life choices; teaching methods; Mother's Day
what do you do when you're stuck between what you want and what you should do? what you want would be following your dream and having a great life in the present, but does not guarantee a stable future or even a good future for that matter. as far as what you should do, it will be a difficult path to go down because you have to start all over again from scratch, but it is a path that has way more opportunities for you and your family and can ensure a stable and even great future with friends and family included. do you chase after a dream and waste more time and money that you do not have, or do you weigh your options and do what might be best for you and your family?
these are the questions that hubs and i have been dealing with for the last two months. we've taken over 60 days of thinking and still can't come up with a conclusion.
i've normally been a "go with the flow" type of person, but i throw that up to being indecisive, lazy, and young. after this month, i'll be 31, and granted i'll still be young in appearance, i'm falling into the shallow end of the job pool, where pickings can be slim when you're over 30. i may be wrong about that last part since i think it depends on the establishment, but Foreign English Teachers are a dime a dozen in Asia when you're working in foreigner saturated places like Fukuoka or even Taipei for that matter... i personally think that i'm not necessarily the best teacher, but i'm a great employee because i'm loyal, hard working, and willing to cooperate up to the point of being a doormat sometimes.
i think i'm lacking in the teaching category because i'm self-taught, i have no degrees in education or former training, and i'm not professionally certified. so, i kind of question my teaching methods when i don't get the results i expected. for example, i've been teaching at a school for the past 7 months, where the kids come once a week for 40-50 min classes. there has been little to no improvement in the kids there, and i think some of them have actually forgotten a lot of what the former teacher has taught them. :( it feels like i'm not doing my job right...
i use flashcards and normally have the kids do games in class, and there is a lot of "repeat after me" kind of drills. however, i recently read here that getting the kids to repeat after the teacher is not an efficient way of teaching the kids. in fact, it just doesn't work at all. i can understand that, but how else are you going to teach kids 2-8 years old how to speak/use English? it's not like they're there, because they want to learn themselves. i can honestly name half of the students in my classes that are there because their parents made them, and trying to get those kids to talk in English is like trying to extract their teeth...*facepalm*, so other than repeating, what else works?
this is where i start going online and looking for TESOL programs or workshops that i want to get certified in, looking for other professionals that could give me pointers or advice as to what i'm doing wrong. then, i pause after looking at the prices of those programs, and wonder if they're just going to teach me what i already know from having over 7 years of teaching experience, and the only thing i'll get out of it is a piece of paper with my name and "Certified Teacher of English to Students of Other Languages" on it of which i paid half of a month's rent to get. :P
sigh, i guess i'm just a little lost at the moment, because i want the kids to have fun and enjoy learning English and coming back to class and have fun again.
so all this thinking has made me think about other life decisions, such as following my dream of living and teaching in Japan, or going back to Taipei where i can find other jobs/careers because i'm bilingual. the hardest part is that i also have to think about my family and how my decisions affect them as well. :/
wouldn't it be easier if i didn't care so much? :P
today is Mother's Day and the only thing i have planned is to clean the apt., watch some movies with Kay and then maybe make something yummy or order out... depends on this week's budget.
hope everyone has a wonderful Mother's Day!!
these are the questions that hubs and i have been dealing with for the last two months. we've taken over 60 days of thinking and still can't come up with a conclusion.
i've normally been a "go with the flow" type of person, but i throw that up to being indecisive, lazy, and young. after this month, i'll be 31, and granted i'll still be young in appearance, i'm falling into the shallow end of the job pool, where pickings can be slim when you're over 30. i may be wrong about that last part since i think it depends on the establishment, but Foreign English Teachers are a dime a dozen in Asia when you're working in foreigner saturated places like Fukuoka or even Taipei for that matter... i personally think that i'm not necessarily the best teacher, but i'm a great employee because i'm loyal, hard working, and willing to cooperate up to the point of being a doormat sometimes.
i think i'm lacking in the teaching category because i'm self-taught, i have no degrees in education or former training, and i'm not professionally certified. so, i kind of question my teaching methods when i don't get the results i expected. for example, i've been teaching at a school for the past 7 months, where the kids come once a week for 40-50 min classes. there has been little to no improvement in the kids there, and i think some of them have actually forgotten a lot of what the former teacher has taught them. :( it feels like i'm not doing my job right...
i use flashcards and normally have the kids do games in class, and there is a lot of "repeat after me" kind of drills. however, i recently read here that getting the kids to repeat after the teacher is not an efficient way of teaching the kids. in fact, it just doesn't work at all. i can understand that, but how else are you going to teach kids 2-8 years old how to speak/use English? it's not like they're there, because they want to learn themselves. i can honestly name half of the students in my classes that are there because their parents made them, and trying to get those kids to talk in English is like trying to extract their teeth...*facepalm*, so other than repeating, what else works?
this is where i start going online and looking for TESOL programs or workshops that i want to get certified in, looking for other professionals that could give me pointers or advice as to what i'm doing wrong. then, i pause after looking at the prices of those programs, and wonder if they're just going to teach me what i already know from having over 7 years of teaching experience, and the only thing i'll get out of it is a piece of paper with my name and "Certified Teacher of English to Students of Other Languages" on it of which i paid half of a month's rent to get. :P
sigh, i guess i'm just a little lost at the moment, because i want the kids to have fun and enjoy learning English and coming back to class and have fun again.
so all this thinking has made me think about other life decisions, such as following my dream of living and teaching in Japan, or going back to Taipei where i can find other jobs/careers because i'm bilingual. the hardest part is that i also have to think about my family and how my decisions affect them as well. :/
wouldn't it be easier if i didn't care so much? :P
today is Mother's Day and the only thing i have planned is to clean the apt., watch some movies with Kay and then maybe make something yummy or order out... depends on this week's budget.
hope everyone has a wonderful Mother's Day!!
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