The following blog post is from about two years ago. I'm happy to report that I'm gainfully employed as an ESL Instructor!  

I'm taking a TESOL class now -- Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. In fact, I'm not just taking a TESOL class. I'm working toward a TESOL certificate. There it is. I admitted it. 

It's not that working toward an online certificate is unusual; but it is a time and money  commitment and I haven't told many (any) body. 

My hopeful certificate is through University of Georgia's continuing education program. I signed up while at Panera a couple weeks ago. It's a place where I've made a number of life decisions. It helped that I had a credit card with me that had a low balance. My significant other [at the time] had repeatedly mentioned teaching English as a good option. His daughter had friends in the Philippines who were getting income as online ESL instructors. Why not you? (At least I'd put an end to the helpful suggestions.)

A couple months ago I started a "project" book, so that I could write down the what, how, and why of my goals, a structure inspired by Stacey Abrams in a TED Radio Hour podcast. It worked well for a while, and I'm sure that I'll go back to it. But the project book was not part of my luggage at Panera that day (I always have at least three bags with me). I guess I'll have to back into the what / how / why of this one.