Miss Alison
My first TEFL experience was in 1999 when I found myself living in Vienna, unable to speak any German, and needing a job. On one of my many window shopping expeditions I just happened to come across a Kids Language School. With nothing to lose, I walked in. I have never looked back and have stayed in TEFL ever since.
After 3 years in Vienna, I returned to Scotland where I realised that I had been bitten hard by the TEFL bug. I found that I was no longer content with the 9-5 rat race in the city which involved hourly number crunching behind a 15” screen. So, I signed up for the 4 week Cambridge Celta course at International House in Budapest. In those days, the short TEFL courses were not yet an option.
It was just a couple of weeks after completion of the course that I was teaching in an international school in Germany. Days were a mix of singing with 3-6 year olds, general English to adults over a cup of coffee in a local street café, or putting a class of Business people through the ‘marketing mix triangle’.
I thoroughly enjoyed teaching and it was the first time that I can honestly say that I really enjoyed going to work. So much so, that teaching on a company premises at 7am was better than staying under that very snuggly duvet!
Conscious that it would help my career to consolidate my formal qualifications, I returned to the UK and my Masters in TESOL followed. Since then, I have been a tutor on the TEFL Scotland training team.
