Job Discussion Forums

[bograt]

[Sudz]

I wish I had discovered the enjoyment of studying a second language earlier - spent 8 years in HCMC, and learned only a minimal amount of Vietnamese.

Also, I wish I had known earlier that upgrading my qualifications while continuing to teach overseas wouldn't be as difficult as I had imagined.

Oh, and I wish I had been a little more assertive with regards to improving the quality of my teaching earlier on (in my 20s). I pretty much got to a certain level, then more or less coasted. Now that I am teaching an intensive IELTS course to students wishing to study overseas, I feel I still have much to learn.

[In the heat of the moment]

Non, je ne regrette rien.

Having gone through what I have, has made me the person I am. Also knowing very little at the start makes for an interesting experience throughout. Obviously there's an argument for getting good qualifications and starting out in a decent international school, but there's also an argument for starting out in some backwater in SE Asia and honing your chops on the job. I think it depends on whether you view life as a competition, a marathon, a series of sprints, an experience or something else.

YMMV.

[SammytheSlug]

Looking back to the beginning, I wish I'd known to just relax and enjoy it all. Too many new teachers spend too much time stressed out. It's a fun job, enjoy it.

I'm much better in that regard now.

Also, don't listen too much to people who are unhappy with how their lives have turned out. I'm a decade in now and still very much enjoying my tefl.

[Kowloon]

You've had a lot of great suggestions already. I will chime in with a couple of boring ones!

I wish I had gotten my CELTA before I started my first job and I wish I had held out for something a bit more respectable after I did eventually get it!

[getbehindthemule]