Adventures in Asia

Longing to travel the world? Interested in teaching? Looking for a different, new adventure? It may have crossed your mind: What about teaching English in Asia…? Rural area of Zhejiang province You aren’t the only one. It’s incredibly easy to get a teaching job in several Asian countries, including China. All you need to apply is… -Be a native English speaker -Have a bachelor’s degree (any field) -Be willing to commit for a year -Have an “aptitude” for teaching (literally the wording they used on my first application) You do not have to speak the local language. You do not have to find your own housing. Your flight will be reimbursed upon the completion of your contract. You can literally just go. It’s the wanderlust dream of my generation. On top of that, many teaching jobs pay very well. Even if the salary doesn’t look like much in US dollars, it can go a long way in a place like China that has much lower living costs. I’ve been able to...

“So, when are you moving back home?” I get this question fairly frequently, and people ask my parents a lot! I think the motivation behind it is mostly innocent curiosity, so I’d like to share a bit here about my life in China and how this particular inquiry comes across.   Shanghai Skyline with Slight Smog   “When are you moving back home?” reflects an American approval of the gap-year (living abroad for a year, usually between high school and college), but a strong, strange feeling towards long-term life abroad. When I (or my parents) answer with a brief comment about me living in China for a long time, it’s usually followed by, “I could never do it! That would be so hard!” Sure, long-term living abroad is hard. Especially the first year, though the experience is largely determined by the amount of local language you know going in and what kind of community you’re going into. For me, I’m approaching 4 years in China and I’ve built up the support systems ...

Even though my particular teaching placement right now isn’t ideal (Ha! That’s an understatement), I’ve come to realize I love this thing called teaching a foreign language in a foreign country. Here are some of the reasons why. Teaching is so satisfying. There are many helping professions where you don’t get to see the results of your efforts, where you put in countless hours on faith and hope that it’s worth it and someone, somewhere, has a better life because of your sweat and tears. Though we probably don’t truly realize the full repercussions of our good deeds in general, at least as a teacher I get to see some of the results of my investment. At the end of a unit / term / year, I watch my students use more language than before. On top of learning stuff, students write me notes, draw me pictures, give me gifts, and smile when I walk in the room. Teaching is fulfilling.   The best part of this job: the students. As a teacher, I get to plan, organize and be creati...