Skip to main content

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

Comments

Fauziah Ismail said…
Congratulations, bro. Do good. Do Malaysia proud.
Thanks sis! will definitely try to make my mark here.
Cat-from-Sydney said…
Good to see you're back blogging - actively. Ramadan Mubarak to you, Sir! roar! roar! roar!
Hey Angie.. Long time no see eh? hehehe.. yeah.. got settled in a bit so can free up my mind for a bit of blogging hehehe.. How have u been?
Cat-from-Sydney said…
Would you email us your contacts in Christchurch? We love that place so much that another trip may happen soon. roar! roar! roar!
Haha.. no worries.. would be my pleasure. Gimme ur email and I'll mail u my details.
Ahmad said…
...Dan sesiapa yang bertaqwa kepada Allah, nescaya Allah akan mengadakan baginya jalan keluar;Serta memberinya rezeki dari jalan yang tidak terlintas di hatinya. Dan sesiapa berserah diri bulat-bulat kepada Allah, maka Allah cukuplah baginya. (At-Talaq:2-3)
Cat-from-Sydney said…
Ahhh...Ramadan in winter in Christchurch. Challenging, eh? Email us catinsydney[at]gmail[dot]com. roar! roar! roar!
Gukita said…
Congratulations....
Hope you make the ends meet doing something you enjoy doing... It's like being paid for a hobby.. Good eh??
Anonymous said…
alamak.. sorry sibuk ber-ramadan, lambat setapak. congratulations bro! and may your bank account bleed no more... and yes, once a teacher, always a teacher.. as i've learnt that.

eh try to look for this Japanese serial called GOKUSEN on you-tube.
try watching the serial from season 1. it's about a Japanese Mafia war lord punya cucu jadi cikgu... beautifully hilarious and inspiring!

Popular posts from this blog

Help is always far away

Help is never far away. That is the old adage that has been drummed into us ever since we were young. No matter where you are, and what difficulty you are going through, someone will be close at hand to help. Except they aren't. Many a time no one in your vicinity gives a rat's ass. Or could be in a mess of their own to even think that someone else may need the support. Just that little bit of assurance to show that they care. Sometimes it can be in the smallest things. A kind word. A check up of how one is doing. Yet help does come. Someone takes the time to respond, in short messages, all the way from across the Pacific Ocean. Someone does take the time to relate, and share their own experiences, and offers words of comfort from across the country. Yes, help is at hand, but it is always far away. *picture credit here

The Forbidden Kingdom No More

Yesterday is a day that would forever go down the sands of time as... "The Day I Fed Two Hundred Ravenous Mouths with Bottomless Pits" Oh the horror!... The Pain!... The Suffering!!! Like a swarm of locusts they came, wave upon wave upon wave... Like a farmer protecting his crop I could only look on and stare, as they darkened the sky, before zeroing in for the kill... Tears streamed down my eyes as I watched them strip every last grain of maize and corn that I had planted at the begininning of the year... My knees thudded to the ground, as I numbly watched the carnage around me, my tired brain barely registering what my eyes perceived. "So this is what it feels like"... I thought in my brain... "This thing called Open House" . .. ... Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut I'm just being dramatic here ;) Yesterday was actually a day that I'm going to remember for a long time, simply because it was graced with the presence of those eager young minds I he

My nightmare come true

This is it. It's finally happened. The stuff of bad dreams for many language teachers has today materialised for me, rearing its ugly head, scoffing at my abilities as a language professional. This is an actual letter from one of my students as part of their coursework. Final year student. Soon to graduate and meet the workforce of the nation. Read it and weep...