My situation
Apr 20th 2021, 6:51 am
#16
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 525
Re: My situation
Sounds like you know you want a stable life, the question is whether teaching is the career you want, or something else. The advantage of teaching is that the opportunity is there, if you want something else you need to decide what, and make sure it's a realistic option. If you've grown to hate teaching in the past 10 years, look for an alternative career. But if you enjoy teaching, give PGCE some serious thought. Also if you're ambivalent, because many people have to compromise to make a living.
Apr 20th 2021, 7:08 am
#17
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Jun 2015
Location: France
Posts: 862
Re: My situation
We're equating becoming a teacher in the UK with safety and comfort. But there's another way to look at it. If the OP could work up some real enthusiasm for the idea, he could devote his energies over the next year or so to becoming the best teacher he can possibly be. Once qualified, he would then be in a position to do a tremendous amount of good and help change the whole course of people's lives. I read Shuggie Bain recently and was wondering how the hell did a little boy ever pull himself up from a blighted background like that to become a Booker Prize-winning writer? The answer apparently is that he had help from his teachers at school.
If the OP doesn't want a life of comfort and ease, he could deliberately opt to teach in schools where the kids are from underprivileged homes. Nothing safe or conventional about a job like that.
As for the itchy feet (I have these myself so I understand), as someone has already pointed out, teachers get decent holidays. So he could head off for weeks on end to Albania, Indonesia, etc. every summer.
In the long term, this might be a more satisfying life than one spent flitting from one TEFL job to the next, in countries where you're "somebody" (for a while at least) and women are queuing up to sleep with you for no reason other than the fact you're foreign and therefore a bit exotic. Or perceived as being a rich Westerner. Unless of course the ladies in question have been on this forum and sussed the true state of your finances.
If the OP doesn't want a life of comfort and ease, he could deliberately opt to teach in schools where the kids are from underprivileged homes. Nothing safe or conventional about a job like that.
As for the itchy feet (I have these myself so I understand), as someone has already pointed out, teachers get decent holidays. So he could head off for weeks on end to Albania, Indonesia, etc. every summer.
In the long term, this might be a more satisfying life than one spent flitting from one TEFL job to the next, in countries where you're "somebody" (for a while at least) and women are queuing up to sleep with you for no reason other than the fact you're foreign and therefore a bit exotic. Or perceived as being a rich Westerner. Unless of course the ladies in question have been on this forum and sussed the true state of your finances.
Apr 20th 2021, 2:23 pm
#18
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2018
Posts: 35
Re: My situation
Sounds like you know you want a stable life, the question is whether teaching is the career you want, or something else. The advantage of teaching is that the opportunity is there, if you want something else you need to decide what, and make sure it's a realistic option. If you've grown to hate teaching in the past 10 years, look for an alternative career. But if you enjoy teaching, give PGCE some serious thought. Also if you're ambivalent, because many people have to compromise to make a living.
I guess I'm just dreading it because of future lockdowns and uncertainty in other areas of life putting me in a fight or flight type way of thinking.
Maybe if it were any other situation, this might be okay. But if it weren't for covid I never would have come back to the UK to begin with I don't think.
Apr 26th 2021, 1:27 pm
#19
Forum Regular
Joined: Mar 2012
Location: Charleston, SC - Previously Edinburgh
Posts: 264
Re: My situation
So a little update...and it's fascinating reading this back because I left soon after this post.
I quit my job in Canada and so moved back to the UK and was totally unemployed in August of 2020.
A few weeks later, I was re-hired by the school in Canada as an online teacher. I also found part time work using online teaching platforms. I do not make enough to support myself or live alone in the UK.
I stayed at first with my brother, than my father and thirdly my mother. I had some problems with my father due to my step mother (there is a reason that there is a wicked step mother figure in so many fairy tales). I have been at my mother's house for about 5 months now.
Overall, after 10 years where I was mostly completely alone and fearful of safety and security, depending on family has been comforting. I always said 'there is no way I can let myself need others' and I think psychologically it has healed me a bit to go against that voice in my head.
But I also miss the freedom and the independence and excitement I had before. I once had a great life 'on paper' but was constantly miserable. Now my life is one most would see as pathetic failure, but I feel more relaxed day to day.
