{"id":2987,"date":"2016-10-18T17:23:27","date_gmt":"2016-10-18T21:23:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/?p=2987"},"modified":"2017-07-06T15:17:43","modified_gmt":"2017-07-06T19:17:43","slug":"teaching-esl-perfect-start-to-a-teaching-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/teaching-esl-perfect-start-to-a-teaching-career\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Teaching ESL is the Perfect Start to a Teaching Career"},"content":{"rendered":"

I decided to teach ESL in South Korea because I wanted to explore my interest in teaching English abroad to foreign learners.\u202fI knew that it would require more schooling for me to teach here in the U.S., so I thought this would be the perfect way to test the waters before investing my time and money in a graduate school program.\u202fHaving volunteered in an elementary ESL classroom, I was positive that I wanted to teach that age group, so I got a job at a public school<\/a> in New Song-do, Incheon.
\n

\"alt=\u201dWhy-Your-First-Teaching-Job-Should-be-Teaching-ESL\u201d<\/a>

It’s common for adults to become ESL students in South Korea<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

My First Teaching Job with Adult Students<\/h2>\n

After about three months of teaching elementary students, the Director of the English Department told me that I was going to have additional classes added to my schedule.\u202fShe also informed me that these classes would be conversational classes for adults in the community. The words \u2018adult students\u2019 sent me into a panic!<\/p>\n

I politely declined the Director\u2019s request, saying, \u201cBut I don\u2019t teach adults. I teach elementary school children.\u202fI came here because I wanted to teach young learners.\u201d\u202fI quickly found out that this was not a request at all.\u202fI would be teaching adults in two weeks, whether I liked it or not.<\/p>\n

Overcoming My Fears Teaching Adults English<\/h2>\n

As the start of the class neared, I grew more and more anxious about teaching adults, but on the first day of the course, I walked into the classroom, and there sat seven women who eagerly waited to learn English.<\/p>\n

While I was nervous about teaching a group of women who were all older than me, we quickly got into a routine.\u202fJust like any other course, the content needed to be relevant to the students\u2019 lives, so we spent most of our time talking about their families, their jobs, and how life is changing rapidly in South Korea.<\/p>\n

I quickly realized that I was looking forward to these classes more than any other class that I taught.\u202fI was learning so much about Korean culture from these women, and they were learning English from me.\u202fI was shocked that I was thoroughly enjoying a class that I had completely dreaded teaching.<\/p>\n

International Teaching is the Best Way to Get Started as a Teacher<\/h2>\n

My time\u202fteaching in South Korea<\/a>\u202fchallenged me to push my boundaries and forced me to try something that I never would have done on my own. While I was nervous at the beginning, I couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity to learn about a new culture, and turn my initial interest in teaching into a rewarding career.<\/p>\n

In the four years or so that I have been back in the States, I have continued to teach adults.\u202f Teaching this one class caused me to forge a new path for my career, and it never would have happened had I not traveled to South Korea.\u202f I think about this experience often when I feel\u202fworried about\u202fsomething new that I am facing in my life.\u202f It taught me not to fear the unknown, but to embrace it.\u202f Sometimes we need a little push to put us right where we need to be.<\/p>\n

Why Teach ESL Abroad?<\/h2>\n

Are you interested in a career\u202fteaching English overseas? Do you want to make extra money for your travels around the world? Teaching ESL overseas is the best way to start a teaching career and a\u202fgreat opportunity to explore the world while gaining\u202fvaluable experience. Talk to an instructor at\u202fa free information session<\/a> near you\u202for download our\u202ffree course guide<\/a>\u202fto get started.<\/p>\n

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Written by Blaire Hart<\/p>\n

\"Blaire<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Blaire Hart has taught English abroad in South Korea<\/a> and Costa Rica<\/a>.\u00a0 She enjoyed her experiences so much that she returned to the U.S. to earn her Master’s in TESOL.\u00a0 She currently teaches English at a university and is also an Oxford Seminars Instructor<\/a>, but she’s always looking for that next international job.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I decided to teach ESL in South Korea because I wanted to explore my interest in teaching English abroad to foreign learners.\u202fI knew that it would require more schooling for me to teach here in the U.S., so I thought this would be the perfect way to test the waters before investing my time and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":2998,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76,348,344],"tags":[9,87,202,98],"class_list":["post-2987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia","category-bachelors-degree","category-teaching-esl","tag-education","tag-esl","tag-esl-teacher","tag-south-korea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2987"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3922,"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2987\/revisions\/3922"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}