Thoughts on English Teaching

Another academic year has ended. Some of my Prague friends are returning to the US permanently soon, but I still have a hard core of people I can go back to see.

My class have had the results from their reading and writing exams. Everyone passed their reading exam, although two failed the writing. I'm pleased with their performance and hope that some of it reflects on me. After the last lesson we adjourned to the pub and wished each other well.

I won't be teaching the next academic year, the UK state education system requires that I take more qualifications and I can't manage a day job, a part-time Education course and a class at the same time. Maybe in a few years I will take the qualification and teach part-time but for now I want to continue in IT and save for a retirement, or semi-retirement at least.

One of my colleagues at the day job gleefully made me aware of a quotation from the philosopher Alain de Botton the other week - "You become a TEFL teacher when your life has gone wrong."
I haven't tracked down the source of the quotation yet to put it in context. I don't completely agree with the sentiment, but I can see something of what he means. Teaching in TEFL is a way of stepping out of everyday life while still having a job and keeping your brain in gear.
I have enjoyed my time teaching very much, and I'm sure that I will miss it once the summer is over.

While searching for the source of the quotation I discovered the following tale of TEFL life from the Daily Telegraph a few years back. It paints a bleaker picture than the life I had in Prague, but it is true that unless you can teach in places where the demand for teachers outstrips the supply it is difficult to survive on the salary. The great thing about my time in Prague was the social life and the friendships I made. Looking back a year on I still think it was the best thing I could have done in my "grown-up gap year".