What can I say? Nothing? Possibly.

Too much? Always a danger.

Too little? Not me… but what I’ll try to express here is some of what I’m all about.

 

Who I am

I am a qualified teacher, more importantly TEFL* teacher, which is great but meaningless when starting out as anyone who has ever tried job-hunting can confirm. Experience is the key and along the way I’ve learnt a lot not only about the students I’ve come in contact with but also about myself.

“A good teacher is a good student first. By repeating his lessons, he acquires excellence.”  M. K. Soni

It hasn’t always been easy; my frustrations often building when a Lesson Plan wasn’t going as I had intended it, but again it takes time to realise that it’s not just planning but adapting that counts.

Why I became an English teacher

As far back as I can remember I’ve wanted to teach and, perhaps, always English in some form or other. When I first saw the Bjorn Borg look-a-like reading from a poem by Emily Dickinson in the 80s/90s series ‘thirtysomething’ I knew this was the job for me. I could boast a vocation but I won’t claim such except posthumously (if at all). A brief encounter with an Englishman in a job agency in Amsterdam provided the next piece to the puzzle. “If you want to be a teacher,” he said “and you like travelling, why not combine them!” BOOM. Two years later, a Masters under my belt I skipped off to Marseille in the sunny South of France and from there to everywhere else.

Why I moved to Budapest

Budapest was, initially, just another city in a number that was ever-increasing on my travels. I had little or no idea about this city, this country, other than a minimal paragraph concerning the Austro-Hungarian Empire in my history book, an inkling that goulash was abundant hereabouts and that the famous Puskas came from these parts. To say that my first encounters with Hungarians were interesting is to put it mildly. They were educational, and while I had previously very little concern for politics, anywhere, I now pride myself on a greater knowledge, perhaps even than some of my students, on the topic.

Why I stayed

In 2007 I met my girlfriend, partner**, Andi, and as of April 2010 our daughter Tara has joined us for the ride.

My Hungarian

Since moving to Budapest in 2006 I have at times lapsed in my endeavours to learn the language but as of December 2011 I have made it my 3 year plan to become efficient in Hungarian. Proficient, that’s just a dream.

Why I believe in reincarnation

There just isn’t enough time in one life to see the whole world, and if, like me, you also like to immerse yourself for longer periods in any particular place, then twenty thousand lifetimes may still not suffice.

*Teaching English as a Foreign Language

**http://thehairyteacher.com/?p=489