No matter whether you’ve taught before or not – even if you’ve taught for years – there’s some sort of adjustment period that happens when you go back to school in September. You’re either meeting new students or becoming reacquainted with students who’ve changed over the summer. And, even if your students only had a few weeks off for the summer (like the students at my school did), it seems like they’re still getting used to being back at school.
For me, this year isn’t even just another new school year, but I’m also teaching at a new school and living in a new city. I’ve got to say it’s strange. I’m getting used to a new schedule, new administrative focal points, new teachers, and new administrators. Meanwhile, I’m also getting used to new grocery stores, new coffee houses, and new running trails. I am starting all over again, and trying to remind myself that good change is a positive thing.
There are some strong points that I can be grateful for after my first full week of teaching (namely, my students are awesome!), but there have also been many lessons about how I can better adjust and better improve. One lesson that stood out to me during this past week was the importance of having humility. As a new teacher in a new instructional and geographic setting, I think humility is a key to having patience with yourself, to learning from the new people you’re meeting, and to coping with the rigors of adjustment.
Although I’m working in the same state I was born in, everything in Southern California, as opposed to Northern California, is unfamiliar. I’ve already made one true friend thanks to the MAT@USC. But, other than that, I am at a loss about how to build up a social network. Next, my new students have very different backgrounds from any students I’ve taught before and I am still learning about their unique interests and experiences. I remember that when I moved to South Korea, it took me a few months to figure out how to make my students laugh. It’s a little bit easier here without a language barrier, but while I am learning about my students, they are learning about me as a new teacher at their school, too. It just takes time. Finally, it is completely new to me having teachers of every other subject on campus, not just English teachers.
The awkwardness of my adjustment here reminds me of one of the recommended reading selections for International Context: The Art of Crossing Cultures by Craig Sorti. The text talks about how challenging the adjustment period of an overseas move can be to an individual. I suppose that I hadn’t expected that moving back to my home state, albeit a different region of it would make me long for the comfort and familiarity of Gangneung, South Korea.
What I am grateful for is that after having that experience of moving to South Korea and then finding out how much I loved it there, it gives me strength in knowing that I can become adjusted to having moved here, too. As Sorti states in the final chapter of The Art of Crossing Cultures, “… your task may be daunting, but as with any challenge worth taking up, the rewards are commensurate with the effort.”
This of course is all my current experience being here in a new school and place, but I hope that this helps to shed some light on what it is like to relocate for a teaching assignment. It can really be a great experience, but it does have its challenges, too. As a MAT@USC-TESOL student, I know that a lot of my classmates are courageous world explorers who have succeeded with the struggles of relocation likely more than once. And then again, there’s always Traveler. Fight on!
If you’d like to know about how MAT@USC can help prepare students to earn their TESOL certification contact our Admissions office at 888.MAT.1USC or email us at matadmit@usc.edu.
