As a yapper with a purpose, I mainly thrive on conversations, whether written and verbal. With that, I eventually ended up becoming an English teacher, catering to multiple nationalities across the globe.

I’ve been pretty passionate when it comes to the English language since childhood— having been exposed and immersed in Western multimedia and joining multiple extra-curricular competitions, like extemporaneous speech and declamation contents, Asian parliamentary debates, editorial writing, and more throughout my basic education journey. Added with my stay in the arts curriculum, my love for painting paralleled with my passion for literature. I often scribble poetry, depending on my life status. Such experiences directly affected my fluency and command of the language.

Back then, I never really imagined myself making a career of this because I’ve always thought that English proficiency is generally a requirement for many to undergo through their education. But of course, as there are about nine known intelligence according to Howard Gardner, everyone has a specific learning means and pacing, and it’s a due responsibility of the educators to gauge on those to ensure learning— even in studying languages. This is one of the stark thoughts I have about this industry that I always keep in mind to make sure my students are well-catered to accordingly.

Career Transition

I originally started as a corporate employee— an expected route for someone with a degree in business administration. For almost a year, I faced numbers and dealt with customers in a typical corporate fashion. Sure I can do the job, but my gut feeling just doesn’t sit right with the idea of having this routine for a long period. Not to mention, I also have motherhood responsibilities to juggle.

The ESL industry was taking its peak in the Philippines, and I’ve already known a lot of friends thriving here, so I decided to take the risk and applied to a company centered to teaching kids. It was a fun experience, overall.

The COVID-19 pandemic then happened and I had to switch companies for multiple reasons. I then entered companies that mainly cater to Japanese and Korean students and I have been staying with them for the past six years, even when I explored other career paths throughout. These companies offer schedule flexibility and a chill set of rules, and I met most of my international friends through these platforms, hence I stayed.

I’ve also catered to private classes for quite some time and it was a blast exploring techniques and curating flexibly curricula for a diverse studentry.

ESL As Part of my Becoming

One undeniable result of this career jump was the bloom of my love for the teaching profession. In 2022, I became a licensed professional teacher which expanded my career domain from doing the job online to experiencing classroom teaching.

As what was said by one of my best friends in the academe, being able to create massive impact is an experience worth emulating, and we teachers have the privilege to do so. I am proud to say that I have been doing that for more than half a decade, and I gained valuable friendships and connections that went beyond the curricula.

This made me strongly embrace the reality of making learning a two-way street in each class I handle. In every vocabulary learned and grammar patterns practiced, I get to have glimpses of what it’s like to live in different places with different perspectives. With every topic shared, connections deepen. To me, this alone is already priceless.

I also get the benefit of sustaining my proficiency, too. Just like other ESL speakers, I also have my fair share of mistakes and bloopers worth resonating with my students, and it makes the journey more fun and worthwhile.

It is happily noteworthy to observe how more and more people across the globe are breaking barriers with the language — whether it be a new career opportunity, a new country to explore, or new circles to gain. The stories my students would share about how they apply their knowledge makes every cup of coffee worth it, and the fulfilment never ends, so long as I am with the industry.

I am glad and proud to be part of the ones sustaining this beautiful chain, and I am looking forward to more ESL classes to handle, after already accomplishing tens of thousands in the past years. I’d be happy to continuously stay with my companies, and I’m looking forward to opening more slots tomorrow. Writing this entry tonight is motivating me to work harder, and the fact that I have been rooted in the English language since time immemorial is something I am forever grateful for, honestly.

… and who knows? Maybe a career transition abroad might happen. We’ll see about that.

For now, arigatou and kamsahamnida to my students. Cheers to seven years and counting of being here. See you in class!