This is the first of an occasional series highlighting famous people who worked in TEFL. It will be interesting to see if a history of extreme poverty, mental illness, alcohol or substance abuse, or other psychological trauma can be detected as a feature common to their biographies. Please feel free to contribute names to the list of prospective TEFL Graveyard Spectres.
To get the ball rolling, here is a revealing excerpt from Wikipedia on Irish literary legend, James Joyce. A century on, it appears little has changed in the often murky underworld of Teaching English as a Foreign Language...
“... Joyce remained in Dublin for some time longer, drinking heavily. After one of his alcoholic binges, he got into a fight over a misunderstanding with a man in Phoenix Park; he was picked up and dusted off by a minor acquaintance of his father, Alfred H. Hunter, who brought him into his home to tend to his injuries.
“... Joyce and Nora went into self-imposed exile, moving first to Zürich, where he had supposedly acquired a post teaching English at the Berlitz Language School through an agent in England. It turned out that the English agent had been swindled, but the director of the school sent him on to Trieste, which was part of Austria-Hungary until World War I (today part of Italy).
“Once again, he found there was no position for him, but with the help of Almidano Artifoni, director of the Trieste Berlitz school, he finally secured a teaching position in Pula, then also part of Austria-Hungary (today part of Croatia). He stayed there, teaching English mainly to Austro-Hungarian naval officers stationed at the Pula base, from October 1904 until March 1905, when the Austrians — having discovered an espionage ring in the city — expelled all aliens. With Artifoni's help, he moved back to Trieste and began teaching English there. He would remain in Trieste for most of the next ten years.
"Joyce came up with many money-making schemes during this period of his life, such as his attempt to become a cinema magnate back in Dublin, as well as a frequently discussed but ultimately abandoned plan to import Irish tweeds into Trieste. His expert borrowing skills saved him from indigence. His income was made up partially from his position at the Berlitz school and from taking on private students."
Literary genius he may have been, but tales of his financial and professional struggles secure his place in the pantheon of TEFL Graveyard infamy.
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David Mitchel - I'm not a big fan, but he's doing well...