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...

I just finished my first semester of teaching English at a Chinese university, where my classes averaged 51.6 students EACH. Coming from a few years at children’s training schools, where 20 kids in a class was entirely too many, I was in a panic my first week of class. How in the world am I going to make my classes dynamic, communicative, or at least bearable? I quickly emailed one of my old TESOL professors, who sent me an article by Alan Seaman entitled “Responding to the Challenge of Large Mixed-Ability Classes in China.” It pretty much saved my life. Here are some of the techniques I used this semester, most of which were influenced by Dr. Seaman, or my wonderful, more-experienced colleagues. The first homework assignment I gave involved my students filling out an index card with their Chinese name (in Pinyin and characters), their English name (if they had one), and their interests / goals for the class. Apparently, all Chinese freshmen have several ID-style photos of...

So I decided to try out bullet journaling this year! Just setting it up and creating the first few pages has been super relaxing for me during the busy holiday season. I hope my ideas can inspire others and maybe introduce some of you to the concept of creating your own planner! Bullet Journaling is a form of planning and organizing your life using an ordinary notebook and listing techniques developed by Ryder Carroll. (You can read up on his methods on his website .) It's an incredibly flexible system, and you can be as creative / simple as you like. The secret is that you make it as you go -- no wasted space, and future pages are wide open. The first step is to choose a notebook. I went with a graph-lined softcover, around 150 pages. I absolutely love the little squares, which help a non-artist like me pull off some decent designs. I feel I can write, word web, doodle, do anything on this paper! However I would recommend getting a hardcover instead. I enjoyed using a large...