When I decided to get into ESL, I was a college senior at Rutgers, The State University of NJ. I was 21 years old, and about to graduate with a BA in Economics. Originally, I was a Biology major, and was sent to Finland for two months to do ecology research for the University of Helsinki. Living abroad was awesome, and I didn't mind being away from my family/friends, or exploring a new culture.
During my last semester, my job prospects were par. The jobs relevant to my Economics degree were of mediocre salary, and none were a particular good launching pad for a career. So I thought why not look abroad for a Economics job since I loved living in Finland so much. There were some, but then I stumbled upon the ESL industry and started reading Dave's ESL Cafe.
"Wait, I can make money, with my innate ability to speak English?"
I decided this would be a funner, less stressful job than crunching numbers for some firm. Now I am beginning to think it may not be, more on that later though.
My parents were pissed that I was showing so much interest in moving abroad to teach, saying it was just a whim. So to prove them I was serious, I gave up the awesome Spring Break trip I had been saving up for, and put it all towards paying for the necessary paperwork to begin applying to ESL jobs and getting the correct certifications.
I am originally from New Jersey, but made my way to Austin, Texas, to complete my CELTA and ESL Teacher Training Program from the University of Texas with my Spring Break money.
A program that's still running and that I highly recommend. It can be found here.
With my entry level qualifications, I decided to apply to the EPIK program in Korea and landed a job in Daegu, Korea.
So basically, I am a 22 year old guy who kinda just fell into ESL.
Cheers
No comments:
Post a Comment