[little sage]

Interesting topic.

I returned home for about one year between contracts and moved back to my very small home town. I had several job interviews all for work with kids. A couple of the interviewers I met were quite amazed by the simple fact that I had lived abroad for more than a year and survived, so I didn't even have to "sell" my ESL teaching experience any more than mentioning it. One person, on the other hand, had a nephew also teaching in Asia, so my similar experience became a kind of bonding point for conversation.

I found that most of the interviewers asked way more interesting questions of me- natural, real questions- and we got to know each other (however briefly) in a far less stressful way than the typical "Tell me your weak points" situation. I walked away from the interviews feeling like I had had honest, normal conversations.

As I've mentioned, all of the jobs I applied for were directly related to my work experience in Korea. But even if they hadn't been, talking about overseas work experience is a welcome ice-breaker in interview situations. No, I never experienced a "so, what?" attitude at all.

[mrcards]

I taught English in Taiwan for several years, and when I returned to Canada I thought about teaching in Canada. I do believe that people respect me for having this experience on my resume, but it doesn't help much when you go looking for a teaching job here in Canada. Even if you've had 6, 8, or 20 years of practical teaching experience, you won't be able to get that job unless you go to teachers college and get their lovely certificate. I know that they do this to keep a high level of quality for the teachers here, but I can't help but also think that this is just a cash grab. Well, needless to say, I never did go to teachers college, and it's a real shame because that was a true passion of mine.