Motivation

I came across this story during my teaching certification and it reminded me of the long term influence a teacher can have on just one of their students.  I hope I am this lucky to have this type of positive influence in anyone's life.  Whether this story is real or not, it is something I will carry with me during my short or long tenure as an English teacher.  If it is not teaching, then it will be something else.

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There was a story many years ago of an elementary teacher.  Her name was Mrs. Thompson.  As she stood in front of her 5th grade class on the very first day of school, she told the children a lie.
Like most teachers, she looked at her students and said that she loved them all the same.
But that was impossible, because there in the front row, slumped in his seat, was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard.
Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticed that he did not play well with the other children, that his clothes were messy, and that he constantly needed a bath.  And Teddy could be unpleasant.  It got to the point where Mrs. Thompson would actually take delight in marking his papers with a broad red pen, making bold X's and then putting a big F at the top of his papers.
At the school where Mrs. Thompson taught, she was required to review each child's past records and she put Teddy's off until last.
However, when she reviewed his file, she was in for a surprise.
Teddy's first grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is a bright child with a ready laugh.  He does his work neatly and has good manners ... he is a joy to be around."
His second grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is an excellent student, well liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because his mother has a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle."
His third grade teacher wrote, "His mother's death has been hard on him.  He tries to do his best but his father doesn't show much interest and his home life will soon affect him if some steps are not taken.
Teddy's fourth grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is withdrawn and doesn't show much interest in school.  He doesn't have many friends and sometimes sleeps in class."  By now, Mrs. Thompson had realized the problem, and she was ashamed of herself.
She felt even worse when all her students brought her Christmas presents wrapped in beautiful ribbons and bright paper except for Teddy.  His present was clumsily wrapped in the heavy, brown paper that he got from a grocery bag.
Mrs. Thompson took pains to open it in the middle of the other presents.  Some of the children started to laugh when she found a rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing, and a bottle that was one-quarter full of perfume.  But she stifled the children's laughter when she exclaimed how pretty the bracelet was, put it on, and dabbed some of the perfume on her wrist.
Teddy Soddard stayed after school that day just long enough to say, "Mrs. Thompson, today you smelled just like my Mom used to."  After the children left she cried for at least an hour.
On that very day, she quit teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic.  Instead, she began to teach children.
Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy.  As she worked with him, his mind seemed to come alive.  The more she encouraged him, the faster he responded.  By the end of the year, Teddy had become one of the smartest children in the class and, despite her lie that she would love all the children the same, Teddy became one of her "teacher's pets."
A year later, she found a note under her door, from Teddy, Telling her that she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.
Six years went by before she got another note from Teddy.  He then wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.
Four years after that, she got another letter, saying that while things had been tough at times, he'd stayed in school, had stuck with it, and would soon graduate from college with the highest honors.  He assured Mrs. Thompson that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had in his whole life.
Then four more years passed and yet another letter came.  This time he explained that after he got his bachelor's degree, he decided to go a little further.  The letter explained that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had.  But now his name was a little longer - the letter was signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, M.D.
The story doesn't end there.  You see, there was yet another letter that spring.  Teddy said he'd met this girl and was going to be married.
He explained that his father had died a couple of years ago and was wondering if Mrs. Thompson might agree to sit in the place at the wedding that was usually reserved for the mother of the groom.
Of course, Mrs. Thompson did.  And guess what?  She wore the bracelet, the one with the several rhinestones missing.  And she made sure she was wearing the perfume that Teddy remembered his mother wearing on their last Christmas together.
They hugged each other and Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs. Thompson's ear, "Thank you, Mrs. Thompson, for believing in me.  Thank you so much for making me feel important and showing me that I could make a difference."
Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back.  She said, "Teddy, you have it all wrong.  You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference.  I didn't know how to teach until I met you."

