Tag Archives: Teaching English

The master becomes the student

Posted on July 8, 2014 by BerLinda

When the wonderful “Lady of the Cakes” published her post on “How to be a hater with German food phrases”, I immediately did what any sane person would do and started insulting one of the (three) people I know in Germany.  … Continue reading →

Posted in Expat, Humor, Humour, Language, TEFL | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 113 Comments

Latvians and their backsides

Posted on March 9, 2014 by BerLinda

On Friday, as I had a nice early finish, I decided that it was about time I made an appointment to have my hair cut. I had been putting this off for a while, partly because I was afraid that … Continue reading →

Posted in Expat, Humor, Humour, Language, TEFL | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 78 Comments

Goodbye Mr ‘Why Not?’

Posted on March 2, 2014 by BerLinda

A couple of weeks ago, I had yet another eye-opening conversation with my Latvian homies. I was in a lesson and we’d just finished a rather difficult reading about a man who had left his high-powered career in finance behind … Continue reading →

Posted in Expat, Humor, Humour, TEFL | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 85 Comments

A brush with a Latvian

Posted on December 4, 2013 by BerLinda

Well, well, well. Here we are at the 100th post on Expat Eye. Who would have thought that the Latvians and Latvia could be so damn (unintentionally) entertaining? Not me, that’s for sure. Anyway, I thought that for the 100th … Continue reading →

Posted in Expat, Humor, Humour, Latvia, Latvian women, TEFL | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 146 Comments

Back in the Baltics, baby!

Posted on August 15, 2013 by BerLinda

I’ve finally left England and have returned to the Baltic area of the world – and strangely, I couldn’t be happier about it. I thought about going back to Ireland for a few days after summer school but that would … Continue reading →

Posted in Humor, Humour, Travel | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 44 Comments

The long road ahead

Posted on August 3, 2013 by BerLinda

This morning, I tested the new Japanese group that I’m going to have for my last couple of weeks here at the summer school. After I’d collected the papers, I asked one student: Me: How was the test? Him: Blank … Continue reading →

Posted in Humor, Humour, TEFL, Travel | Tagged , , , , | 21 Comments

Now you see me, now you don’t

Posted on July 2, 2013 by BerLinda

The opening statement A couple of weeks ago, I was doing a lesson on verbs of the senses when the difference between ‘look at’ and ‘see’ came up. After a short explanation, in an attempt to clear up any confusion, … Continue reading →

Posted in Humor, Humour | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 29 Comments

How to get ahead in Latvia

Posted on June 4, 2013 by BerLinda

When I first moved to Latvia, I had a pretty cushy life. I had a contract with a school which included my rent, most of my bills, paid holidays at Easter and Christmas, and a chauffeur to drive me to … Continue reading →

Posted in Humor, Humour, Work and business | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 80 Comments

She works hard for the money

Posted on April 26, 2013 by BerLinda

When I lived in Ireland, I had just one job. I was a copywriter in an advertising agency. After almost 3 years in Latvia, this now seems rather lazy. Here, I freelance for 3 English schools. I travel the city … Continue reading →

Posted in Humor, Work and business | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 40 Comments

Stand by your ‘an’

Posted on April 12, 2013 by BerLinda

As an English teacher in Latvia, one of the hardest things to teach is articles (‘the’, ‘a’ and ‘an’ for the grammatically-challenged among you). They don’t exist in Latvian or Russian so students have a hard time knowing when to … Continue reading →

Posted in Humor, Humour, Language, TEFL | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 26 Comments