For those of you who were wondering, this is what I look like - or at least, used to look like in the year 2000. I'm currently living in the UK and I now think of myself as both an EFL teacher and a web designer. From 1991 to 2001, I taught English to foreign learners, first in Greece and then in Japan.

After I'd been working in other countries for a total of ten years, it seemed like a good idea to return home for a while and so I came back to the UK in 2001. Very kindly, my parents agreed to put me up for a while and eventually, I ended up staying with them in Tunbridge Wells for a year while I studied "web design" and did everything I could to start a new career as a professional web designer.

By September of 2002, I'd passed a VST Webmaster Course, European Computer Drivers Licence, Certified Internet Webmaster exams (all with flying colours) and constructed four web sites. However, I was still unable to find any kind of work in web design. I would have happily taken the most junior, low-paid job going, just to get my foot in the door - but no such jobs seemed to be on offer. I'd even gone as far as calling up complete strangers and directly asking for a job, but all to no avail.

So with a certain sense of disappointment, I decided to return to English teaching, but this time try and do it in the UK. As most British EFL employers require teachers to be Diploma-qualified, I decided to try and get this qualification and enrolled on a Trinity Diploma course at The Language Project in Bristol.

I think it's fair to say that the Trinity Diploma is one of the hardest things I've ever done. But in so many ways my teaching and approach to teaching have been transformed in the space of ten short weeks. Luckily, the course tutors were first rate, both in terms of knowledge and their presentation and delivery. They were able to guide me through the input material and teaching practice with calm expertise. The final week of exams, interview and observed lesson seemed quite gruelling and at the time I wasn't at all sure if I would pass.

In the end, I did pass the Diploma exams - a little to my surprise. I feel that I learned a huge amount from the Diploma course and in many ways wish that I'd been able to do this course earlier in my career. It's also left me feeling more positive about being an English teacher and the professional status of TEFL in general.

A bigger surprise was in store though. Only a short time afterwards, I was offered a job by The Language Project, the same school where I had done my training. It was just a little nerve-wracking, going to work with the same people who a month earlier had been my tutors and mentors. I spent the first few weeks feeling slightly unworthy and a little in awe of all my collegues.

I have now been working at The Language Project for almost three years and these days, my work includes teaching on the Certificate Course and the Trinity Diploma Course as well as my usual EFL lessons. I have also rebuilt the Language Project Website, which after a year, is still continuing to grow.

For teacher training courses, English courses in Bristol UK and free interactive exercises, visit The Language Project Website.