some schools are currently still looking for teachers, what’s going to happen if 2 or 3 are off?

Then there’s the issues of sick pay on temporary contracts. What are we entitled to? Nothing? Basic hours? of course no one thinks to ask our DOS. Instead everyone just sits around complaining. One of our teachers went home sick today, and the rumours have already started…

This was a very weird project I did with some advanced level students. We went to the local cemetery, and took some pictures. We then used this as an jumping off point for discussion and writing about Bournemouth people.

Here is a selection of some of the photos I took and used in class.

After a few months of teaching in the UK, my husband and I have decided to move on to Spain. We have been discussing Europe for a while, and for now Spain has the most jobs.

The job is with a big, global company, which will be good. There will be opportunities to move within the company I think. Also we get to move to Spain.

However it is a ridiculously long day, from 7am-10pm. This will of course be a complete nightmare, but it is only a 9 month contract. We have done it before in South Korea as well, so I’m telling myself it will be fine.

We are also looking forward to slightly warmer Spanish weather, especially as the UK seems to be undergoing monsoon season at the moment.

I realize I haven’t written anything on this blog for ages. In that time I have left the nightmare school, and moved to the interesting school.

My classes are made up from mostly European students on summer school trips – aged from 15 up. I am lucky (for me) that I am teaching high level classes, as it means that even if my students are 16, they have a different mentality from the pre-ints and elementaries. After all, they have managed to achieve an upper-int level. That suggests an interest in learning at the very least.
Except for one student, who is 18, yet with the mentality of a 15 year old. He is a pain in the neck in class, and my co-teacher and I were celebrating on Friday as he is finally leaving after 3 long weeks of irrelevant questions and him insisting that he was right because that’s what they say in Turkey. In Turkish.

Over the last week I have interviewed at two different schools, and I am unsure which would be the right choice for me.

The one school would be great for professional development, and would certainly make me a better teacher. However the hours aren’t as good.

The other school has excellent hours with some afternoons off, but the atmosphere wasn’t the same and I felt like it would be easier to become lazy. This would then become boring. However I would only have to work mornings and two or three afternoons a week.

I have recently resigned from the school I have been temping at, and last night I had the weirdest dream. I dreamed that firstly they made me go and teach at my first, kids school in South Korea, gave me an incomprehensible timetable, and then shouted at me because I wasn’t teaching very well.

I also then complained that I couldn’t possibly prepare for the British Council inspection coming up (which is actually coming up at the school I’m working at) with such a ridiculous timetable.

A ridiculous post? Yes of course, but this blog is about life in tefl, and my freaky anxiety dreams about inspections etc. are part of that life!

This blog is my Tefl blog, talking about my experiences as a TEFL teacher. I do not intend for this to be a ‘professional’ resource, rather a narrative of life in TEFL. More later…