Once a teacher always a teacher?

I don't know whether it was meant to be, or if it was fate, or divine intervention.

Initially, I thought that I could focus a hundred percent on my PhD and not having to do anything anything else, but it soon became clearer and clearer that I was running out of options. My bank account was bleeding to death, and I knew I would soon follow if the situation were not remedied.

I tried a few things - tried to get marking jobs for lecturers, or to teach part-time in any university subjects.. any job at the university would have done.. but it just wasn't meant to be.
I was like a fish out of water. They didn't have TESL-related disciplines here, otherwise I could have done well.. In the College of Education they had art-related disciplines, of which I barely have any experience. Even the Drama in Education that I taught in UTM were language-based, and not arts-based. I couldn't teach English.. well.. because it's an English speaking-country! Or so I thought...

Answer to equation = I was screwed...

But one day, as I was looking through the job ads online my heart skipped a beat when I saw an advert for a language centre.. teaching foreign students! That was exactly my forte!!! I looked up the website and immediately liked what I saw... It was a nice, small centre, privately owned, and the pictures showed a nice cozy atmosphere... Immediately I knew I had to apply for it.

And so I did.

I put together the resume that I had previously used (quite an impressive one i must add!), and emailed it.

And to my surprise I got an answer the early next day!

It was a very pleasant response, very different to the formal responses I have had from bigger language centres in the past. I immediately liked the person on the other end, though I wasn't even sure who she was. As it turns out, she was the owner/operator of the language centre!
She immediately arranged for an appointment for the next day. I was impressed!

And my intuition was smack bang head on... Bronwyn Hardaker (the owner) was a pleasant lady in her 50s but still full of vibrant energy, something that I notice in most Kiwis, that they live long healthy lives, usually up to their 80s or 90s! She was warm and welcoming, and the best thing was that I could see she was genuinely pleased to have me there. It was certainly a nice change from language centre operators who are so high and mighty and think they are doing us a favour by giving us a job. In Bronwyn's case, her genuineness made me feel like I belonged, even though we had only just met. After a short discussion, she gave me a class to teach the next day, just to see how I would fit in.

Immediately I said yes.

Yes.. definitely divine intervention...

That I happened to find the advertisement..

That I am a fully qualified English language teacher in an English-speaking country...

That I am a native English language speaker by virtue of being born and raised in the UK...

Thanks for that Mum and Dad :)

SHARE THIS