It's STEEMHOMEWORK Time!
I think I missed last week's homework, so I decided to submit my homework for this week. This is in response to @steemiteducation's STEEMHOMEWORK. If you wish to participate, please click the word "STEEMHOMEWORK Time" above.
QUESTION:
Why did you decide to become a teacher?
ANSWER:
As my title says, "Destiny Brought Me To The Teaching Field". This sentence pretty much sums up my answer to the question above. However, allow me to tell you my story.
When I was young, I have always wanted to be a doctor. The challenge of working in the medical field piqued my interest even as a child. However, ironically, I wasn't the healthy kid. Yes, I was sickly but luckily it has improved as I grew older.
When the time to decide for my future came, there were a lot of barriers. Firstly, taking up Medicine costs a lot and my family couldn't afford it. Secondly, my mama was a worrywart and thought that studying Medicine would be too much for me. She wanted me to take up either Education or Accountancy.
However, I never dreamed of becoming either of those. I thought being a teacher or an accountant would be boring for me, so I ended up taking Nursing.
I totally enjoyed my "Nursing Life". Yes, there were a lot of "toxic" days when I feel so burned out and the pressure is too much. However, I enjoyed even those things. My favorite part was assisting in the Operating Room. I will forever treasure every moment of it.
What I didn't expect was that being a nurse, we should also act as a teacher. There, I experienced teaching patients and their significant others about health care. We also conducted "Health Teaching" in the community and provided various "Therapies" to those in the mental institutions.
Unexpectedly, I also end up teaching my classmates whenever a Major Exam is coming. I'm not the studious type of student, but I do listen during discussion
Fast forward graduation, review days and Licensure exam for nurses... In my country, waiting for the board exam results especially for nurses takes a month or two. While waiting, I decided to work. Actually, we were also financially unstable that time so I really needed to land a job.
My first ever job was as a company-based online ESL teacher. I wasn't that fluent back then, so I was a bit worried. However, with the help of some training, I got used to speaking and teaching English. Days passed and I was already looking forward to working everyday. Yes, I fell in love with teaching.
Working as an ESL teacher is practically better than working as a nurse. The salary of nurses in the Philippines is really low, so even though I love the nursing profession, I chose practicality.
Moving on to my journey as a teacher, I tried out teaching in an offline school. It was so fun! Having real interaction with people, doing a lot of activities together and sharing various experiences with them got me even hooked to teaching. That was when I decided to really pursue this career. I left the English Academy and switched to a home-based online ESL so I could have more time. And that extra time I got, I used it by enrolling at a college to get my Diploma as a teacher. Finally, I got my Diploma and even passed the Licensure exam for teachers.
I could apply to either a public or private high school now, but my "free soul" told me to wait. I want to experience more! And so, I decided to keep my job as a home-based ESL teacher while working on other things. Just early this year, I completed my TESOL Certification program and hopefully next year, I could study and work in the country of my dreams.
My journey as a teacher is still evolving, so I'll constantly go with the flow. I never planned to be a teacher, but destiny brought me to where I am now and I am completely happy with it.