Limbo

I got feedback from the job placement and she noted that in order for them to submit my job application, I needed 120 hours so it is settled. I signed up for the Grammar and TOEFL specialization module and been waiting for it to be delivered. It's been almost 2 weeks and supposed to get the tracking number on Friday. Ugh. Why so long?!
I started re-reading my manual and taking notes. I am hoping to organize it by reading materials and lesson plan ideas so I have a knowledge base to use when I start teaching. I am aiming to create enough lesson plan ideas that it develops into a curriculum for an entire semester for a class. However, the schools I am hoping to get in should have some basic structure that will guide me through the planning. Lesson plans will be one of the discussion topics with the school after getting an offer.
Looks Japan will not be an option since they are looking for 22-29 year olds?! I am looking at Korea as a possibility, but haven't done research yet. I have a fellow Oxford classmate there and friend FB'ing that he is in Korea so at least there will be some familiarity. Vietnam still number one choice, but could take some Korean language lessons and after my Vietnam job contract, I could see if I can get a job over there.
With all this be said, I am getting closer to my personal deadline of November to be working overseas. Fell a bit behind due to the required additional hours, but it will be tight. Trying to get financial obligations in order and that is always logistically challenging.
I am using this new iPhone app to post so I hope it works.

Ramping Up

I finished my TESOL/TESL/TEFL certification from Oxford Seminars last weekend and the 3 weekends went by surprisingly fast.  I stressed over my final lesson plan and only got a few hours of sleep.  I even got to the class 40 minutes early and was going over what I was going to say and do during my lesson.  When it came time to actually do the lesson plan, I was following the note prompts, but did a gut check on time management.  At the end it worked out ok and I was able to compare my intended outcome vs. actual outcome and there was some unforeseen learning lessons.  This was a good thing.  At the end, when I read over my review, it turned out that I was the top of my class, but even this didn't calm my nerves.

I have been working on my resume, cover letter, teacher's philosophy, and getting my documents together in order to apply for the working visa.  Such a pain!!  I submitted a couple of the documents into the job placement and waiting to hear back from them.  Once the final drafts are vetted out, they are supposed to submit my application to the schools and I might just start applying to other places I discovered during my research.  I also looked into apartments / rooms for rent to get a feel for the rental market.  All this preparation and I am half glad that it is still 3 months out before I can start that job.  I am a bit worried that I have seen a decline in the number of job postings for Vietnam so I hope the timing will be right for me to get hired with New Years around the corner once I set foot in Vietnam.  My backup plan will be to apply to Korea so if that happens, I will be doing my research all over again.  Ugh.  Once I get a confirmed school offer, I will start re-reading my books/manuals and start to keep reading notes.  I am still wondering if I should be taking the specialization modules to take advantage of the $100 discount.  Grammar vs. TOEFL.  That is the question.  I believe Grammar will give me more lesson plan ideas, but TOEFL is something all the students are looking to pass.

Next stop is to wait on the job placement feedback and see if I should be taking the specialization module.

Genesis

After working in the IT field for over 14 years, I got laid off and now I have an opportunity to set my sights on a new beginning.  I was taking it easy for the first couple of months - started exercising a bit more, went on a trip to LA and Vegas after being away for a month overseas, been going out more, got a real tan on my arms (haha) and just trying to be more social.  However, I needed to do something more and the lasting impression I had after being in India, Hong Kong and Vietnam for that month made me realize let's do something totally out of my comfort zone - let's live and do business abroad!

My entrepreneurial spirit emerged and I wanted to see what business opportunities I can build from my experience living and working in the US. My dad was really optimistic about building a hotel and restaurant in Vietnam after his 1.5 months stay, but I had no practical experience with its local market so I needed to figure out a way to build the relationships and knowledge needed to get started.  I started looking around and discovered that there were many opportunities for English language teachers abroad.  The requirements were simple enough - native speaker (check), college degree (check), TEFL equivalent certification (needed to get), and desire to live abroad (check).  I seem to fit the bill so I dug a little deeper and tried to expand my options - Vietnam, Hong Kong, or Japan.  Where am I going to teach?  After some Googling around and talking to a few people, I believe I have settled on teaching in Saigon and starting my business in this city.

First step was to get this teaching job so that I can sustain myself in this foreign land while I soak in the local market, people, and economic landscape.  The first hurdle and milestone was to get the certification (work in progress).  In the meantime, I got my resume, cover letter, reference letters and documentation in order because they will be needed as part of my application package to these schools.  I also checked out what schools are popular in Vietnam and there are quite a few, but I was able to narrow it down to a few.  I was still going to apply to them all to see where fate takes me and what opportunities presents itself.  Looking forward when this month is over because I will be done with my certification and should be actively applying.