After two and a half years from graduating with my Masters in Teaching, I finally have a job that does not involve substituting! Just before New Years, I was happy to get hired by a private Christian organization that hosts Korean exchange students for 6 weeks to visit the United States. Starting January 14th, I will be teaching 11 students, grades 5-10, conversational English. I think that I will enjoy it, and even though it requires a lot of lesson planning and curriculum, I hear that these students are motivated and fun to work with.
Now, just after New Years Day, I learned of an opportunity to teach English in China. At first I didn't seriously consider it, because it started before my ESL job ended. However, thanks to some great connections, I learned that the start date was negotiable. So now, ten days later, I have been offered a teaching position at the Shanghai Maritime Academy from the end of February to the end of June. I've been told that Shanghai is a westernized city (with a population of a mere 20 million) and that it is easy to get around with English. They've got Starbucks there, so I know that I'll survive!
This has been a challenging two and a half years which also gave me the opportunity to do some soul searching. I really don't know what will greet me in the future once I return to Seattle this summer. I will continue to look for a job for the fall, however, I often wonder if traditional classroom teaching is for me. The teaching of students I absolutely love. It's the behavior problems that burn me out, as well as the politics and excessive societal demands that teachers deal with every day. While I would love to teach those students who really need it, the ones at risk, I don't know how I would handle it for more than a year. That is why I started looking into teaching jobs outside of the classroom and landed this ESL job. Although I am overqualified and there were only two open positions, I am very happy and grateful to have gotten hired. As for China, I am convinced that was divine intervention. I didn't even apply for the job, much less know about it. I got the position because I happen to have a relative who was over in China at the time who is a treasure trove when it comes to networking. The school had hired a teacher for a year and he ended up having to leave suddenly for personal reasons (sound familiar? It's similar to why I got the job a year ago at the Private Catholic School).
So off I go, into the wild blue yonder. I have a lot of preparation to do. Never have I had such little time to prepare (physically, mentally, emotionally) to go live abroad. Yet I am very excited to start another chapter in this amazing incredible adventure called life! :)
P.S. This fall I finally finished (hopefully) the last requirement for my general science endorsement, taking a mycology (botany) class. Now I am waiting for Seattle U to approve all the paperwork and then I will have the general science endorsement in my hot little hands!!!
