Life is a beautiful journey of growth and change. In this post, I share my recent experiences moving from an international school back to Taiwan, the unexpected path my teaching career has taken, and how embracing challenges has transformed my perspective. Discover the power of resilience and the beauty in every encounter.
Eng ⬆️ 中文 ⬇️
Each time I arrive at a transition period in life, I like to take some time to reflect on what has happened and how I've learned from it.
This June, I concluded my teaching position at an international school, deciding to give myself a much-needed period of reflection. Moving back to Taiwan for a while has been the most regret-free decision I've made after six years in Mexico. And finding this teaching job after returning to Taiwan was the most correct choice I've made during this time.
I remember back when I was so confident, I felt life was like constantly searching for driftwood in the ocean, taking one step at a time until I found a place to settle.
But in recent years, as my inner strength has grown,
I've firmly believed that "everything works out for my good."
When good things happen, it means efforts have paid off, and I should enjoy them.
When challenges arise, they simply represent an uphill climb or life doing some clearing, preparing for the next chapter.
I suppose this might be what the older generation refers to as "energy."
There's a saying in English I particularly like: "We all met for a reason. Either a blessing or a lesson."
The people we encounter in life, whether good or bad, are all part of the most beautiful arrangement. Perhaps, that's why we met.
My career path seems inextricably linked to the keyword "teacher." While I've always appeared in everyone's eyes as an educator, my teaching career hasn't followed the conventional path (university graduation - teaching practicum - full-time school position).
After obtaining my teaching certificate and completing my practicum in late 2019, I embarked on my journey teaching Chinese as a foreign language in 2020. The astute among you might already recall what happened globally in 2019 – that's right, COVID-19.
Just two months after arriving in Mexico, COVID-19 spread to Latin America in February 2020. Schools closed, classes were suspended, and then shifted to online instruction. Throughout the more than three years of the pandemic, I continued teaching at a school in Mexico, then served as a Chinese lecturer for an Indian university (while still in Mexico, teaching online courses). I also took on private online students and later taught at various schools and language centers. It felt like all the "expected" work experiences I should have had, I didn't, but all the "unexpected" ones, I got to experience them all! 😂 After the pandemic ended, by chance, I found a job at a tech company, so I didn't continue as a full-time Chinese teacher.
However, after returning to Taiwan, I finally got the work experience I had always needed but hadn't had the chance to acquire. During these six months at the international school, I was both a "teacher" and a "student." I systematically went through all aspects of teacher-student collaboration, inter-teacher communication, and cooperation in a school setting, as well as school-wide activities. This included classroom procedures, school meetings, event organization, general school administration, academic affairs, classroom management, and more. I learned much more than I had imagined.
While I probably didn't do everything perfectly (it honestly felt a bit beyond an i+1 Principal's level, maybe more like i+5! 😂), and many tasks felt unfamiliar and rushed due to my lack of experience, I still learned a great deal. This knowledge has been incredibly helpful in empowering my next steps, so I can only express my gratitude to the school for supporting my growth and say sorry for any shortcomings. Hahaha.
I genuinely hope the next teacher will be a long-term, collaborative teammate for the school.
The school decided to have me as their temporary teammate midway through a semester, and this experience allowed me to learn:
Thank you for this journey of growth!
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每次來到人生的轉換期，我總喜歡花點時間整理思緒，回顧這段時間的點滴，並從中學習。
今年六月，我結束了在國際學校的教職工作，決定給自己一段時間好好沉澱。回台灣生活一段時間，是我在墨西哥六年後做過最不後悔的決定。而回台灣後能找到這份教職工作，更是這段時間最正確的選擇。
記得以前，當我還那麼自信時，總覺得生活就像在大海中尋找漂流木，走一步算一步，
直到找到一個可以落腳的地方。
但近幾年，隨著內在力量的成長，我堅信著「萬事皆有利於我」。
好事發生，代表努力有所成就，值得好好享受；
挑戰來臨，則是一個爬坡的過程，或是生命正在為下一個章節做準備。
我想，這或許就是老一輩人所說的磁場或能量吧！
我很喜歡一句英文：「We all met for a reason. Either a blessing or a lesson.」
生命中遇到的每個人，
都是最美的安排。
或許，這就是我們相遇的原因。
我的職涯似乎很難脫離「老師」這個關鍵詞。雖然我一直以教師的身分出現在大家的視野中，
但我的教職生涯卻不如大家既定印象中那般循規蹈矩（大學畢業 - 教師實習 - 轉為正職在學校工作）。
考取教師資格證後，2019年下半年結束實習計畫，2020年便開始了我的對外華語教學之路。敏銳的朋友或許已經想到2019年全球發生了什麼，沒錯，就是Covid-19。
到達墨西哥的第二個月，Covid在2020年2月蔓延到拉丁美洲。當時學校關閉、停課，隨後轉為線上授課。
在疫情發生的三年多裡，我持續在墨西哥的學校教書，之後也在印度的線上大學擔任華語講師（人仍在墨西哥），同時自己也接了線上學生，後期更到不同的學校和語言中心授課。
那些「應該」體驗到的工作經驗似乎都沒體驗到，反而把「不該」體驗的全都體驗了一遍！😂
疫情結束後，因緣際會找到一份科技公司的工作，便不再擔任全職華語老師了。
然而，回到台灣後，我卻等到了這個一直期盼卻未曾有機會獲得的工作經驗。
在國際學校工作的這半年，我既是「老師」，也是「學生」。
我有系統地經歷了學校師生協作、教師間的溝通與合作，以及校內活動的籌辦。
舉凡課堂流程、學校會議、活動舉辦、校務、教務、課室管理等等，我學到的遠比我想像中多更多。
雖然我做得可能稱不上盡善盡美（因為這實在有點超出我的能力範圍了，大概是i+5的難度吧！😂），
許多事情因為缺乏經驗，處理起來難免生疏，總是匆匆忙忙、沒什麼邊界感。
但總歸來說，我確實學到了許多，並將這些轉化為下一步前進的力量，這對我非常有幫助。
因此，我只能感謝學校願意陪伴我的成長，跟說聲抱歉了！哈哈哈。
真心希望下一位老師會是學校的長期並肩作戰的隊友。
這半年來，學校在學期中途決定讓我成為他們短暫的隊友，這段經歷讓我學習到：
感謝這一路來的成長！
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