The Search For Enlightenment

With my recently announced redundancy still five months away, time is not yet of the essence to find alternative employment.

But as we all know, times are tight, jobs few on the ground, and times flies when things of this nature are concerned.

Not, I have to say, that I am unduly concerned at present, but I have been having a look around.

Having put in a 40 year shift in IT, I’m not at all sure I want to continue in the same vein, so I’ve decided to have an open mind and see what opportunities present themselves.

Interestingly, during a recent night out in Poole to watch Jack Dee in concert, a friend asked whether I had thought about teaching English as a foreign language, know as TEFL in the profession. I had to admit that I hadn’t.

I’ve never been drawn to teaching. In the past I would never have had the patience to teach anyone anything. But with age and, maybe more so Buddhism, I have a great deal more calmness and patience. So I have been looking at the process needed to get qualified.

On the face of it, it all looks rather straightforward. There is an international qualification required, a TEFL certificate from an academy accredited by the World TEFL Accrediting Commission (WTEFLAC).

The course takes a minimum of 120 hours, of which 20 hours are face to face tutorials and practice. The cost is not too crazy, and the opportunities appear quite realistic, in places as close as Paris or as far away as China and Indonesia.

Whether or not the notion takes hold, the whimsies turn into reality or the possibilities become fact is in my hands. At the moment I have to say that it all sounds rather exciting, and I’m certainly going to take some time to investigate further.

So, far from being the end of the world, this redundancy might be the start of a whole new adventure. We all need a short, sharp, shock at times, just to ease us out of the comfortable rut we have made for ourselves. The shock has been administered, so time will tell.