“What’s your passion?” This is a genuine and seriously reflective question that could be the starting point for some important decision making about the future. To such a great question, my personal response often comes out as a very impassioned, “Oh, I don’t know…” Of course, it’s not that I don’t have passions. I have many interests, but how does one know if they have found “the thing” yet that will be the great response to this great question?
Remember when we were young (or even now!) when relatives, friends, or teachers asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” For me, it was a revolving door of responses. Some days I wanted to be a teacher, some days I wanted to be pastry chef, other days I wanted to be a national parks ranger. It felt impossible to decide! We always seem to be facing questions and decisions about our future plans: “What should I do? What should I study? What do I want to do after I graduate? What is the next step for me? Where do I go from here?” But it is really difficult to choose which direction we want to move in our lives, especially if we can’t quite articulate an answer to, “What IS my passion?”
Consider this: maybe passion is not, in fact, something we have identified early on and must now work our way into. But maybe it is something you develop after you find the things you enjoy doing.
A course like the Via Lingua TEFL program can be part of the path to discovering what it is you enjoy. Maybe teaching is your dream, or maybe it isn’t! Maybe immersing yourself in a new culture intrigues you, or maybe you’re looking for something that pushes you outside your comfort zone. Living in a new country will definitely do that! Whatever the case is, you don’t need to have a final end goal in mind to take the next step in learning about what your passions are and figuring out what you like.
When I decided to take the TEFL course, I was working and looking for a change. Teaching had always been my “thing,” but I wasn’t quite content with the type of work I had been doing. I was feeling stuck. I saw this course at Via Lingua as an experiment that would hopefully offer me some perspective one way or the other on where to go next. Maybe it wouldn’t go the way I anticipated and I would go back to where I was. Or maybe (fingers crossed) it would make me aware of other opportunities or bring to light some other interests that I hadn’t considered before.
What’s important is that we take a step! During the TEFL course, your coursework will situate you to work on a variety of skills relevant to all professions: collaboration, self-discipline, time management, critical thinking, developing interpersonal relationships... In addition, you will also have countless opportunities to reflect on where you are and what you are doing. What are your struggles and successes? What are you surprised that you are good at? What did you like more than you expected? How are you growing? Whether the answers to these questions lead you to teaching English as a foreign language, starting a new chapter abroad, or on a different path entirely, you will finish the course with new experiences and information about yourself, the profession, and the world that will leave you equipped to continue forward with your next step.