I grew up on a farm in Ennismore with my parents and my four siblings. I lived in the same house my entire life up until I moved to Kingston when I was 17 to attend Queen's University. I enrolled in the Concurrent Education program at Queen's and set out to major in Mathematics. I enjoyed my time at Queen's and made several lifelong friends (including one who wanted to read this blog) Much to my (and many others') surprise I stuck with my math major and graduated with a BScH in 2011 and this past June I graduated with my BEd. So after five long years, that now seem to have flown by, my time in Kingston is over; unfortunately we cannot be students forever (though some of us try).
I had been planning on being a teacher since I was quite young, but the official decision was made six years ago when I applied to Concurrent Education programs. Unfortunately, between then and now, the job situation for teachers in Ontario has not improved. I went into my Faculty of Education year knowing that I should not expect too much when it came time to the job hunt, which I commenced around Christmas 2011. I decided at this time that even though I will eventually be a supply teacher, that is not what I wanted to do right now; I was willing to go overseas. So I applied to teaching agencies in the UK as well as Canadian schools in the private sector. The job hunt actually went better than I had hoped (but I usually try not to aim too high).
All of the teaching agencies in the UK seemed interested in my CV but even more surprisingly I received an interview at a private school in Toronto! MY FIRST REAL TEACHER INTERVIEW; needless to say I was beyond nervous and the interview did not go especially well. I was not called back for a second interview, but I still treated it as a win in my books; many of the people in my year had not even begun applying to jobs and I had had my first interview. The high quickly wore off however and I still did not have a job for the coming school year.
I knew I would probably be able to secure a position in the UK (teachers are in demand there) but they often offer contracts well into the summer months and I did not want to have to wait that long. So I began to look elsewhere and ended up applying to teach ESL in Korea. I was given an interview and then offered a job and it all happened very quickly. I was going to accept the position but due to unforeseen events I ended up opting to not teach in Korea. After this idea seemed to have failed I then applied to even more jobs and was eventually offered an interview with the Canadian Trillium College schools in China. I had my interview and was offered a one year contract with the school teaching Chinese students who are working towards their Ontario Secondary School Diploma; I quickly accepted the position.
I was happy that I had ended up not teaching in Korea; now not only was I teaching but I was teaching the actual subjects that I studied in University. On top of this I was teaching courses from the Ontario Curriculum. However, now not only am I going to be a first-year full-time teacher but I am also going to be living in China, a place I have never been. This was going to take some preparation! I spent a good deal of this summer researching China and deciding what kinds of things I should pack; I hope I did a good job researching this because I am running out of time before I leave. I also spent a lot of time lesson planning which proved to be especially difficult when not only have I have never planned an entire course before but I have very little idea of the resources available at the school.
The rest of my summer was spent at home seeing friends and family who I am going to miss during the year that I am gone as well as making road trips to Kingston and Toronto to see more friends who will be missed. I even got to spend a weekend helping out at my former job at Burt's Greenhouses with the best supervisor ever. A bit of a downer was put on my summer when my Visa application faced several setbacks but in the midst of this I was distracted by these same friends and family and an amazing surprise going away party that they had for me; I cannot believe I did not find out about the party! Keeping a secret in a town as small as Ennismore is a feat in itself meanwhile when it is a secret being kept from someone as nosy as me!
I am to fly out on September 11th (4 more sleeps until I leave, 5 more sleeps until I get to Jinhua) and it is going to come FAST! I need to pack, do more planning and say all of my good-byes. So I better go get on that.....
eeee, getting excited!
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