An educator, you will be, my young Padawan!

Cards for ESL teachers

I was not born an educator, I made myself one. The old debate of nature versus nurture, makes me wonder how much of my educator skills could my ADN back up.

I was five years old and I had a nasty teacher, Madame Daphy. She once slapped me because I could not use scissors properly. I never told my Dad or there would have been a murder at school and we would have had to join Madame Lalanne's classroom for a while. Madame Lalanne taught older kids, and I would not need an extra challenge, what with my Dad going to prison and all.
So, I kept my ordeal to myself, but declared:

"I will be a teacher and I will be in charge!"

I sincerely do not believe this qualified as a true expression of a passion for teaching. 

My "calling" came later, much later.

As a student, I needed a job to sponsor my studies. I was living abroad, in Taipei at the time, and was planning to come back to France and enroll in the prestigious Ecole Superieure d'interpretariat et Traduction. 

Because most students who boarded in the same youth hostel as I did taught English, I naturally thought of teaching a language I knew well: French, my mother tongue.

Unfortunately, no one there wanted to learn French, so the people who hired me asked me to pretend I was a Canadian and teach English. 

It took about six months before I built up a French teaching clientele.
I had no clue how to do that, and I had never been to Canada, but no one likes to starve in a foreign country. I was amazed at what my students would believe. I felt bad to lie and my employers were happy.

I had no books and no material, so I created my own French language starter course. I even tried to have it published, but no one was interested.
Nowadays, there are scores of good sites proposing material to study modern languages. If you are serious about learning a foreign language, you can speed up the first steps by buying a package. They are well worth it, and once you have a basic knowledge, a tutor can help you improve your skills.

Click Here for Rocket Premium French Program!
This program has it all, you can learn French
as you commute to work or school, TRY IT! 

 Somehow, as my degrees brought me more credibility, I ended up teaching in secondary school... and I taught English, believe it or not. The difference is that everyone knew I was French, I did not have to lie and everyone was happy with me.

Still, I did not feel like an "educator" with a big "E." My passion started to soar when I taught primary grades. These kids were happy no matter what I did. "Take your books," YEY! "Put your books down!" YEY, etc. The days went by and I had a permanent smile on my face looking at my students enjoying being at school.

That was it, I was hooked. I forgot about the prestigious ESIT and worked towards becoming an official teacher.

Single Mum, writer, translator, educator

This is my opening line: I am a single Mum and I recently lost my job.
I have trained as a translator and I love writing. One month ago, I thought my brain would explode with all the worry I had crawling up in there.
Today, I am positive. This is the change I would never have dreamed of.

So, I open my little homely office, surrounded by two cats and a lovely boy, and I start my career as a writer and a translator.

This blog will give any other single Mum in my situation the wings they need to fly and enjoy life in this particular and sometimes unwished-for situation.
Come along and follow my journey. April Thursday is about to take off, and you are invited to watch!

Welcome to my newly opened homely office on the web!

Click on the pages on the right menu to "travel" across the areas of this blog:

 - Parenting a child alone -- a different scenery than parenting in a pair, some my argue that it is easier, ahahah! It might be at times, because I do not need to convince another adult to have faith in me and my methods and decisions, but of course, the balance male/female is off and I need to be Mum and Dad to my kid. 

 - Education -- because even though children spend hours at school, parents are responsible for their education. So, there is "work" to do here also!

 - Battling with money -- a two-parent family (often) means two incomes. A single parent has one income but many of the same expenses as a "full" parental couple. Issues keep coming. I will share my successes and failures in this area.

Keep coming, and leave a trace, let me know 

what you liked or disagreed with. 

Tell me what you need and I will research and write about it.

Enjoy your visit and thank you for stopping by, I am grateful.