There are pros and cons with this covid situation. Covid has made boomerang children more socially acceptable than any other time. People do not raise eyebrows about a 30 something living man with his mother so much as they might at any other time.
Covid has also made building a new life very difficult. I haven't met old friends or taken part in social activities to build any new networks.
The government appear to be incredibly dodgy and the idea of building a life in a country with these restrictions and seeming lack of resistance to them concerns me.
This topic itself has been very divisive and unfortunately I feel more distant from my family than I did even when I was in Japan in a way. When I lived abroad, there was that yearning on both sides. Them saying' We want you back someday!' and me saying, 'I'd love to but I can't!' It's a kind of tragedy that elevates you to an almost mythical status in your family. Now I'm back, there is I'm sure for them the frustrating reality of who I truly am day to day.
I have applied to do a PGCE in September at the University of Worcester and been accepted on this course. My parents are both super on board and my father is helping me financially with this.
However, I doubt if I have what it takes to do it. I'm also nervous the course will be shut down due to covid and there will be more lockdowns in December.
I started to romanticize escaping and living in another country, maybe Albania or Vietnam. Basically, somewhere free from this crumbling West.
But that didn't help me so much before, did it? Maybe I'm just scared of the responsibility of the course and the demands of being a 'real' teacher. Perhaps now I'm back but don't feel I belong here, I miss my old identity and comforting discomfort of 'living on the edge.' Also, there is this feeling that I am still living between the cracks. I haven't signed up for PAYE. All my jobs are with companies in other countries. I'm not registered in the UK or committed to anything. I COULD still get out! But maybe that window is closing.
Yet of course, there isn't any freedom in this escapism. I know this. But the more I hear from primary teachers about how they aren't respected and so much is asked of them I'm thinking maybe it isn't worth it. Maybe I CAN just keep going with ESL even if it won't reward me a ton financially. If I go back abroad again, at least I can support myself and live alone. At least I kind of gave it a try and have killed that part of me that thinks 'I'd love to go back home.' Now I've given it a go and seen how it really is.
Yet what if something else happens? What if I leave and think, 'you idiot! You were registered for a course and you had all that support from family and you threw it away for THIS...for trying to re-create the life you had at 21? To get this ESL job which is mostly for people to do for the odd year and then move one. You're doing that again now in your mid 30's? What the hell man!'
So I really don't know. I find myself again torn...do I get the PGCE and commit to at least a year or two back in the UK? or get out now while I have some savings to another country?
Obviously the fact the borders can close any day and country entry requirements are mostly strict makes all this hard to navigate as well.
I quit my job in Canada and so moved back to the UK and was totally unemployed in August of 2020.
A few weeks later, I was re-hired by the school in Canada as an online teacher. I also found part time work using online teaching platforms. I do not make enough to support myself or live alone in the UK.
I stayed at first with my brother, than my father and thirdly my mother. I had some problems with my father due to my step mother (there is a reason that there is a wicked step mother figure in so many fairy tales). I have been at my mother's house for about 5 months now.
Overall, after 10 years where I was mostly completely alone and fearful of safety and security, depending on family has been comforting. I always said 'there is no way I can let myself need others' and I think psychologically it has healed me a bit to go against that voice in my head.
But I also miss the freedom and the independence and excitement I had before. I once had a great life 'on paper' but was constantly miserable. Now my life is one most would see as pathetic failure, but I feel more relaxed day to day.
There are pros and cons with this covid situation. Covid has made boomerang children more socially acceptable than any other time. People do not raise eyebrows about a 30 something living man with his mother so much as they might at any other time.
Covid has also made building a new life very difficult. I haven't met old friends or taken part in social activities to build any new networks.
The government appear to be incredibly dodgy and the idea of building a life in a country with these restrictions and seeming lack of resistance to them concerns me.
This topic itself has been very divisive and unfortunately I feel more distant from my family than I did even when I was in Japan in a way. When I lived abroad, there was that yearning on both sides. Them saying' We want you back someday!' and me saying, 'I'd love to but I can't!' It's a kind of tragedy that elevates you to an almost mythical status in your family. Now I'm back, there is I'm sure for them the frustrating reality of who I truly am day to day.
