Rachel: Finding Direction at TESL Express/David’s
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
It’s very late at night when I am writing this; I can’t sleep. It has been over a month since I flew back to the USA from Taiwan, and just a couple days since I left Germany, my adopted second home. So much has happened these past few months, and so much more will happen in the next few years, it’s hard to believe that just last winter I walked off a podium with a diploma and no idea what to do next. I spent the summer working small jobs that had so little to do with my English/German literature degrees, that my family thought it was deliberate. I watched my friends, all who had confided in me the same loss of direction, go on to pursue Master’s degrees or get married. I was in no hurry to further establish my adulthood by getting in more debt, but at the same time I felt left behind.
I had a vague idea about TESL; in my room was a stack of pamphlets I’d collected from an international job fair at my university. An “international” job appealed to me; I’d long ago decided it was very romantic to live abroad permanently and my boyfriend, a foreigner, only added to that dream. I found the pamphlets in a box and my interest was re-kindled. TESL Express was the first school to pop up on Google and within a few days I was registered.
It’s difficult to adequately describe the amount of luck I had in stumbling onto TESL Express. The school was amazing and I doubt I would have had a better experience elsewhere. Our teacher was rightly enthusiastic about the topic and most everyone there seemed to genuinely care about our interests. Dozens of little things made TESL Express so special for me, like the carefully thought-out curriculum, free textbooks and mini-library, the location (right next to B&O Café), the staff and my fellow students, and even the decor was well done!
I would have been satisfied with that, but halfway into the course I received an email from TESL Express, offering a free two-month stay in Taiwan at its ESL partner school, David’s English Center. I hastily sent in my CV. Surprisingly, they offered me an apartment in Jhong-Li, an hour outside of Taipei, and a visitor’s job teaching English conversation. I would leave immediately after my practicum. I was thrilled—and nervous. I had accepted the offer without really knowing what it was about. I didn’t know anything about Taiwan and less about David’s English, although it shares the same owners as TESL Express. I had never even been to Asia. In the end, of course, my lack of knowledge actually supported my decision to go. When else would I have this opportunity?
Jhong-Li was a different world. It took me nearly two weeks to orient myself, as every street in the city looked identically crowded, but the people were wonderful and thankfully the bus practically went straight to David’s from my apartment. I coped with my glaring “foreignness” by generally ignoring it and, despite the fact that I am semi-vegetarian, I was able to enjoy some really delicious food—food I miss now that I am home!
The students were so generous; I can’t thank them enough for accepting me. They practically did the job for me, asking questions, telling stories, and listening with interest to what I had to say, even if I was saying I didn’t know the answer! Their time with me was voluntary, time taken out of a very busy schedule, and I felt proud watching them improve their speaking skills in a difficult, finicky language. They truly have motivation!
I didn’t get to see or experience nearly as much of Taiwan as I wanted to. Although I had the opportunity to stay, I missed my family in Germany and needed to be near, for a little while.
In a few weeks, I will leave for South Korea on a yearlong contract. I am excited and nervous this time around, too. It’s a much longer commitment, but I have already enthusiastically invited my family to come visit me on the other side of the world. Hopefully, after I finish, I will be able to at least visit Taiwan and David’s English Center, which helped me realize this wonderful opportunity that TESL Express opened my eyes to: the chance to teach English as a second language.
Thanks!
Rachel
