Career Change

Work…

When I came to Peru in January of 2009 I didn´t have a job.  I couldn´t speak Spanish so I was kind of limited to the jobs that I could get – teaching English was pretty much my only option.  I took a course at Rockhurst University to get a certificate in Teaching English as a Second Language, I bought a one way ticket to Lima, and I finally landed a job at Santa Maria teaching English to Seniors.

It was awesome.  I loved it.  The first year went by so fast and I got to experience another side of the world that I never knew existed.  The second year was a bit more challenging.  I was a homeroom teacher, which meant that I had more responsibility – I had to meet with parents.  …a lot.  I learned more Spanish in 3 months of meeting with parents than I did in two years of living in Lima.

The last day of class for one of the sections that I taught - awesome group of guys... a little weird (as you can see), but awesome just the same.

But I also got an opportunity to teach a couple business classes at La Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola.  It is the only bilingual University in Peru, and I had a little experience in the business world, as well as an MBA, so why not.  I taught a couple introduction to business classes there and I really liked that too.  The classes were at night so my days were a bit long, but I could not complain because I got almost 3 months off during the summer.  (sorry to rub it in).

Well, I had a bitter sweet ending at Santa Maria.  I was offered a job at San Ignacio University as the Academic Coordinator of the Bilingual Program.  I didn’t want to leave Santa Maria, but my time there was about done, I had an itch to see what else I could do in Lima.  I had some success during my classes at San Ignacio and it turns out I´m really interested in teaching bilingual classes – teaching to bilingual students is very exciting, really!  I got an opportunity to combine two things that I enjoy – teaching and business.

So now I’m full time at San Ignacio University as the Coordinator of the Bilingual Program.  I´ve been doing that job now for about 4 months and I´m enjoying it a lot.  We´ve got about 10,000 students here, 1,000 of whom take bilingual courses (they also happen to be the best students anyway… lucky me).  My job is to supervise teachers, run training programs, and really create innovative new ways to improve our bilingual program.

This was the Title slide for one of my training sessions

If I compare my current self to when I first moved here two and a half years ago, I´ve changed a lot… for the better.  For one, I speak Spanish on a daily basis at work.  All of our meetings are in Spanish, all of my emails are in Spanish, and most of my conversations are in Spanish (unless I´m talking with the few fellow gringos that work here).  And two, I´ve learned to be a better communicator… maybe not a writer, my skills on this blog are limited, haha… but I´m definitely more skilled at dealing with people, standing up for what I believe in, and taking initiative.

I think what has been most surprising about this whole experience, in terms of work, is that I found that I love teaching.  I love being a part of an educational institution that believes in the same thing I believe in.

You know, like being a real teacher, teaching things based on real world experiences… like this…

Pound it...

Explode it...

Then eat it...

Ahhhh… life lessons, my friends.  Life lessons.

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