I have applied to do a PGCE in September at the University of Worcester and been accepted on this course. My parents are both super on board and my father is helping me financially with this.
However, I doubt if I have what it takes to do it. I'm also nervous the course will be shut down due to covid and there will be more lockdowns in December.
I started to romanticize escaping and living in another country, maybe Albania or Vietnam. Basically, somewhere free from this crumbling West.
But that didn't help me so much before, did it? Maybe I'm just scared of the responsibility of the course and the demands of being a 'real' teacher. Perhaps now I'm back but don't feel I belong here, I miss my old identity and comforting discomfort of 'living on the edge.' Also, there is this feeling that I am still living between the cracks. I haven't signed up for PAYE. All my jobs are with companies in other countries. I'm not registered in the UK or committed to anything. I COULD still get out! But maybe that window is closing.
Yet of course, there isn't any freedom in this escapism. I know this. But the more I hear from primary teachers about how they aren't respected and so much is asked of them I'm thinking maybe it isn't worth it. Maybe I CAN just keep going with ESL even if it won't reward me a ton financially. If I go back abroad again, at least I can support myself and live alone. At least I kind of gave it a try and have killed that part of me that thinks 'I'd love to go back home.' Now I've given it a go and seen how it really is.
Yet what if something else happens? What if I leave and think, 'you idiot! You were registered for a course and you had all that support from family and you threw it away for THIS...for trying to re-create the life you had at 21? To get this ESL job which is mostly for people to do for the odd year and then move one. You're doing that again now in your mid 30's? What the hell man!'
So I really don't know. I find myself again torn...do I get the PGCE and commit to at least a year or two back in the UK? or get out now while I have some savings to another country?
Obviously the fact the borders can close any day and country entry requirements are mostly strict makes all this hard to navigate as well.
I would encourage you to get your teaching qualification in the UK. Yes, it is a demanding job - but if you love it, that won't matter. The other positive is that you can take summers off to travel the world. You get the best of everything - i.e. solid income, time to pursue other joys in life (time to write those cracking jokes, maybe write a book, etc.). Plus, you will be intrinsically enriched with this career choice. I'd say do the qualification and get the steady job - then focus on other pursuits. Best to you.
Apr 27th 2021, 6:42 pm
#20
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2012
Location: Noord Holland
Posts: 568
Re: My situation
I have been a teacher for over 10 years and I suppose the PGCE thing feels like a grown up step instead of this unstable ESL life. That was my original motivation, anyway. It could also help me in future if I want to return to that life as it gives me a career option in the UK.
.
.
From my own experience with my four kids, having a unique and charismatic teacher in the final year or two before they leave to high school gives them some unique perspectives and bodes well for their futures. Long after you are departed, in any sense of the word, 'Mr Zeppo' will still be spoken about in fond terms by those who learned from you. They are easy to inspire, much easier than their pubescent future-selves, and a creative teacher is a special thing indeed as they develop before that transition and peer pressure supresses their creative potential. By giving your best and imparting your wisdom - and sense of fun - on young minds, you might just find something that fulfils you in a way it seems you have been missing?
Apr 28th 2021, 12:04 am
#21
Forum Regular
Joined: Mar 2012
Location: Charleston, SC - Previously Edinburgh
Posts: 264
Re: My situation
Not only UK primary schools, but if the travelling bug strikes again, International schools all over Europe and the rest of the world. (There has to be at least half a dozen here in the Amsterdam area alone). Try it. See if you can hack it primary age kids.
From my own experience with my four kids, having a unique and charismatic teacher in the final year or two before they leave to high school gives them some unique perspectives and bodes well for their futures. Long after you are departed, in any sense of the word, 'Mr Zeppo' will still be spoken about in fond terms by those who learned from you. They are easy to inspire, much easier than their pubescent future-selves, and a creative teacher is a special thing indeed as they develop before that transition and peer pressure supresses their creative potential. By giving your best and imparting your wisdom - and sense of fun - on young minds, you might just find something that fulfils you in a way it seems you have been missing?
