I’m a student teaching students.
It wasn’t until my final semester at college when I realized that what I really wanted to do was become an ESL teacher. My only experience with people who had taught English in other countries were college students who did it for a summer job or missionaries who were “pretending” to be English teachers.
But for me, I tell people the reason I teach is for the “lightbulb”. It’s that moment when you’re explaining a new idea or concept to someone and there’s that moment when you can literally see they’ve gotten it. Like a lightbulb has come on. And when knowledge impacts someone, it changes them.
In 2008 after graduating from Clearwater Christian College, I volunteered with S.O.S. Ministries to go to El Salvador and teach English in a small orphanage in Zacatecoluca for 3 months.
After that, I began volunteering for some youth ministries in the US as well as working at a local high school as a Doorways Mentor as well as being heavily involved in the school’s drama department.
In 2010 I went to Xining, China with ELIC as a ESL teacher to teach and train local teachers for a 3 month summer contract.
I taught over 1,500 hours of secondary school classroom experience teaching grammar and advanced conversational English.
I started and managed an after school drama club, journalism club, volunteer club and English club for secondary school students.
I organized and conducted over 300 hours of teacher training seminars focusing on methodology, classroom management and resources.
I conducted over 500 hours of private English tutoring for children to adults seeking educational and professional advancement.
Towards the end of my 1 year contract at the language center I was recruited by another department of EF operating in Shanghai: EF Academic Partnerships, which sends qualified, EF English teachers to teach at local, Chinese universities.
So, in the summer of 2015 I took the summer to get my CELTA certification through International House in Prague, Czech Republic and then returned to Shanghai to start teaching with EF AP.
I spent two years teaching at Shanghai University; teaching subjects such as Academic Writing, Public Speaking and Western Culture. It was a challenging 2 years and I learned a lot. In 2017, it was time to move on and start a new adventure.
After receiving a job offer at the American School of Wroclaw, my partner and I moved to Wrocław, Poland in the summer of 2017. At ASW I have been working as the Primary Department Coordinator as well as teaching English and Social Studies to 4th, 5th and 6th grade students. This has been a challenging year and a half as I have taken on more of an administrator role and less of a teaching role. It has been intense and difficult and I have learned a lot about myself and learned from many mistakes but this time here has been a gift. I am thankful for everything I have been able to achieve so far.