An audience with TEFL and Chondrolaryngoplasty
It's looking to me as though the world might develop into a suitably favourable bivalve.
Having decided to explore the possibilities of teaching abroad (specifically, in Japan), I've signed up to a weekend “Introduction to TEFL” course that Oxford's Continuing Education people are offering. I won't pick up a TEFL qualification from it, but it ought to provide a good foundation for whatever course I decide to take afterwards...
...which might take some thought. CELTA is a little pricey and cumbersome, particularly when considering that I'd have to give up my current job to take such a course. I'd rather wait until I've actually secured a job overseas before handing in my resignation here. I've picked up a brochure from i-to-i (www.onlinetefl.com), which offers a weekend course coupled with online training - I'm a pretty good self-starter generally, so the reduced classroom time shouldn't be a problem, particularly if I can sit in on some lessons at one of the language schools in Oxford on days off work. But then, while i-to-i TEFL courses are ODLQC-accredited and their qualifications are 'internationally recognized', I get the impression that they might not have anywhere near the universal recognition that CELTA's do. So I want to establish that i-to-i take their courses seriously and are taken seriously in turn - if not, I'll just have to budget for a CELTA. Any thoughts or advice will be gratefully received.
In the meantime, I'm back in hospital again on Tuesday, for my chondrolaryngoplasty. I'm not quite as nervous as I was last time, but then, this is relatively minor surgery. [Persistent Inner Voice: “But it *does* involve people carving at your *throat* with *knives*.”] And it's apparently even less likely to go wrong than GRS was. [PIV: “Ooh, here's an idea - why don't we watch Sweeney Todd tonight?”] And I'm looking forward to overcoming the compulsion to cover my neck all the time. *gags PIV with pashmina*
So... if any of you are at a loose end near Hammersmith at late afternoon on 1st September, you're very much welcome to visit me at the Riverside Wing of Charing Cross Hospital :)
Having decided to explore the possibilities of teaching abroad (specifically, in Japan), I've signed up to a weekend “Introduction to TEFL” course that Oxford's Continuing Education people are offering. I won't pick up a TEFL qualification from it, but it ought to provide a good foundation for whatever course I decide to take afterwards...
...which might take some thought. CELTA is a little pricey and cumbersome, particularly when considering that I'd have to give up my current job to take such a course. I'd rather wait until I've actually secured a job overseas before handing in my resignation here. I've picked up a brochure from i-to-i (www.onlinetefl.com), which offers a weekend course coupled with online training - I'm a pretty good self-starter generally, so the reduced classroom time shouldn't be a problem, particularly if I can sit in on some lessons at one of the language schools in Oxford on days off work. But then, while i-to-i TEFL courses are ODLQC-accredited and their qualifications are 'internationally recognized', I get the impression that they might not have anywhere near the universal recognition that CELTA's do. So I want to establish that i-to-i take their courses seriously and are taken seriously in turn - if not, I'll just have to budget for a CELTA. Any thoughts or advice will be gratefully received.
In the meantime, I'm back in hospital again on Tuesday, for my chondrolaryngoplasty. I'm not quite as nervous as I was last time, but then, this is relatively minor surgery. [Persistent Inner Voice: “But it *does* involve people carving at your *throat* with *knives*.”] And it's apparently even less likely to go wrong than GRS was. [PIV: “Ooh, here's an idea - why don't we watch Sweeney Todd tonight?”] And I'm looking forward to overcoming the compulsion to cover my neck all the time. *gags PIV with pashmina*
So... if any of you are at a loose end near Hammersmith at late afternoon on 1st September, you're very much welcome to visit me at the Riverside Wing of Charing Cross Hospital :)