The longest term of the year is almost over and the festive spirit is kicking in. What does Christmas bring for English teachers around the world? Find out over the coming days in this three part blog series. Click here for part 2.
You ́ve made it! You ́ve limped down to the final day of the longest term ever, possibly your first term ever - but hopefully not your last. It ́s been tough going at times but
you ́re still pretty much in one piece and now Christmas is a-calling and you ́re wondering what to do with your time over the holidays.
To help you out, here's a rundown of tempting festive possibilities tried and tested by teachers who ́ve come before you.
1- Collapse in a heap on the floor of your living room and stay there for the next 2 weeks, only getting up to refill your tankard of eggnog and eat more cheese.
As tempting as this sounds, after all who doesn't love gorging themselves silly on dairy products? the boredom factor might kick in long before you've even made inroads into your Stilton. So let's look further afield than the square feet of your flat...
2- Book a flight back home to spend Christmas with the family. This is a no brainer, right?
You ́ll be cosied up in the bosom of your family by Christmas Eve, the promise of the annual turkey dinner to come. Before you get to sit comfortably at the table though, you ́ll have to negotiate airport security, throngs of people and queues, and the latter are always several hundred miles longer than at any other time of the year. Plus, can you guarantee not to fall out with one of your more “strong-minded” relatives over the B- word? Oh yes, that's right, Brexit might make that airport experience even more fun in the future!
3- Travel to another yet undiscovered place. You ́ve always wanted to see in New Year whilst nipping mulled wine from your hip flask in Red Square? Or do fireworks on Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro warm your cockles? Think you can beat the challenge of gobbling up 12 grapes at 12 strikes of the clock at Midnight in Spain? Now's your chance! Use your tefl teacher status and the usually long holidays to your advantage; travel, explore and discover and see in the New Year in as many different places and countries as possible. You might even find the next place where you want to teach whilst you are pleasure seeking.
4- Stay put in the country where you ́re currently teaching and savour culturally different Christmas customs. If you ́re based in Spain for example, remember to leave your shoes by the front door for the three Kings ́ visit and find out whether you prefer nata or chocolate in your roscon de reyes.
The clear plus point of staying put for
Christmas is that you will learn more about the country and the people where you are working and living, and that will bring you closer to the students whom you teach and have a positive knock-on effect on your teaching. And that's all got to be a good thing, right?
Just make sure your school or academy don't drag you in for any extra hours!
However you decide to spend your Christmas holidays, we hope that you make the most of your time off and replenish yourself in order to come back to work fully recharged, and, of course, ready to count down to the next holiday!
If you like our blog you'll love the TEAM TEFL teaching materials. We have a brand new Christmas and new year bumper pack and a review of the 2010's. Visit our store on Teachers Pay Teachers:
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