From my own experience with my four kids, having a unique and charismatic teacher in the final year or two before they leave to high school gives them some unique perspectives and bodes well for their futures. Long after you are departed, in any sense of the word, 'Mr Zeppo' will still be spoken about in fond terms by those who learned from you. They are easy to inspire, much easier than their pubescent future-selves, and a creative teacher is a special thing indeed as they develop before that transition and peer pressure supresses their creative potential. By giving your best and imparting your wisdom - and sense of fun - on young minds, you might just find something that fulfils you in a way it seems you have been missing?
May 9th 2021, 11:53 pm
#22
Just Joined
Joined: May 2021
Posts: 1
Re: My situation
Hey Zeppo,
By now I figure you are in Albania, but out of curiosity, did you make any decisions?
Your situation has sounded challenging but I want so share a couple of thoughts. You are very self-deprecating. If you really chastise yourself internally, that could be your biggest challenge of all. Making friends anywhere involves having a degree of self-confidence (even if it is faked a bit in the beginning - many people are nervous initially). How long were you living in Canada and not making friends? I write this because I moved away when I allowed myself to believe the statements and promises of my partner-now-husband which was a mistake - but here I am. It's been torture as I'm on a little island, in Denmark, the jobs that I pursued were not interested . . my age? not trusting my U.S. education? my Danish language skills (or lack thereof at the time)? my lack of network?
Here, they openly say that between 70 - 80% of jobs are acquired through one's network. So, not having friends (or in my case acquaintances even) is both a personal, loneliness, relationship issue, but also an employment issue. So is stability. Sometimes, you have to stick out the rough spots, take educated chances and pat yourself on the back for simply surviving.
I had it really badly here for years. My husband had been courting me, really, for 4 years. He wanted me to move to DK. He (and dare I say "most" Danes) could not bring himself to acknowledge that the country, government parties at least, had become hostile, literally and legally, toward foreigners and I was and am a foreigner. I did not and could not move to Copenhagen where some have it better - they speak English there fairly easily. More to say but not here. I finally found myself crying every day - for a number of reasons but largely due to being away from my adult daughter, my (not-so-close) family of origin and my closer extended family (if that makes sense). I had tried everything, really, the only thing left was to go back. What I learned during that year was hard, but real. I'm an attorney and practised in the U.S. and was well-employed and decently paid when I left. When I returned, the economy had changed. No one wanted to hire me because their had been so many law graduates that the supply outweighed demand and the pay was now much lower than when I left. They didn't trust that I would stay. I got a job teaching (I LOVE teaching btw) but it was with what turned out to be an American - fake university like Donald Trumps. They took money from people who had graduated only on paper. Some couldn't even write and place the capital letters where they belonged - placing them in strange places instead. I left after 6 months as I would never, literally, be able to help these students achieve what they had been promised. It was a certification they would NOT be able to get from the "college" where I was teaching. Period.
But my real point is, that what I thought I had left - no longer existed. Like childhood. We grow and we find new ways to be silly - but we cannot be children again. Just reality. I found ways to cope using the slogan (really it is the Prayer of St. Francis, first part) used by 12-step groups "lord grant me the serentiy to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference" (paraphrasing perhaps here). I really said this to myself often. I also literally again, looked at myself up and down and asked whether I was "okay" and in fact, every time I checked, I was! I had no choice, being without work and not being willing to live with relatives (not even a question - not as much to do with feeling like a failure, that didn't occur to me much actually, but because we would not survive the trauma of it. I also didn't want to be a burden and couldn't predict how long I would be stuck there (as in unable to move). I had to move back to DK. I was not financially independent.
When I moved back, I recommitted to making my life better. It's been up and down. My husband is not an easy man to live with. But I chose to advokate more for myself, to do more for myself, and to deflect his insinuations of this and that being my fault. His doing this really is a problem OF HIS. It's been much better!
Granted Covid has made things hard and claustrophobic. But in that sense, it has got me out in the fresh air far more often - a good thing. And now it is lifting a bit. I took up and old hobby, ceramics, and failed and failed and failed and failed but got ounces of knowledge here and there and finally after almost a year started to make a few things that I felt good about.
That is what you are looking for too, right? To feel good some of the time? To have a reason to wake up in the morning - something to look forward to?
