It's hard to believe that this time last year I was gearing up to say goodbye to colleagues of 5 years and to embark on a journey that would pretty much stretch me in ways that I couldn't even begin to imagine. If you're a teacher or someone who is just about to finish their PGCE like me, you'll know what I mean. If you're about to embark on this journey, take a look through the posts I've done over the year, and you'll see what I mean.
There's always that point in whatever you do when you hit a wall and then have to make a decision; those steps you take in a marathon when your whole body is on fire. Do you collapse or do you break through?
Despite not having done a post for a while (Placement B was ridiculously busy!) I have had to deal with this wall. I'm not saying that I'm the only one, but there's a slight caveat when it comes to being an MFL teacher...
When I was learning language in secondary school, it was rare to find a teacher who specialised in more than one language. Nowadays, it is almost impossible to get into this career without have two languages at a very good level of comprehension. Not only that, but it seems (overwhelmingly) that the language of choice is Spanish, with French and (rarely) German being the subsidiary requirements.
As though fate felt like twisting the knife a little more, it just so happens that I'm a French specialist who has been doing Spanish for a comparatively brief amount of time. My tutors in Placement B threw me into Spanish (to which I am grateful, despite getting it wrong many times!) and my comprehension has soared. My pedagogical, extra-curricular and completely-unrelated-to-education talents don't seem to be helping me, and when you put me in the running with someone who has extremely high/native levels of Español, I'm left in their linguistic dust.
I've applied to several posts where Spanish is the main requirement, only to have this happen, and with 2 weeks left to go before I finish this course I find myself in a tricky situation. Will I find employment? Can I afford to remain true to the advice of being picky with where I apply (it'll be a year of NQT, so I need to make sure I'm going to be able to fit in with the dynamics as best as possible)? Will someone give me the chance to prove my talents in rapid linguistic uptake? Or should I cut my losses and remain the educated instead of the educator, heading into the realms of doctoral research?!
No sé que va a pasar en el futuro, pero ya me da miedo. Si tuviera la oportunidad, me gustaría continuar como profesor, sin embargo me parece imposible buscar un empleo. S'il y a une telle école secondaire qui a besoin d'un prof qui peut parler (presque) cinq langues et qui peut enseigner le français jusqu'au terminale, je vous attends.
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