About Me

The Student

Like many high school graduates, I left grade 12 knowing what I was good at but not being entirely sure how to use it. I was always skilled at Language Arts classes and jumped at every opportunity I could to take Advanced Placement English. For this reason, I knew I wanted to be an English major, but as the tale of many English majors goes, what exactly does a person do with this degree?

At first, I considered being a standard, high school English teacher. I always enjoyed my English classes as a high school student and thought I'd know exactly how to make Shakespeare, Salinger, and Hawthorne fun for young minds. However, as I entered my undergrad, I was off-put by the saturation of students entering the education field and the hefty amount of competition made me nervous and told me that I need to be more creative with my career goals!

While thinking of ways to use my skills that were "outside the box," I came up with the idea of becoming a librarian or archivist. Unfortunately, the type of degree that I was seeking to pursue this path wasn't available in my home city. This problem was solved when I was accepted into McGill University's MLIS program in 2016, and with my graduation from the program in 2018. The program taught me how to be even more creative with the application of my talents and showed me I was capable of things I never knew I was capable of before! 

The Teacher

So, what lead me to pursue my TESL certificate? As seen above, it is certainly not a lack of education. Well, my inspiration for wanting to teach EAL comes from a variety of sources. First of all, as mentioned above, it is an interesting way to use my English skills. Second of all, I come from a diverse background. Both of my parents are from immigrant families of different countries, and many of my still living relatives are from around the world. Cultural diversity is something that I have grown up supporting, having an appreciation for, and having an interest in. Thirdly, while I was pursuing my English undergraduate degree, I worked part-time as an academic writing tutor. This position was not limited to the tutoring of EAL students, but it was used by many. As a result, I did receive some training on the unique needs of diverse EAL students from a variety of cultures through my part-time job.

After graduating from McGill, I did have a few short-term library related positions. Interestingly, I frequently found myself returning to my writing tutor position and assisting a number of EAL patrons with language learning needs, despite this not technically being what I was there to do. I also noticed that dual language and EAL librarianship positions are out there, and many benefit from a person having a TESL certificate. Positions of that nature would certainly be enjoyable for me, however, if I end up pursuing a career that is similar to the part-time writing tutor job I had during my undergraduate years, I know I would be happy!

The Person

Everybody is somebody beyond their academic and career pursuits, even me! If you want to talk to me about dogs, video games, anime, books, or other nerdy shenanigans, I can do that! I love to keep busy, whether it be through hobbies, volunteer work, visiting friends, or making new ones. Always down for a chat over coffee, tea, spicy food, or all of the above!