Regular readers of this blog, if there any left (!), will have noticed that in the last couple of years it’s been a bit neglected. In fact, in the last 18 months alone there were only three posts and this is the first one in 2018. Which, from my point of view, is terrible as I’m proud of this blog which I have been running since 2010 and I’ve missed writing articles and sharing resources here.

But to be fair to myself, I have had a intense couple of years. So what have I been up to?

• I worked for Cultura Inglesa in Brasília for two years, a very enjoyable experience from which I learned a lot that I’m sure I’ll be reflecting on here soon.
• I took all three modules of the DELTA, passed the first one and I’m waiting for the results of 2 and 3 at the moment. I’ll definitely be reflecting on that.
• I taught a lot of 1-1 classes, which I’ve always enjoyed, met a variety of very interesting people and started teaching online for the first time.
• I spoke at IATEFL for the first time in my hometown Brighton, which was a big personal milestone for me.
• I returned to the BELTA conference in Brussels for the first time since I left my position as President, and it was fantastic to see how the event has grown and prospered since I’ve been away.
• I’m still producing the TEFL Commute, which I’m delighted to see is going from strength to strength.
• And I’ve revamped this website.

And now, to bring it to the present, I’m a freelance teacher, teaching online and starting my own little teaching empire! I shall tell you more about that later, but I have plans and the wheels are in motion.

And in the future… well, the advantage of going freelance is that it gives you the opportunity to try new things, so my many plans include the following:

• Writing books. I have three solid ideas I’m working on there.
• More podcasts.
• A teaching resource.
• Writing more articles for journals.
• Going to more conferences here in Brazil and continuing my work with teaching associations.
• And getting into teacher training after I get (fingers crossed) my DELTA results.

Sorry for being deliberately obtuse, but I prefer to keep my cards close to my chest until I have something concrete to share with you! It’ll be interesting to look back in a couple of years and see how many of these things come to fruition. And I’ll definitely be doing more blogging. I’ve been going back through my ideas folder and I’ve found these potential topics:

So I’ll be doing this blog challenge for myself: will I be able to write something for all of these topics in the next year? Who knows, but I’ll try!

All in all, it’s a really interesting and exciting time for me. It feels like I’ve closed the first chapter of my teaching career, the first 11 years, and now I’m moving onto something new and different. And part of that is getting this blog back up and running. I’m really looking forward to sharing my ideas with you. Thanks for waiting!