What Kate and Kris Did

12/12/2023

Oman is a really interesting option for English teachers wanting to teach abroad. Salaries are good, life is fun and they accept teachers from many different countries.

Eric Woro taught in Oman for several years and he wrote us this interesting guide with his advice on teaching English in Oman.

Would you like to teach there?

Ever thought about teaching English in Oman? Experienced teacher, Eric Woro, gives us all the information on being an English teacher in Oman in this blog post.

28/10/2023

It's been a while since we posted about Ukraine. We wrote some posts before we left in February last year, and they are still relevant and valid to people who are going to visit for whatever reason, people living there and people who are just interested.

So here is a list of the best craft beer bars we found in Lviv. You will know if you've been following us for a while that we like a craft beer and found a lot of craft beer bars and breweries all over Ukraine when we were living there.

Lviv is the home of the famous Pravda beer, as well as some other breweries and many bars. Whether you are in Ukraine or just interested, have a look at what's there

A round up of the best craft beer bars in Lviv, both Lviv craft beer breweries and bars serving Ukrainan craft beers

02/10/2023

https://www.whatkateandkrisdid.com/new-teacher-tales-erick/

Thanks to Erick for giving us this interview about his experiences starting out as an teacher and teaching English.

Originally from Peru, Erick taught in Mexico for many years, before moving to the USA. Have a look at his story, the cute pictures students drew of him and meeting TEFL authors.

In one of our new teacher tales series, Erick from Peru tells us about his career teaching English n Mexico

09/09/2023

For those of you thinking about places to teach English abroad, how about Mexico 🇲🇽?

We traveled around there last year and it's got a fascinating history, beautiful beaches ⛱️, great food 🌮 and nice people.

For teachers, there is a variety of jobs and Mexico welcomes teachers from all over the world, and it's possible to teach there without a Bachelor's degree. 👨‍🏫

Celta trainer in Mexico, Liz, wrote this comprehensive guide for us, so take a look 👀

What do you think about teaching English in Mexico?

Teaching English in Mexico is a popular choice for TEFL teachers from all over the world. In this post, an experienced teacher trainer in Mexico tells us more.

31/08/2023

We went to Tai O back in May, but haven't got around to posting the photos before now.....

Tai O is a fishing village on Lantau Island (Hong Kong is made up of many islands. Lantau is the one the main airport ✈️is on). It's still got lots of traditional stilt houses over the water. 🎣

It's also got rather a lot of cats.....check out our stories for cat pics 😸

20/08/2023

Back to some blog posts about teaching.....since it's nearly the start of the new academic year....

In our New Teacher Tales series, we interview people teaching English abroad about how they started out and what advice they have for people thinking of getting into TEFL.

This is our first interview of a couple. Rudine and Marshall are both from Namibia in Africa and now teach English in Laos in South East Asia.

Read more to find out how their adventure began and how it's going now

Rudine and Marshall, English teachers from Namibia, tell us about how they started out teaching in South East Asia

02/08/2023

Just a rabbit hanging out in a field on Orkney

31/07/2023

More Neolithic ruins in Orkney - Skara Brae village.
Uncovered by a storm in 1850, the site shows how people lived 5000 years ago, with clear hearths and sleeping areas, 'dressers' displaying fancy goods and distinguishable doorways.🚪 These were no cave people.
The houses in the village were attached together by covered walkways, so they whole area would have been protected from the weather.

Which is good, because it was very windy 💨
Have a look at our stories for the stunning beaches next to the village.

29/07/2023

The Ring of Brodgar - a stone circle of 36 stones, older than Stonehenge, thought to have been used in some sort of funerary rites.

Part of a huge area of Neolithic settlements on Orkney, showing how people lived from cradle to grave, over 5000 years ago. It's now a World Heritage Site.

See our stories for more sites we visited.

The settlement being currently uncovered at the Ness of Brodgar is not thought to be residential, but an area where tribes from all of the islands and beyond met to hold celebrations, ceremonies and trades.

The ring could have been an area where bodies were laid out after death, before being interned in burial mounds.

