Teaching in the Marshall Islands

Teaching in the RMI was the most challenging and most rewarding experience I have ever had. Living on an outer island comes with times of difficulty. You are extremely isolated from the norms of which you had while back in your home state or country. For many outer islands volunteers, communication to friends and family back home is limited to post mail, which may only come 3 or 4 times during your whole year. It may also be hard to find some alone time after a stressful day or week of teaching, because your students and other members of the community always want to be around the World Teach Volunteer. That being said, I loved every minute I spent on the island I was teaching and it had a huge impact on my life. You are able to connect with the students on a level I never thought would be possible. My students became my best friends, which made classroom management sometimes harder to deal with, but it was well worth it. I became extremely close with not only my host family, but the entire community as well. They were the kindest, most loving people I have ever met. Of course there are times when you are extremely frustrated with school, a student, or something else going on on the island, as can happen anywhere else in the world. But at the end of the day, you realize where you are. A place where many people would call paradise, but you are lucky enough to call it home.