Job Discussion Forums

philyyy · Joined: 29 May 2005 Posts: 93 Location: Wroclaw

Who? Where? Are you normal?

nuim · Joined: 13 Mar 2006 Posts: 2

possibly....Ill let you know.....now about being normal..... Razz

philyyy · Joined: 29 May 2005 Posts: 93 Location: Wroclaw

Where might you be working? What does it depend on? Do you collect anything odd?- I'm thinking of a way to ascertain whether you're normal or not and I think odd collections are a good indicator.

phaedrus1979 · Joined: 31 Jul 2006 Posts: 5 Location: Dublin

hi man, theres a good chance ill be working in wroclaw from early september but its by no means certain. why you asking?[and what is good and what is not good, need we ask anyone to tell us these things?-plato, the phaedrus][/quote]

philyyy · Joined: 29 May 2005 Posts: 93 Location: Wroclaw

I'm asking because I'll definitely be there from the end of September and knowing these things most schools will be full of oddball teachers so I thought I'd try and find as many other people there as early as possible in case some or normal so I don't get stuck with the aforementioned.

phaedrus1979 · Joined: 31 Jul 2006 Posts: 5 Location: Dublin

Full of oddball teachers? i dunno dude, thats some subjective territory there, Ill say that in my experience some activities do attract oddballs. For example, i studied aikido for years, and martial arts does seem to attract weirdos, maybe TEFL is the same.where do you hail from?

philyyy · Joined: 29 May 2005 Posts: 93 Location: Wroclaw

I'm only basing my odd person theory on my CELTA course and my one year of teaching in Poland. I'd love to be proved wrong and like every single person I work with next year but I'm preparing myself for a lot of odd 'uns. I'm from Sheffield in mighty Yorkshire.

phaedrus1979 · Joined: 31 Jul 2006 Posts: 5 Location: Dublin

oh i see, which school are you gonna be working for in wroclaw?have you ever been to that city before? it sounds pretty nice and its reasonably big.Im from Dublin, Ireland oh yeah...IM gonna work for a school called top english

anospi · Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 12:19 am Post subject:

I spent a year working in Cambodia, and a few of my colleagues voted me the most "normal" teacher in the staffroom out of 30 teachers. I wasn't sure whether to take that as a compliment or an insult!

I'll be working in Opole from September, just down the road from Wroclaw. I'm sure the teachers in Poland can't be as oddball as those in Phnom Penh, but, I've been wrong before Smile

phaedrus1979 · Joined: 31 Jul 2006 Posts: 5 Location: Dublin

hmmm is voting on normality in staff rooms some kind of tefl ritual that i am unaware of....i mean.is that normal...??any idea what opole is like?

anospi · Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 11:15 am Post subject:

Nothing was normal in Cambodia.

Opole? I only know what I've been told. That it's a nice little city, quiet, with a few pubs but not much else to do.

philyyy · Joined: 29 May 2005 Posts: 93 Location: Wroclaw

I think TEFL does attract a high number of abnormal individuals. People who whilst living in their home country do not have any friends, so they run away to try and find some. Unfortunately the same reasons they have no friends at home folow them away and they just remain odd. While I was in Poland last year hardly any of the teachers appeared to have any friends in their home country or in Poland.

This is just my opinion but normal is likes socialising (not neccessarily drinking but that often helps a lot of people), can string more than 8 coherent sentences together (only required when sober), knows what is appropriate to say in different company, pays their own way and doesn't offend the locals.