Compared to other stone circles in the UK and Europe, the holes dug for them are far smaller. There seems to be much discussion as to why. Was it that they were meant to be moved, or just that the ground was rock and it was too hard to dig deeper holes

"That'll do"....

The ditch around the stone circles is also quite a feat of engineering. It's 10 feet deep and dug out of rock by people who only had stone tools.

26/07/2023

Would you believe this is Scotland?

St. Ninians Isle, Shetland, reached from the mainland over a 'tombolo', a sand causeway with the sea on each side.

Looks like somewhere tropical, right?

25/07/2023

Puffins!!! Who doesn't like these cute seabirds?

I mean, have you seen them flying? ♥️

At this time of year, they are looking after their babies (called 'pufflings 😍) in burrows on tall sea cliffs.

Shortly the pufflings will fledge and they will go back out to sea. 🌊

But in the meantime they were happy to pose.

23/07/2023

First stop on our Shetland and Orkney tour was Lerwick, where the overnight ferry dropped us off at 7.30am 🥱

It's the main town of the Shetland Isles, a mix of narrow streets and stone houses, which grew out of smuggling.

It's nearly as close to Norway 🇳🇴as the mainland of Scotland and further north than St Petersburg (although the North Atlantic Conveyor keeps it warmer, luckily 🙂)

03/07/2023

Taipei streets and temples 🇹🇼
Pics from our recent four day trip over to Taipei from Hong Kong. 🇭🇰

For those waiting for food pics (since Taiwan is famous for food), don't worry, we ate a lot and the pics are coming 😁

27/06/2023

Has anyone else got any odd messages from us today?

17/06/2023

In late August last year, we moved here to Hong Kong 🇭🇰to start work. Back then, Covid restrictions were still in place, hotel quarantine was a thing and masks were a legal requirement inside and out. 😷

Our arrival and set up involved three days trapped in a quarantine hotel, finding an apartment, getting our Hong Kong ID and bank accounts ....💲

We wanted a record of all the excitement (and a bit of stress) of those first few weeks so we wrote it all down...✍️

And then didn't post it. These things happen.

But better late than never! Here it is. 😊

If you are interested in how it works when we move to live in a new country, have a read.

Our first few weeks in Hong Kong, after we moved there in August 2022 to work as English teachers in Hong Kong at the British Council

10/06/2023

Posting about Horden last week made me realise that we haven't finished posting about our last UK visit...

And our trip to the Harry Potter Studio Tour! 🪄

The studios used for making the films are now a HUGE exhibition of sets, props and costumes with loads of 'how we did it' videos.

All the secrets are there. ✨

Magic, monsters and mayhem. 🧙‍♂️

Look out for the videos on our stories if you want to see a real life hippogriff......

06/06/2023

Something a bit different for today.

Have you seen all those news reports for 'houses for sale for 5 grand in seaside ghost town?

They've been all over social media this week.

And it's Kris' hometown.

He'd like to clear some things up.....

These headlines about houses for sale in ghosttown and the once thriving seaside resort are fake news. Here's the truth from a local.

26/05/2023

A place not many people think of teaching English in is Kazakhstan. However, there are opportunities for teachers with degrees in education or teaching English.

Jonathan has taught there for many years and loves it. He wrote us this post all about how to teach English in Kazakhstan.

What do you think?

Ever thought of teaching English in Kazakhstan? Our guide will take you through the details of how to become an English teacher in Kazakhstan

20/05/2023

The whole teaching English scene has changed a lot lately, especially since Covid, so it was time to update this old post on types of teaching jobs.

Read on for ideas of jobs teaching adults and kids, abroad and online.....

A list of the types of TEFL jobs abroad and online including TESOL jobs with young learners, adults, business English, and online.

06/05/2023

A couple of years ago we wrote a post about the Ukrainian craft beers we had been trying during lockdowns. 🍻🇺🇦

We have updated it with details of how they are supporting the war, so if you are in Ukraine and want to try something new, have a look. 🍻

If you are in another country, lots of Ukrainian craft breweries have been partnering with breweries and suppliers abroad, so look out for ones to try. 🇺🇦

Support Ukraine by drinking beer from Ukrainian craft beer breweries! Here are our favourites from our time living in Ukraine.

