Welcome!

Well hi there! Welcome to this little corner of the Blogosphere that I'm calling mine. First of all, let me introduce myself. I’m sure you can understand that with my position as a teacher, I have to maintain a certain level of anonymity. So, for the sake of these posts, I’m H, a teacher in my early-to-mid-twenties in the UK. I have been teaching for three years now, mainly fueled by Yorkshire Tea (not sponsored!), and, even though I know I have a lot still to learn, I feel like I have picked up a lot so far. I’ve not had the easiest route into teaching, nor has it all been sunshine and rainbows since I started, but that’s all for a later post.

For now, let me tell you a little bit about me (cue the massive ego trip). I graduated from Edge Hill University with a modest 2:1 Ba (Hons) in MFL (French) and Key Stage 2/3 Education back in as a fresh-faced and starry-eyed (although definitely not naïve) NQT. Since then, I’ve been working as a full-time French and Spanish teacher in the North of England (that’s about as specific as it’s going to get, I’m afraid). Aside from the professional stuff, I am a huge dog person with a very strong enthusiasm for anything beagle. I’m not really a full-on ‘party person’ but I do definitely enjoy a good boogie with a few tipples every now and then. I love to travel and hope to see much more of the world as soon as I can (more details of the travelling to follow). As far as other interests go, I am part of a local choir, despite being far from the next Beyoncé! I am a massive Harry Potter fan and I kick butt at the quizzes! I love learning random facts to use and any random moment and have quite the dry sense of humour which, in this job, is an invaluable tool.

As far as family goes, it’s me, my dad and the dog. I moved away from home to go to university and haven’t properly lived at home since although I try to go back as much as I can to get that proper home feeling.

The past few years have definitely been challenging for me – both personally and professionally – but what I hope to get from sharing some of these experiences is a chance to reflect on these challenges and to (fingers crossed) help someone else by showing that as I said before, this career is definitely not all sunshine and rainbows and it’s ok to feel bad, to break, to struggle. I am well aware the every job has its challenges, but I think teaching is one where people no longer realise just how many challenges there are and how much they affect you personally. More so in recent years, people’s perceptions of teachers have changed drastically. This is all to come in another post, and yes, it will come with many stories.

For now, let me finish off by saying that I really do love teaching, and that I really really hope I can continue to love it for a long time, wherever in the world I end up.

Until next time

H x