Yes, I know. Holidays are sacred. We deserve them. We shouldn’t think about work then. At all. Just recharging batteries. Maintaining work-life balance. Full stop. I do agree.
However, I think there may be some exceptional moments when opportunities emerge naturally for us to put a teacher’s hat on. Seize them, as they will not be back and, most importantly, where else can you find free:
- Ideas for photos – I took these in Spain at Mercado de La Boqueria in Barcelona and on the beach in Cascais, Portugal. I use them for revising vocabulary and spelling corrections. The sky is the limit here, however, I would refrain from presenting anything private to your students.
- Unique (and often cheaper) stationery and books. This can be a nice addition to your personal teacher toolkit. 🙂
- Authentic materials, such as leaflets or magazines. You can utilise them for reading, collaboration or using a dictionary tasks.
- Information on culture, history, places and landmarks as well as basic phrases that can be used for embedding equality and diversity as well as for creating various quizzes.
- Opportunities to share experiences if you meet teachers there. A friend of a friend or a person staying next door may express interesting points of view and opinions that may make you to look at something from a different perspective while distancing yourself.
Collecting items and information is helpful when you teach a language spoken in a visited country. It is also important when you teach students from that country. You learn about and feel the atmosphere of that place so you can relate to some aspects better and promote equality and diversity further when back in class. Students really appreciate when some unique and meaningful facts or images are embedded in lessons. You create an inclusive classroom and you motivate students that way. So next time when you are away, look around, listen and get something useful and meaningful out of it!
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