Hello and welcome to English for Breakfast
This is my new blog where I hope to map out my new path away from the narrow confines of I.T and into a whole new world of TEFL and TESOL and all things linguistic and lovely.
My journey began three years ago when my then-manager unwittingly presented me with a life-changing week on an in-house 'Train the Trainer' course and I learned that, for me, teaching is the most enriching and satisfying profession.
As part of the course we students were asked to prepare a small course of our own and to present back to the class on the final day. My offering was an introduction to a foreign language, "Italian for Breakfast" during which I taught a little vocabulary centred on breakfast, of course, a smidgen of grammar with which to hang it together and some interesting 'tidbits' on the importance of coffee in all its forms to an Italian. My class lapped it up, crumbs and all and I felt, excuse the dreadful pun, like the 'gatto who had got the crema'...
and from that day the course of my life was set to changeIt has taken me three years to find the courage to turn my back on the 'security' of the corporate world and to let go of the responsibilities for the products and people that I had embraced so enthusiastically and taken so seriously. For my divorce to be finalised and for my children to achieve the degree of semi-independence that enables them to embrace this total change of life with curiosity and feeling comfortable.
One day in July 2006 I said a tearful farewell to my colleagues and drove off into the sunset...
I threw away all the detritus of my former life, gathered together all that is good and then, with a deep breath, threw it up in the air and hoped that it would all fall into place in France....
I hope that I can establish myself as a teacher of English, with Celtic Culture weekends as a hobby and sideline for friends maybe even welcome paying guests to this part of the world for a week of escorted, guided, hand-held exploring...
And so, since that week with the wonderful Dave Y. was such a 'tournant' (turning point) , it seems fitting that I should call the beginners course that I hope to launch over the next few months, "English for Breakfast".
Welcome!
