First Year Teaching

This is my first year teaching, which is already daunting by itself, let alone doing it in a foreign country. I chose CIEE because I had already studied abroad with them in Korea and knew it was a program with a lot of support and benefits like cultural excursions among other things. The support system has been great both in Korea and during the application process back home. When I looked at the EPIK application, I knew I wanted a methodical and organized way of tackling all the paperwork which was exactly what the CIEE study abroad course was. They take you through each step of the process and set deadlines to make sure you stay on top of everything.

I feel the TEFL class was also extremely useful in preparing me for the real classroom, and I use a ton of what I learned in my lessons. The in-country orientation was also a ton of fun. I can't believe how much they managed to squeeze into a short weekend. I'm sure there are other great programs out there, but I really like the organization of CIEE and the support they provide in and outside the country.

I'm doing a YouTube vlog of my journey which will include some episodes of CIEE's orientation. However, I haven't edited that part of the trip yet, so I can't share a direct link, but the first episode of my vlog is below. By the time you're reading this, the CIEE orientation videos should be up (they will likely be Episodes 12 & 13) Enjoy :)