You do have challenges ahead. You will have them wherever you go! But try to recognize and accept the things you cannot change (like me being financially dependent - not something attorneys like to be, for sure!), change the things you can - wisely, like TAKING the course in September. If you don't like it - see if you can stick it out. You will be able to look back and say you DID something. As far as whether you can cut it. Of course you can!! They accepted you into the program because you can! You might need to fail a bit along the way but that is okay. Developing study habits should be your goal for the summer. Give yourself some reading and writing tasks, dates and goals to achieve milestones by, and be as ready as you can be. Not perfectly ready, but ready as YOU can be under the circumstances you have currently. And do this along the way. If you need help - whether with study habits or with anamatapia (I have no idea how to spell that!) then ask. Teachers, which you will have, expect and sometimes thrive on questions and answers. Didn't I read that you'd been teaching for some time? And that the last employer asked you to teach again???? That doesn't happen to everyone. But the thing is, maybe you will teach or maybe you will use the certification in another way. Maybe it will simply be evidence that you are someone who sticks to a plan. Perhaps you'll get some teachers who give you good references. Of course it is your decision - but I'm a mom - I like to tell people what to do! (yeah, I have to admit that). But I am often right!
Well, a professor of mine used to say "Trust me now. Believe me later". Sometimes that is what it takes.
If you hear a voice in your head putting you down. Smack it !! Shut it down before it gets a word out. There is no need for you to judge you. Banish the judge in you! He's not good for you. He's not helping. 8^) As far as Albania - we have Albanian refugees here - they were pretty wrecked. I wouldn't want to open another can of worms if I were you. I don't know you, so take this for what it is worth, but talking to your doctor could also be good. Ask for a mental health check. Statistically, the numbers of people experiencing all kinds of stress which require assistance (not advocating for medications here btw) have increased dramatically under Covid. Stress triggers other problems so it's good to get it under control if it is an issue that recurs. You don't have to be alone. If your inner judge disagrees - Slap!! Slap!! Out with that voice!
Best of luck and wise action to you. And thanks for letting me act like a mom on mother's day.
"The greatest teacher. failure is" ~~ Yoda
By now I figure you are in Albania, but out of curiosity, did you make any decisions?
Your situation has sounded challenging but I want so share a couple of thoughts. You are very self-deprecating. If you really chastise yourself internally, that could be your biggest challenge of all. Making friends anywhere involves having a degree of self-confidence (even if it is faked a bit in the beginning - many people are nervous initially). How long were you living in Canada and not making friends? I write this because I moved away when I allowed myself to believe the statements and promises of my partner-now-husband which was a mistake - but here I am. It's been torture as I'm on a little island, in Denmark, the jobs that I pursued were not interested . . my age? not trusting my U.S. education? my Danish language skills (or lack thereof at the time)? my lack of network?
Here, they openly say that between 70 - 80% of jobs are acquired through one's network. So, not having friends (or in my case acquaintances even) is both a personal, loneliness, relationship issue, but also an employment issue. So is stability. Sometimes, you have to stick out the rough spots, take educated chances and pat yourself on the back for simply surviving.
I had it really badly here for years. My husband had been courting me, really, for 4 years. He wanted me to move to DK. He (and dare I say "most" Danes) could not bring himself to acknowledge that the country, government parties at least, had become hostile, literally and legally, toward foreigners and I was and am a foreigner. I did not and could not move to Copenhagen where some have it better - they speak English there fairly easily. More to say but not here. I finally found myself crying every day - for a number of reasons but largely due to being away from my adult daughter, my (not-so-close) family of origin and my closer extended family (if that makes sense). I had tried everything, really, the only thing left was to go back. What I learned during that year was hard, but real. I'm an attorney and practised in the U.S. and was well-employed and decently paid when I left. When I returned, the economy had changed. No one wanted to hire me because their had been so many law graduates that the supply outweighed demand and the pay was now much lower than when I left. They didn't trust that I would stay. I got a job teaching (I LOVE teaching btw) but it was with what turned out to be an American - fake university like Donald Trumps. They took money from people who had graduated only on paper. Some couldn't even write and place the capital letters where they belonged - placing them in strange places instead. I left after 6 months as I would never, literally, be able to help these students achieve what they had been promised. It was a certification they would NOT be able to get from the "college" where I was teaching. Period.
