Tag: guest writers

One of the best parts about living in different areas of the world is getting to experience the lay of the land. Each country has it’s own geography that dictates how people are able to commute. As we inhabit different places around the world we mold our surroundings to fit our needs.

It’s bound to happen– over the course of the year you spend abroad, you will either get hurt or sick. A trip to the doctor overseas is different enough, but how about a traditional Chinese medicinal doctor?

So, you’re wondering what to put on your resume after a year or more of teaching ESL – especially if the career you’re looking to move into is completely unrelated to teaching. Well, good news: teaching ESL gives you so many useful experiences and skills that apply to just about any situation you may find yourself in. Here are five examples of life skills you’ll learn as an ESL teacher that will carry over into whatever you do next in life.

The end of 2015 is fast-approaching, which means the holiday season is upon us. Expats are getting that warm, fuzzy Christmas feeling inside and memories of running down to the Christmas tree on the morning of the 25th are beginning to materialize; however, for the locals, life continues on as normal on Christmas day.

Thinking about teaching abroad? Before you jump in, make sure you take some time to do your research, know what you’re getting into, and ask yourself if you are deciding to teach ESL overseas for the right reasons. Here are ten questions every potential ESL teacher should ask themselves before making the leap to teaching abroad.

Moving to a new country is an exciting adventure, but the trip can be made even better when you learn the native language. It takes time, effort, and tons (seriously, tons) of patience to learn a new language (or even just words and phrases). In the end, though, it’s worth it for many reasons.

As teachers, all of us bring something of ourselves to the classroom, which comes from our socio-economic, cultural, education, and familial backgrounds. These experiences that we bring can create amazingly positive effects in the classroom and can, at times, create tension as well. In this article, I will detail a couple of the cultural differences between Western teaching styles and styles I have seen in Taiwan.

Jiufen is probably my most favorite travel location in Taiwan. The location inspired the setting to one of my favorite movies, ‘Spirited Away’. If you were like me, you thought this location must be some exotic Chinese or Japanese location– absolutely not! Taiwan has some of the best-hidden gems for travel!