Hi to everyone.
I'm Mike, living in West Yorkshire, England, U.K. I've just joined today and this is my very first posting! I am currently doing an online TEFL course with Bridge-Linguatec. I have a Bachelor's degree in English, plus a teaching qualification and an MPhil degree. I've had a little college-teaching experience during my PGCE (Post Graduate Certificate in Education), but for the last six years I've been working as an Information Assistant at The University of Birmingham here in the U.K. I felt like a brand new start in terms of my career, and thought it was time that I finally put my Bachelor's degree and my teaching certificate to good use.
I enjoyed the practical teaching experience that I undertook for my PGCE, but when I received funding to do my MPhil I decided to pursue my love of literary research rather than remain in teaching. During thge course of my MPhil I was offered a job working in the Main Library at Birmingham University. I initially intended this to be a short-term job, until I'd finished my MPhil degree, after which I planned to go on to undertake research for a PhD. Anyway, I more or less decided that I enjoyed working in a library enough to stay with the job - and six years later I realised that I still enjoyed working in an academic library but not enough to make it a career. So, it was time for a complete change, a new direction, and time to see something more of the world, experience different cultures, learn some new languages, and hopefully make many new friends in the process. Although my specialisation in English has generally been in literature, I've always been fascinated by the English language: its origins and historical formation, but also its wonderful adaptability. Teaching the English language to non-English speakers is the ideal opportunity for native speakers such as myself to appreciate how much we take the language for granted.
Anyway, I've rambled on enough for my first posting, I think!
Bye for now
Mike