But my real point is, that what I thought I had left - no longer existed. Like childhood. We grow and we find new ways to be silly - but we cannot be children again. Just reality. I found ways to cope using the slogan (really it is the Prayer of St. Francis, first part) used by 12-step groups "lord grant me the serentiy to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference" (paraphrasing perhaps here). I really said this to myself often. I also literally again, looked at myself up and down and asked whether I was "okay" and in fact, every time I checked, I was! I had no choice, being without work and not being willing to live with relatives (not even a question - not as much to do with feeling like a failure, that didn't occur to me much actually, but because we would not survive the trauma of it. I also didn't want to be a burden and couldn't predict how long I would be stuck there (as in unable to move). I had to move back to DK. I was not financially independent.
When I moved back, I recommitted to making my life better. It's been up and down. My husband is not an easy man to live with. But I chose to advokate more for myself, to do more for myself, and to deflect his insinuations of this and that being my fault. His doing this really is a problem OF HIS. It's been much better!
Granted Covid has made things hard and claustrophobic. But in that sense, it has got me out in the fresh air far more often - a good thing. And now it is lifting a bit. I took up and old hobby, ceramics, and failed and failed and failed and failed but got ounces of knowledge here and there and finally after almost a year started to make a few things that I felt good about.
That is what you are looking for too, right? To feel good some of the time? To have a reason to wake up in the morning - something to look forward to?
You do have challenges ahead. You will have them wherever you go! But try to recognize and accept the things you cannot change (like me being financially dependent - not something attorneys like to be, for sure!), change the things you can - wisely, like TAKING the course in September. If you don't like it - see if you can stick it out. You will be able to look back and say you DID something. As far as whether you can cut it. Of course you can!! They accepted you into the program because you can! You might need to fail a bit along the way but that is okay. Developing study habits should be your goal for the summer. Give yourself some reading and writing tasks, dates and goals to achieve milestones by, and be as ready as you can be. Not perfectly ready, but ready as YOU can be under the circumstances you have currently. And do this along the way. If you need help - whether with study habits or with anamatapia (I have no idea how to spell that!) then ask. Teachers, which you will have, expect and sometimes thrive on questions and answers. Didn't I read that you'd been teaching for some time? And that the last employer asked you to teach again???? That doesn't happen to everyone. But the thing is, maybe you will teach or maybe you will use the certification in another way. Maybe it will simply be evidence that you are someone who sticks to a plan. Perhaps you'll get some teachers who give you good references. Of course it is your decision - but I'm a mom - I like to tell people what to do! (yeah, I have to admit that). But I am often right!
Well, a professor of mine used to say "Trust me now. Believe me later". Sometimes that is what it takes.If you hear a voice in your head putting you down. Smack it !! Shut it down before it gets a word out. There is no need for you to judge you. Banish the judge in you! He's not good for you. He's not helping. 8^) As far as Albania - we have Albanian refugees here - they were pretty wrecked. I wouldn't want to open another can of worms if I were you. I don't know you, so take this for what it is worth, but talking to your doctor could also be good. Ask for a mental health check. Statistically, the numbers of people experiencing all kinds of stress which require assistance (not advocating for medications here btw) have increased dramatically under Covid. Stress triggers other problems so it's good to get it under control if it is an issue that recurs. You don't have to be alone.
If your inner judge disagrees - Slap!! Slap!! Out with that voice!Best of luck and wise action to you. And thanks for letting me act like a mom on mother's day.
"The greatest teacher. failure is" ~~ Yoda
Last edited by JeninDK; May 10th 2021 at 12:06 am. Reason: add a point
Aug 5th 2021, 7:42 pm
#23
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2018
Posts: 35
Re: My situation
So I have been teaching online for the last 12 months.
I did eventually go to Albania for 5 weeks and lived the 'Digital Nomad' life there during that time, living and teaching. Honestly, it was great. I could escape the UK and had a fun adventure.
The course is looming and I am seriously considering cancelling it. I just don't see much of a future for me in this country, and I would have to quit my part time online ESL gigs to do the course.