27/04/2023

https://www.whatkateandkrisdid.com/new-teacher-tales-valentina/

We haven't had a New Teacher Tales post in a while, but don't worry, we have a few waiting to be published now 😁

For those of you who are new here, in our New Teacher Tales series, we interview people we know who are working as English teachers, both native and non-native. They tell us how they started out in TEFL and give advice to those of you who are thinking about getting into it.

In this post, Valentina who is a Romanian working in the UK, tells us her story of setting up her own school in Romania and then relocating to the UK.

She now runs two online businesses, including her Badass Edupreneur program, where she helps other teachers set up and scale their online teaching companies.

Have a look at her inspiring story.

OET Preparation teacher from Romania Valentina tells us about how she started out as an English teacher in our New Teacher Tales interview

01/04/2023

Those of you who know us well will know that we are big fans of museums of all kinds, and we had many years of enjoyment exploring many of those in Ukraine

From a nuclear missile base to a museum of jellyfish 🪼 with terrifying toy museums 🧸 and then all the marvellous local museums 🦣 we put together this blog of what we love about them and some of our favourites.

Which is yours?

🇺🇦Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦

As big fans of Ukrainian museums, we wrote a homage to what we love about them and the best Ukrainian museums

09/03/2023

The Tian Tan Buddha statue on Lantau island is apparently the largest bronze seated Buddha statue in the world. 🌍

He certainly has a stunning view to look over the mountains ⛰️ at one side and the sea and islands to the other. 🏝️

You can also visit the Po Lin Buddhist monastery before climbing the steps to the Buddha.

There's a cable car up 🚠, which we took last time we visited back in 2010, but it was under maintenance so we got the bus up instead. You can actually walk up....but....😒 The steps to the Buddha were enough.

04/03/2023

A common question from people thinking about becoming EFL teachers these days is whether there are free courses available, and whether they are useful.

In this post, we look at the various options for getting TEFL training for free and cheaply, so if you are wondering about this, have a read!

In this post, we discuss the free TEFL courses on offer, as well as TEFL scholarships, and discuss whether you should take a free or cheap course.

24/02/2023

On 1st anniversary of Russian 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the start of the on-going war, we wanted to share the experiences of some of the Ukrainian English teachers we know and worked with.

It's easy to see conflict and disaster on the news and to de-personalise it, so we wanted to share stories of the people there, working and surviving through this. These are people that up until a year ago, we were working alongside.

Please take time to read it today and to send your thoughts to those affected. We'd also appreciate it if you would share it so more people can see.

Slava Ukraini

After a year of war in Ukraine, Ukrainian English teachers tell their stories of what they have been experiencing and how their lives are now.

11/02/2023

Amazing Ukraine #7 🇺🇦 Statues

Oh the statues in Ukraine.....we love them.

We don't mean the ones of important men on plinths looking down on people. I mean, some of those are great and some rightly are being currently torn down.

We mean the random, quirky statues either dedicated to cultural things, or just because...why not.❓

Representations of book or cartoon characters, local food......have a look at the captions for more info

There aren't enough pictures allowed on a FB post to give them enough justice. We will share more in stories too.

It's coming up to a year for Ukraine....which is unbelievable. 🇺🇦

Expect more Ukraine ❤️ posts coming soon

Have you got any good pictures of statues in Ukraine? Post them in the comments!

06/02/2023

We have been updating some of our old teaching English posts recently. With the help of someone currently teaching there, we updated our post on Teaching English in Colombia.

There are lots of opportunities to teach English in Colombia and it's a great place to start out, and for experienced teachers, for those without a degree and for both native and non-native English speakers.

Have you thought about teaching English in Colombia?

All about teaching English in Colombia by an English teacher in Colombia! FInd out about salaries, requirements and different schools to teach English in Medellina, Bogota or elsewhere in Colombia

04/02/2023

Exploring the community of Aberdeen, on the south of Hong Kong Island, by traditional sampan fishing boat.

