Jean-Noel Moikeenah - TEFL course diary

…………………….hello again, hope you’re being patient with me. There’s so much going on that i can only update my blog once a week. Anyway, the course is really good. It’s exactly what i wanted in a course. It’s made me open up and let my real self come out. Doing it long distance, i can plan around my everyday life and my family. i can also decide when i want to finish it according to what else is going on around me. my wife is very supportive. she also helps me now and again as she’s already a tefl teacher and has been teaching for 2 years. Living in the south of france, with the demand for english teachers, is ideal for the life that we came here for. it’s got everything that we need. we bought our house outright so we haven’t got a mortgage, the climate is great, short winter, long summer. we’ve made friends from the church we visit and also from my daughter’s school. their is an anglophone association that has lots of activities all year round. the food is great, hardly any crime…………………………

……………………….9% unemployment in France, a system that doesn’t allow you much flexibility when it comes to changing your job, needing to be trained in something or have a diploma to get a job. All these makes it really difficult to find work. Not just for foreigners from the EU but French citizens. One good thing about Sarkozy(controversial presidential candidate) is that he wants to bring the British employment system to France much to the discontent of the French. It’ll be too late for me though, i’ll be a qualified TEFL teacher raking it in(i wish).
I’ve probably applied for a 100 jobs in just over 2 years and i’m still waiting for my first interview. Anyway, things are looking up. I’m convinced i’ll be winning the euro lottery soon. Keep watching………………….;

…………………………anyone that says a correspondence course is low standard and not worth much should try and do one. This course that i’m doing is more involved, more interesting, more intense than a year’s course in a classroom. It allows you to be yourself. You can take your time, you’re not under any pressure because you have 18 months to complete it. You can write whatever you want, express your opinions, feelings without caring what others think of you. You have more time to think things through which enables you to write down answers that you’re happy with. There are so many advantages of doing a correspondence course. I will point them out as the year and my course progresses.

My typical day would be, get up, get my daughter ready for school, take her to school, come home, have breakfast and get on with my course. Have lunch and a break, carry on with the course, pick up my daughter from school and get dinner ready. All, in the beautiful scenery of the south of France…………………………………

……………………i generally find it hard to concentrate, so embarking on an 80 hour course, i was slightly apprehensive. the last time i studied anything was when i left school, 14 years ago. but, i told myself that, if i wanted to live the dream with my family, i would have to do this. being a tefl teacher where i live enables me to choose the contracts that i want to teach. i don’t have to work full time, i can spend time with my daughter and wife, go on holiday when we want to and have a life without stress. As we have no mortgage, we only have to work to pay the bills, buy food and petrol.

i began the course. interesting, this course is good. not theoritical, a lot of thinking involved, lots of writing, a challenge. i’m actually enjoying this. i’m learning so many different things, about teaching and about myself………………..

……………………Continuing from where i left off. As my wife is working almost full time teaching English and my daughter goes to school full time, it was almost impossible for me to go away to do the TEFL course. So iopted for the long distance course which I can do in the comfort of my home, in my own time and pace. I haven’t done an extensive course like this since i left sixth form. I was a little apprehensive at first, wondering if i would be able to switch my brain to learning mode again.I received my first booklet, out of 4, sometimes in October. By then, i was actually looking forward to it. I saw this as a challenge and i relish them. So, my studying hat came back on and off i went……………………….

My name is Jean-Noel, born in Mauritius but nationalised British, 33 years old, living in the south of France.

I, my wife and my 3 years old daughter moved to the Pyrenees in 2004. We both left our jobs and the rat race in the UK, to come and find a more peaceful and enjoyable life in France. Our initial plan was to run a b&b, which we did. However, that wasn’t enough to pay for all the bills so my wife, who is a qualified TEFL teacher, decided that she would look for work teaching English. She found work with no problems. I continued running the b&b.

As time went by, we found that our heating bills were too expensive, as our house was in the mountains and isolated and my wife was having to drive long distances to her work. Because of these two reasons we decided to move and to stop the b&b. We moved to 45mins north of Pau, nearer to my wife’s work and cheaper heating bills.

That was in August 2006. I have since tried to find a job but with no luck. Unemployment in France is higher than the UK and to add to that, the French dubious and suspect system of having to provide a photo with your CV when applying for jobs and being British, I still haven’t found a job.

So my wife and I decided that I would become an English teacher as there is a big demand for them. As she is already working as one, she has contacts, friends who would, almost certainly, find me a job. So, in October 2006 I started a long distance TEFL course. Keep watching, there will be more…