Welcome!

A Little Hello and a Little Background

If you are reading this, thank you, first of all. Second of all, I know it is hard to imagine a reason to read another education blog but as I introduce myself and my background I think you may see my reasoning.

I went to school to be an English teacher. I studied in California and graduated in 2010 and there was no graduation gift that helped push me into the "Real World" quite like the Recession. Teaching jobs in California were basically non-existent and even if you had a teaching job many people were being "pink-slipped" which is a colorful way of being told you're fired. I spent a year taking some phonetics classes and working at a preschool while I applied and waited for a job with the JET Programme (Japanese Exchange Teaching Programme). Nothing quite like waiting a year to find out if you would either be a successful, globe-traveller whose student loans were worth-while or a complete failure, destined to return to the tub of ice cream and a few more tears.

Well, I got in and so could put down the tub of ice cream and prepare packing my bags for what I thought would be a one year escape from my hometown and mundane life. I would go and, like the heroine in my favorite movie Sabrina, I would return a worldly, cultured version of myself probably with better fashion sense and a shorter hair cut to symbolize in an outward sense what took place inside.

Flash forward 5 years later and I was still in Japan...SHOCK!! I taught at a Junior and Senior High School in a city an hour outside of Tokyo. It was life changing in the non-cliched kind of way. I learned about myself as a teacher and a person and grew so much. Now, the JET Programme only lasts 5 years and so now what was I to do?? The same uncertainty that I had after university began to creep in along with a slew of other insecurities.

In a lucky turn of events, my husband (BTW along with the short hair cut and trendy clothes, I also acquired a husband!) was accepted to a Master's Course. The course would take place over 4 different countries in 2 years and we would be moving a lot. My dream to live in Europe, I told you Sabrina was my favorite movie, had come true. Along with this dream, though, I had the realization that I was very much unemployed.

We moved to Spain first and with a freshly updated LinkedIn profile I hoped something would come. Within a week I was contacted by my current company and started working immediately as an Online English Teacher for QingCheng Education.

I had never thought that I would teach online, in fact I didn't even know such a thing existed, but this was such a great chance to work while we travelled and before I knew it I was deep into the throngs of online teaching and loving it.

So, this my friends, or maybe friend if I can only get one person to read this, is how it all started.

I'll post shortly about what content you can expect and some upcoming posts that will follow. I am so excited to share what I am learning as I am learning it with you.

Until next time,

Mrs. Online English