These Are A Few (More) Of My Favorite Things

It’s that time of year again, and before I get too caught up in the nitty gritty details of it all, I’d like to wish my readers and fellow bloggers a happy holiday season. Probably feeling that I’d overdosed on cynicism, I compiled the initial report on my favorite things about teaching. For all that I didn’t cover there, here are a few of my favorite things about teaching and blogging…

Teaching:

While you will probably not be revered for being a native English speaker, if you give off a vibe that you are interested in your students as people and their country and culture, people tend to respond to that.
You get to live overseas, and generally speaking, have a chance to really muck in. For better or worse, you are mostly left to your own devices.
There are a variety of entry-level opportunities, and while you do need training, it’s not as hard as most people expect to start teaching English as a foreign language. You can decide to go for it and, within a few months, have a job.
You can talk to your students about all sorts of interesting subjects, as long as you frame it within a wider theme (life experiences) and goal (fluency practice).
Thinking about your own language analytically can give you some neat insight about something you usually take for granted, and so can looking at your own culture once you’ve been outside it for a while.
Compared to other jobs which take you overseas, or even traveling, you really get some of the best interaction with people as individuals through EFL. I know that EFL is not for everyone, and it is even not “for” some teachers already doing it, but I do believe that if more people had the experience of TEFL or another like it, the world would be a better place.

Blogging:

You find out that people who might seem scary when they parody one of the very first posts you ever wrote have a soft spot for haiku. And… kittens? (probably for lunch)
No pinchy shoes required.
People who have nothing to gain from it will take the time to share what they know in an email interview. Sure, they get a link if they have a blog or site, but who am I kidding, at this time, the TEFL Logue is just a tad unlikely to catapult anyone into world fame. Plus, these fine people have to put up with several rounds of editing questions from yours truly.
I suppose this is something I like about the net in general,but you can find some pretty interesting people and information through links at places like Tesall.com.
Someone you have never met in person, who worked halfway around the world, will eat live octopus and dedicate the experience to you.
Last but not least: coffee and Richard Quest. Hmm..not TEFL, not blogging, but still, a few of my favorite things.