Aberdeen, named after Lord Aberdeen, apparently, rather than the Scottish city (although guess they are also connected somehow)

It actually had the name 'Hong Kong village' when early Europeans arrived, who then mistook the name as the name of the whole island. Thus the fishing village had to change its name.

Traditional fishing communities still work the waters of the area. They used to live and work on water, fishing on the sampans and living on moored houseboats.

Aberdeen harbour is a typhoon shelter, where boats are protected during storms.

In the middle are floating seafood restaurants, that used to be really famous. Even Queen Elizabeth went apparently. They look closed now, maybe a victim of Covid?

04/02/2023

Exploring the community of Aberdeen, on the south of Hong Kong Island, by traditional sampan fishing boat.

Aberdeen, named after Lord Aberdeen, apparently, rather than the Scottish city (although guess they are also connected somehow)

It actually had the name 'Hong Kong village' when early Europeans arrived, who then mistook the name as the name of the whole island. Thus the fishing village had to change its name.

Traditional fishing communities still work the waters of the area. They used to live and work on water, fishing on the sampans and living on moored houseboats.

30/01/2023

With our last post on the ITA TEFL course, we are back to posting blogs on teaching English, aimed at people getting into TEFL or thinking of starting out.

We have a lot of such posts on our Teaching English page, including advice, country guides and interviews with people teaching all over the world.

Have you had a look yet?

If not, click the link to see more

https://www.whatkateandkrisdid.com/teaching-english/

26/01/2023

It's the new year, and the last countries are opening up after Covid.....so it's a good time to consider becoming an English teacher!

There is a huge number of courses out there from various companies to train you to teach English. To help you decide, our blog has lots of interviews and advice from teachers working in different parts of the world.

One high quality course is from the International TEFL Academy. We really like the lifetime job support that comes with it, as well as the close connections between its alumni, who tell others about where they are teaching and how it is.

They have both online courses and courses abroad in cool places like Costa Rica and Spain, which include teaching practice so you are fully prepared to start teaching English.

We interviewed several of the ITA graduates and they gave us their reviews of the course and the jobs they got afterwards.

You can read more about the courses in their brochure, which you can download from this post.

If you are inspired to take the course from them, let us know how it goes!

International TEFL Academy reviews from real teachers working abroad who took the ITA course and tell you why you should take it too.

22/01/2023

'Gong Hei Fat Choi' if you are in Hong Kong 🇭🇰
'Gong Xi Fa Cai' if you are a Mandarin speaker 🇨🇳

Happy Year of the Rabbit 🐇

And Chuc Mung Nam Moi - Happy Year of the Cat 🐱to our friends in Vietnam! 🇻🇳

May it bring you wealth and happiness.

We've been enjoying watching all the preparations in Hong Kong, including visiting one of the new year flower markets 🌸

Take a look at the pictures for an explanation of some of the traditions.

Apologies for poor spelling.....we try our best....

10/01/2023

The period between Christmas and New Year was spent in the Cardamom Mountains in the south of Cambodia, where Wildlife Alliance has a wildlife release station. There they prepare wildlife rescued from poachers and the pet trade to go back into the wild.

You can stay with them and help look after the animals, trek in the forest and look for wildlife nearby. We spent two days trekking, feeding animals and watching other wildlife. 🐾

Sunbears, Hornbills, leopard cat, samba deer, peahens, macaques, civit cat, porcupine.....so many animals ❤️

Here are just a few of the photos and videos we took.....

08/01/2023

Green peafowl in Cambodia

These are a different species to the peacocks that we see in parks and gardens in Europe and the USA, because both the males and females are brightly coloured.

The green peafowl is endangered as it is caught for meat and its feathers.

These are waiting to be re released into the forest after being rescued from hunters.

03/01/2023

In the Cardoman Mountains in south Cambodia we stayed at a wildlife release site where animals rescued from hunters, the pet trade, etc. are released.

Some don't go far away. This is Mr Cho, a great hornbill who likes to play football.