The main problem I have is that my father is offering to pay the course fees and he will be deeply hurt by it. Also, I can't tell if this is just normal cold feet or something far more 'real.' The guilt is palpable. My family are all so excited for me doing it. I feel like I'm entering an arranged marriage
I sometimes see Facebook posts about teaching and the comments are overwhelmingly negative and many talks of nervous breakdowns. Why am I signing up for that? Spending life savings on it? It just seems crazy. Especially because the thing I like about ESL is that it does not demand so much of you psychologically that you cannot pursue other hobbies. Teaching and PGCE just looks like it demands absolutely everything.
So I am thinking of cancelling it and just going back abroad to the Balkans which have a low cost of living and staying on tourist visas until I settle in one place.
I suppose typing it out, this sounds like a bit of a crazy plan. And I may yet do the course...
Aug 6th 2021, 6:23 am
#24
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Jun 2015
Location: France
Posts: 862
Re: My situation
Your heart is clearly not in it so please withdraw your application now so that the people running the course can offer your place to someone else who’s more likely to go the distance and not waste taxpayers’ money.
As for telling your family, what can I say? Grow a pair?
The Balkans sounds like great fun. If you can make a living out of something that gives you the adventure you crave, why not stick with that?
As for telling your family, what can I say? Grow a pair?
The Balkans sounds like great fun. If you can make a living out of something that gives you the adventure you crave, why not stick with that?
Aug 7th 2021, 7:14 am
#25
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Apr 2008
Location: Hérault (34)
Posts: 8,890
Re: My situation
Hi, completely off-topic as I can't help or advise, but the word Albania caught my eye. Some one has been asking about that country in the Europe forum (at the bottom, under the dedicated country forums). If he hasn't left the building, maybe you could give him some "been there, done that" info?
Aug 7th 2021, 7:15 pm
#26
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2018
Posts: 35
Re: My situation
Hi, completely off-topic as I can't help or advise, but the word Albania caught my eye. Some one has been asking about that country in the Europe forum (at the bottom, under the dedicated country forums). If he hasn't left the building, maybe you could give him some "been there, done that" info?
Aug 16th 2023, 8:15 am
#27
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2018
Posts: 35
Re: My situation
UPDATE:
I went back for the PGCE but failed the final placement
Then I went to Poland and worked in an international school but got fired from that position.
So I returned to uk and retook the placement and PASSED
Now I am in Poland again and contemplating gaining more UK experience or staying abroad.
Do I regret doing the PGCE?
It caused me a lot of suffering I have to say but I feel good now I am qualified that I have more options in terms of how I can work. I could either continue my career in the UK or I could apply for a wider variety of positions abroad so it's all good. I'm also glad I really challenged myself vs just sticking with what I already know via PGCE.
I would say the stories about UK teachers having no work/life balance are absolutely real though.
I went back for the PGCE but failed the final placement
Then I went to Poland and worked in an international school but got fired from that position.
So I returned to uk and retook the placement and PASSED
Now I am in Poland again and contemplating gaining more UK experience or staying abroad.
Do I regret doing the PGCE?
It caused me a lot of suffering I have to say but I feel good now I am qualified that I have more options in terms of how I can work. I could either continue my career in the UK or I could apply for a wider variety of positions abroad so it's all good. I'm also glad I really challenged myself vs just sticking with what I already know via PGCE.
I would say the stories about UK teachers having no work/life balance are absolutely real though.
Aug 16th 2023, 10:30 am
#29
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2018
Posts: 35
Re: My situation
Great!
Especially in summer. It might be my favourite country I have lived in. It's efficient. People are kind. Can get by in English. Plenty of work opportunities (even for lowly TEFL).
Cost of living is high in Warsaw but nothing compared to UK.
Time in UK is just about developing my 'career'
But for LIFE Poland is better for sure.
Especially in summer. It might be my favourite country I have lived in. It's efficient. People are kind. Can get by in English. Plenty of work opportunities (even for lowly TEFL).
Cost of living is high in Warsaw but nothing compared to UK.
Time in UK is just about developing my 'career'
But for LIFE Poland is better for sure.