Education

I have a bachelor’s degree with a major in English. My school required that I take classes in several areas. My areas of choice were Linguistics, Literature, and Creative Writing. I also took classes in a wide variety of other fields, including religion, education, Asian studies, the humanities, and history. I am currently enrolled in a Teacher certification program through the University of West Florida.

Teaching Experience

I have been teaching since 2007. I began my teaching career as an English as a foreign language subject teacher. I spent one year working at an English Hagwon (academy) in Incheon. I taught kindergarten through middle school level students. In spring 2009, I started working in public school in Daejeon.  My first year, I taught at two middle schools. My grade levels were first and second grade. My second and third years were at an elementary school, where I taught third through sixth grade.

In spring 2012, I started working at a private elementary school with an English immersion program in Seoul. This is my first year as a homeroom teacher. It has been quite an adventure.

Hobbies

I love to read books, travel, learn more about being a good teacher, crochet, and drink tea. I collect books and share my love of them with my students. I have created a class library and encouraged my students to bring their own books on temporary loan for the year. They can check books out over the weekend or vacation to take home. They are also allowed to read books in class, after they finish their assignments.

I have traveled to many places in Korea. I enjoy seeing new places and visiting places several times at different parts of the year. This gives you a different perspective of the place. One of my favorite types of places to go is Buddhist temples. I’m hoping to do a temple stay one day, during one of my vacations.

I love to crochet. My mother taught me to crochet when I was in middle school. It is a fiber art that is similar to knitting but you use one hook to create the fabric. This means that I spend a lot of time looking at yarn and other materials for new projects. I especially like making new hats for my collection.

I love tea, especially herbal tea. I have two large baskets filled with my tea collection. I really enjoy mint, rose, and lavender tea. I was very happy to discover O’Sulluc brand tea when I moved to Korea. I have even been to their plantation on Jeju Island. If you haven’t tried it, you should.