Let's be clear. He's totally free. He could fly away whenever he wants but he's quite the fan of football so he's always around.

31/12/2022

As 2022 draws to a close, we are reflecting on what it brought and what it took away.

In January 2022, which we saw in with Kate's parents in the UK, we were planning to return to Kyiv, finish the last six months of our contract, say goodbye to friends, colleagues and students and leave after five years.

The plan was to work in the summer in the UK and then do some traveling in Mexico 🇲🇽 and Central America before deciding where we wanted to work next.

Obviously since we sit writing this on a Thai island🇹🇭 on holidays from jobs in Hong Kong 🇭🇰, those plans didn't happen. We are here. Our friends, colleagues and students are scattered around the world, many as refugees, or being attacked by missiles on a daily basis.

Since February we have been constantly concerned about people in Ukraine, keeping track and the news and where/how people are. They have impressed and inspired us with their strength and resilience, but this isn't how it was supposed to be, was it?

So here are our ten photos from 2022. The feelings from this year cannot be illustrated, but the story can.

January - we visited Ternopil for the first time. Turns out everything closes on Orthodox Christmas.

February - we decided to leave Ukraine on the advice of the British Embassy. We went back to the UK to teach online from there for a couple of weeks, until things 'calmed down'.
They didn't.

March - now unemployed, but with new jobs to go to in June, we decided to fly to Mexico city and travel for a while.

April & May - exploring Mexico, visiting pretty towns and impressive temples, eating all the food and meeting up with old and new friends

June - August. Sheffield, where we taught Chinese students who were preparing for their MA degrees online for the University.

We caught up with lots of friends and family in the UK and spent a beautiful summer in the UK. We went to our first music festival in a long time with family, and walked some alpacas.

August - Hong Kong, to start new jobs at the British Council. This began with three days in a quarantine hotel, which was quite an experience.

September - November - exploring the city, countryside, island and beaches of Hong Kong and meeting cool new people

December - our Christmas holidays brought us back to Thailand, we were used to live, and Cambodia, which we have visited many times before.

So we aren't making firm plans for 2023. We will work, travel and hope for the day when it brings peace and victory.

Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦

Happy New Year

25/12/2022

Merry Christmas to you and yours from Koh Rong, Cambodia. 🎄🎁

Turkey dinner and free flow beer....🍻

Merry indeed ⛄

22/12/2022

Wandering around the streets of Phnom Penh, Cambodia....

It's our fourth visit to Phnom Penh and our eighth time in Cambodia but wandering around South East Asian streets is always interesting....

Dodging motorbikes and tuktuks, waving at small kids and street dogs, climbing up and down high pavements, looking at golden temple buildings, listening to people screaming karaoke, smelling street food mixed with petrol, and other strange smells, watching what people can carry on small trucks powered with a motorbike engine....

And there is always a chicken crowing. Even in the middle of the city.

18/12/2022

Awesome Ukraine #6 🇺🇦

Christmas markets 🎄

It seemed like an appropriate time to post about this - Ukraine does amazing Christmas markets. Huge, impressively decorated Christmas trees 🌲in squares, stalls selling gifts 🎁 and decorations, smoky BBQd food 🍖 and a LOT of mulled wine (glintwein) 🍷

So much mulled wine that we generally went off it over Christmas until the following winter.

Standing outside in the snow with a hot wine, feet getting progressively colder....

Until we realised we couldn't feel them anymore and it was time to go inside a pub

As Christmas in Ukraine isn't until January, the Christmas markets don't start until around now...not like the other European ones in November!

Think of them now, as Russia bombards the cities and knocks out the power....leaving people sheltering in metro stations and bomb shelters and returning to flats with no lights or heating. ❤️

15/12/2022

As the countdown to the holiday continues, here are some throwback photos from previous trips to Thailand and Cambodia.

Thailand was the first Asian country we visited when we left the UK in 2006 and Cambodia came shortly after. We've since lived in Bangkok twice and visited Cambodia something like 8-9 times. You can infer from that that we are quite the fans of both countries.

More photos to take and memories to make soon.....

Three days to go....best get packing.