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  • Alternative careers: public administration December 22, 2011
    The alternative careers series continue with an investigation into public administration. For disillusioned TEFLers, the career option of public administration is a realistic alternative. Public administration is concerned with the accomplishment and the regulation of public policy throughout the diverse branches of government. Public administrators oversee […]
  • Promoting EFL Speaking Activities in the Class: Teacher’s Roles December 9, 2011
    What Is “Teaching Speaking”? What is meant by “teaching speaking” is to teach EFL learners to: Produce the English speech sounds and sound patterns Use word and sentence stress, intonation patterns and the rhythm of the foreign language. Select appropriate words and sentences according to the proper social setting, audience, situation and subject matter. Org […]
  • Alternative careers: Criminal Justice December 9, 2011
    In this post we continue our journey into the investigation of alternative career options for those wishing to get out of language teaching. Have you ever considered criminal justice? If not, now might be the time to look into this exciting career. Obtaining an online criminal justice degree opens the door to a vast […]
  • The role and significance of the writer, the text and the reader in the teaching of writing December 7, 2011
    What exactly are the roles and significance of the writer, the text and the reader in the teaching of writing? Abdel Rahman Mitib Altakhaineh investigates. Introduction Writing is one of the four language skills. It is considered as a productive skill since learners do this to produce language. It is clear that a well-written […]
  • What Can You Expect From Working in a Medical Billing & Coding Environment? December 6, 2011
    Remember the last time you were in a medical facility waiting room? While you waited, did you notice your surroundings: the staff, the other patients, the lighting and the décor? Did you feel relaxed or tense, apprehensive or reassured by the atmosphere in the facility? Chances are you felt all those things to some […]
  • Error Correction Preferences in Written Work of Higher Secondary Students: an Evaluation November 25, 2011
    Learning a foreign language is a gradual process, during which mistakes are to be expected in all stages of learning. Mistakes will not disappear simply because they have been pointed out to the learner, contrary to what some language learners and teachers believe. Language acquisition does not happen unless the learner is relaxed and […]
  • Alternative careers: Nursing November 24, 2011
    Are you looking to get out of TEFL and start an alternative career? You could do worse that finding out how you could become a nurse. In recent times, nursing careers have emerged as a viable option for many people. In your work as a nurse, you will often find yourself the key healthcare […]
  • Alternative careers: financial accountant November 24, 2011
    Are you looking to get out of TEFL and start an alternative career? You could do worse that get qualified to become an accountant. Let’s start with a fairly straightforward definition: A financial analyst is generally someone who has a business degree and who analyzes the financial data of corporations, studies their trade activities, […]
  • The main theories in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) November 18, 2011
    By Abdel Rahman Altakhaineh Introduction The language produced by learners learning a second language is extremely varied. It can range from one learner to another in regard to many factors. These variations can be accounted for by a number of ideas including: first language (L1) interface, age differences, motivation, self-confidence, aptitude, anxiety, gen […]
  • Needs of English as a Foreign Language in Bangladesh: Learners Perception November 14, 2011
    In a linguistic context, different authors define the term “needs” diversely, and thus different meanings are implied. If needs are ‘understood as specific requirements for the foreign language, then the vast majority of learners do not have any. They are deemed to require what the syllabus offers them, and the syllabus is likely to […]

Tips for overcoming barriers standing between you and your goals as a teacher

Reading your written teaching goals daily will have an uplifting effect on your vision of the future, suggests Denis O’Brien. This vision propels you into action and things start to happen. And if you take advantage of these things as they come along, you will steadily advance towards your chosen goal.

But everyone experiences a period, where for some reason, even though the vision is clear and stimulates action, there comes a point where, no matter how hard you try, you seem to have come to a sticking point and can go no further. There is something that does not feel right. Why do you think this is?

- Is it because you don’t think you’re worth it?

- Is it because you lied when you were younger?

- Is it because your parents withheld their approval?

- Is it because you feel predisposed to a life of toil and struggle?

NO… it’s because of the memories you have!

We all have good and bad memories of situations in our lives.  And it’s the memories of certain situations which we store in our brains that have a strong influence on how we progress towards our goals.

Part of setting and achieving teaching goals is to visualize the result we desire. But our brain knows the difference between real memories and made up visualisations. Visualisations are meant to inspire us, but it’s our memories that control us. It’s the dominant memories which control our thoughts and influence our actions.

Part of setting and achieving teaching goals is to visualize the result we desire.

If one of your teaching goals is to increase your income as an English teacher, you will have both good and bad memories of your situation and fight against past memories that you constantly refer to when you think of money.

You may have bad memories of being financially strapped at some point in your life. You felt awful about talking to your bank and putting off paying your bills.

You may also have good memories of having the money to be able to afford the things you’ve always wanted or you may have been ‘rather flushed’. You would have remembered feeling like you were on cloud nine, being able to have and do the things you wanted.

But of these two situations, the one memory you spend the most time thinking about will dominate the other.

The extent to which you recall these events in your life when they happened is the extent to which you think about them now.

And it’s these thoughts that keep you rooted to where ever you are now. It’s not you, your spouse, your upbringing or even the economy – as bad as it is. It’s the memories of having money or not having money that you think about the most.

Spend a lot of time thinking about the embarrassment of being financially broke and also a lot of time thinking how good it feels to have that financial independence, you will automatically start to do the things that will cause your finances to rise.

Learning to control your dominant thoughts and understanding how your memories control your actions is key to reaching your goal. We instinctively spend much of our time reflecting on things about our teaching careers that were not necessarily pleasant and it’s these thoughts that influence our actions.

There is a simple explanation why our thoughts usually centre on the memories that halt our progress and make us lose sight of our goals. There are keys that will help you to understand why these thoughts dominate our thinking and how to use them to move you forward.

About the Author

Denis believes there is a simple explanation why our thoughts usually centre on the memories that halt our progress and make us lose sight of our goals. There are keys that will help you to understand why these thoughts dominate our thinking and how to use them to move you forward.

 

 

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