I have always avoided the question of why I became a language instructor or languages teacher, as it is more commonly known in El Salvador. I am going to clarify that here because I have been asked that question several times already. So many that I decided to create a whole article about it, explaining it in detail.
I already wrote another article about How I learned English and that is related to this one, so if you are also interested to know how I learned English, well, you know where to go.
Starting University Without a Plan
Back in 2011 when I started my English Major at the university, my goal was just to get the title. As a matter of fact, I didn’t even have a plan for my future. I just wanted to fulfill what my mom always told me: Go to the university, graduate, and get a stable job with the government as a teacher in a school.
You may think that “that” was the goal, but in reality, that was just the “excuse” to go to the university. I was excited to start my college career. I still remember the first day clearly.
I arrived at the main building of the campus, went to the reception, and asked what building was the one for my first class. I didn’t get lost, as the university is not that big and the buildings are very close to each other.
I arrived at the classroom and there were maybe around 50 to 70 people waiting (might be exaggerating, but that’s how I remembered it). Long story short, I sat in the back of the classroom, and a girl next to me asked me, “Do you understand what she (the professor) is saying?” to which I replied, “Yes, a little bit.”
I didn’t see the teaching profession as something attractive to me. As a matter of fact, I always used to say: I will never become a teacher, I don’t want to be a teacher. Haha! Look at me now!
Quitting the Call Center Life
It was not until I was so tired of working in a call center that I decided to look for another job. Back in 2016, I saw a Facebook ad from one of the most prestigious (expensive) language academies in El Salvador, so I decided to apply.
I had no teaching experience, but back at the university I was leading the “phonecits” club and provided “English Phonetics” reinforcement lessons. As incredible as it sounds, I was still not interested in becoming a teacher. Also, I have something that until this day has helped me a lot: self-confidence.
I sent my CV and got a call for the interview. My English level was so polished because of the 2 years working in the call center industry. Oh that day! I didn’t have formal clothing, so I chose a linen shirt, a very classic casual shirt, some blue jeans, a black leather jacket, and some casual shoes. Hey! It was the best I had back in those days. Still, I went to the academy.
The secretary told me to wait and then a lady asked me how she could help me. I told her: I’m here for the English teacher job interview. She didn’t hesitate and said: Ok! Give me a minute! Then she asked my name, looked through a pile of papers and folders, and found my CV. She asked me to follow her. We got to an empty classroom and as I had arrived on the specified time, she thanked me for doing so and said: You can start.
The whole process was to provide a 10-minute class about the simple past tense. So I grabbed the markers and began my class, engaging her by asking her what she did yesterday. I took that as the example for the rest of the class and developed the practice and grammar explanation.
8 minutes had passed and she stopped me. She didn’t say anything for a couple of seconds. All sorts of things came to my mind: What happened? What did I do? What didn’t I do? Did she like it? Oh! I hope she’s not thinking about… She said: We begin training next week, I loved your class, I’ll send you the details through email.
First Steps in the Classroom
The first day of training I arrived late because of traffic, but I was lucky because the training was also late, so my lateness was unnoticed. I am not going to tell you all of what happened, just to let you know that the training was supposed to be one week, but they took me out the third day because they wanted me to start as soon as possible with a group and also gave me a conversation club. I was overwhelmed, I couldn’t believe what was happening to me, my career as a language teacher had begun.
As soon as I had everything set with the academy, I also left my other job. I gave the 15 days notice when I passed the interview. So everything was a smooth transition from one job to another.
Fun fact, that job just lasted 7 months because the payment was not enough. So I got back to the call center industry where I spent another 3 years, in another company of course.
Teaching Wouldn’t Let Go
When I was in training for the new call center job, I had in mind that I wanted to become a trainer, which is a teaching role, or also become part of the “coaches” in the English academy of the call center. It didn’t go as planned because I ended up as a Fraud Prevention agent, but still that teaching flame was ignited and I wanted to keep teaching.
As you can see, it was not a beautiful story like a fairy tale where as a kid I was touched by the Goddess of teachers who gave me the skills and determination to be a successful one. No, that’s not it.
Well, my parents were both teachers. My father was Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at the National University of El Salvador. He was also Rector of Isaac Newton University. My mom was a math teacher in the school in the town where she was born and raised and ended up as principal of that school. So I can say that I have the “teaching” DNA running in my blood.
Discovering My Purpose
Up to this day, I love it. I love seeing the progress of my students. I love being part of the development process of a person, being someone who’s able to help a person get a better future by learning a new language. Not only that, I love the way people effort to learn, to advance, to become a better version of themselves. It’s just amazing.
Conclusion
So, why did I become a language instructor/teacher? Because I gave it a shot, I tried the teaching world and loved it. So, if you ever feel like you’re not keen on something, give it a try before saying no completely. Who knows, maybe you will get to like it.
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