Dear Reader,

after years of experimenting with travel, I have developed what I think is a fairly solid theory: that the time you spend on holiday is always going to feel too short¹.

I feel confident sharing this with you because a) I know you're not likely to be a physics buff who will scoff at me while invoking Einstein's theory of relativity and b) you're also a teacher, so you know that nostalgic tail-end-of-summer feeling.

When I feel like this, I find it useful to refer to the concept of liminal space. Liminal comes from the Latin limen, meaning threshold.

Being in a liminal space means being in a state of transition: right now, teachers are in a liminal space between the summer break and the start of the new school year. Liminal spaces can be pretty unsettling and give rise to mixed feelings of nostalgia, stress, overwhelm but also excitement. There are metaphorical and psychological liminal spaces, like this, and even physical ones, like hallways or airports.

And I thought: if I'm feeling like this, surely my dear readers might too (right now or pretty soon).

That's where I come to your aid, because in this newsletter, I will share:

• Some interesting vocab about transitions and getting motivated for the new school year
• 5 strategies to get energised, even if ever so slightly, for what's coming

Speaking of getting started: ready, set, go 🏃🏻‍♀️

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Talkin' bout² getting over that transition

If the thought of leaving the beach/mountain/lake/your house where you can just. sit. cosily is currently giving rise to feelings of dread, then the least I can do is tell you about a few cool ways to talk about this in English!

Share them with your teacher friends and, why not, with your students:

• Gearing up for the new year: according to some research I've done, "gearing up" originally (i.e. 200 years ago) referred to getting horses, mules and other animals ready for travel. Nowadays, it retains that sense of preparing for something you have to do in the future.
• Getting your ducks in a row: this one means getting everything organised and well-prepared before starting something. Its origins are debated but one of the more accredited theories connects it to the idea of a mama duck getting her baby ducklings in a row to follow her (but there are also other fascinating theories)

• To be back in the saddle: another animal-themed one (where I imagine myself literally getting back on a horse saddle, as if I were even remotely physically gratious enough to do that), really signifying that you start again with something you had interrupted for a period of time.³
• Getting over the hump: let's face it, coming back to everyday life can feel like a gigantic hump to get over, almost physically. This also relates to the concept of "humpday", i.e. Wednesday, normally the halfway point in the workweek. But hey, once you're over the hump, nothing can stop you!
• We'll cross that bridge when we come to it: for my last idiom, let me put on a slightly more laissez-faire hat. The idiom expresses the idea that it's not useful to worry about a problem until it actually arises. So, although buying a few (million) new pens that will inevitably get lost in the first week and trying to locate your coursebooks are probably wise decisions for the next few days, I'd also recommend taking it easy and enjoying the last few bits of summer while you can.

5 strategies to get your ducks in a row, ready to cross that bridge

If you'll accept this absolute masterpiece of metaphor-mixing, here go my 5 top suggestions to gently ease yourself back into English teaching mode. Handle with care.

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1. Look forward to feeling like a powerful, confident teacher

You know when you just know you've grown as a professional and step into your classroom armed with that knowledge?

I have just the perfect way to achieve that: a calendar full of events to help you grow, feel energised and powerful to go into that classroom (or concorso) and smash it! 📅

Here are some opportunities you can join me on, with some new features:

• Official certificates of attendance are available for all courses
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• Buy now, pay later so you can split up your payment, however big or small it is, in 3 installments with PayPal or Klarna

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Culture in English-speaking countries (August/September)

Starting next Tuesday at 3.30PM, you can join me on the second run of the live lessons in the Culture in English-speaking countries! Language, history, politics, healthcare, education, music, festivals, cuisine, houses, geography and so much more: join us live, watch the recordings with subtitles, download the study materials and enjoy your access *forever*.

👉 Sign up here​

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Speak Better Teach Better - *New places available!* (October)

The new edition of what was previously a massive success, and again has sold out in less than a week! But fear not, because we have added a few extra spots for you: if you want to improve your speaking in a friendly environment while enhancing your teaching skills, reserve one of the few new spots before they sell out again. N.B.: you can use your carta docente on some or all of the course price.

👉 Sign up here​

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Authentic Listening: Teaching and Understanding Real English (February)

Come along for a practical course where I'll teach you everything I know about actually getting students to understand real English. Practical activities, a bit of research and your own contributions so you become a better listener and an even better teacher. Not sure about your plans yet? Not to worry, because you'll have access to the recordings and materials indefinitely. Carta docente is also active on this course.

👉 Sign up here​

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LanguagEd Days (March)

This will be a proper festival of ideas! Join international and national speakers as they give you practical tips and demonstrations for how to make your life easier (and more interesting) as a teacher. A two-day online festival with downloadable resources and video recordings you can watch later. Carta docente can be used on this.

👉 Sign up here​

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2. Make a list of the things you achieved last year

Sometimes, the best way to get energised is to remind ourselves of just how much we have achieved. I find that reminding myself of the impact I have had on teachers and learners, and the ways in which my work has improved my own life, puts me back on the right course when I'm feeling deflated (case in point: at the end of my holidays. I'm like a bouncy castle getting physically deflated).

So, dear teacher, open the notes app on your phone and make a list: what did you achieve last year? Include everything that seems big, of course (won or passed a concorso, finished percorsi abilitanti), but also the smaller things. Helped a shy student come out of their shell? Come up with a really cool way of explaining some tough grammar? Survived a winter of illness after illness? Some might call it blowing your own trumpet, I call it credit where credit is due... and teachers hardly ever get the credit they deserve. So, don't leave anything off the list - it's your list and you deserve the credit (and please share your list with me as it will 100% brighten up my day!)

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3. Have a little laugh

Yes, going back to work is a drag, but the world of teaching can also be absolutely hilarious. Remind yourself of this and if you're struggling, here are three resources you can use to remember the hilarity:

• ​Bored Teachers​
• ​Monica Geldart (it's all funny but the relevant parts are her videos on schools and teachers)
• ​Two Mr Ps in a pod(cast), where two brothers who are also teachers share bits of teaching hilarity

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4. Start small: set yourself one goal

Goal-setting is important to maintaining motivation in the long term. Now, we don't really want to be overly ambitious at this stage, so what I like doing round about this time of the year is set myself one small goal for the new year.

In the past, these have ranged from specific things like improving my teacher talk (mostly decreasing it, I think I liked the sound of my own voice too much when I started out) to broader things like submitting at least one proposal to be a speaker at a conference. What's a small, achievable goal you want to reach in this school year?

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5. Brainstorm first lesson ideas

Finally, if you're (kind of) ready to get over the hump and get your ducks in a row, start brainstorming first lesson ideas! I will come to your aid soon with some ideas, but you can start putting together a few ideas from previous years: what has worked particularly well? Here is a starting point.

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I hope this was a somewhat uplifting and useful newsletter. If you're joining me live next week for the culture course, I look forward to seeing you! If not, I'll see you some other time and I wish you the very best for a lovely and still relaxing Sunday.

Take care, dear teacher ✨

¹ Excluding the times you do things like fall off a bike on a mountain path and break your ribs and get airlifted to a hospital in a helicopter despite unequivocally telling your husband you would rather have a punctured lung than get airlifted in a helicopter. That time, boy was I glad when the holiday was over.

² Grammar inspired by the iconic Tracy Chapman's Talkin' bout a revolution - also a way to get motivated, if you ask me.

³ This idiom is a massive musical earworm for me - which you might think is because of the Aerosmith song of the same name, but it's actually because of a recent obsession with Shakira's Waka Waka (which contains said idiom) of my precious offspring. I've only listened to this 458 times over the last week, so no worries.

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