After several months of travel around southeast Asia, I finally landed in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to begin a one-year teaching contract with ILA Vietnam.

At the beginning it was absolutely overwhelming and I’m sure I learned quite a bit more than the students did. Though I had been through a rigorous training months before, nothing could have really prepared me for my first day of real teaching. It was an unforgettable day, a day which I was glad to come to an end. Fortunately it got easier, and as the weeks turned into months I started to feel quite comfortable and happy in my new job.

Teaching had always been a dream of mine, and finally having a classroom of my own was very exciting for me. As I became more comfortable with my students my lessons became more creative and experimental, finding new ways to immerse students in the language without them really knowing it. At the end of the first year I felt I was just getting started.

The following years followed the same trajectory, I began taking-on corporate ESL classes, often working with high-level executive groups. I also started teaching IELTS test prep classes to university students.

After completing my second year I decided to continue my teaching training with a two-month intensive DELTA course. Upon the completion of the DELTA I was then fully trained, and was promoted to Senior Teacher, giving teachers direction and developing teaching workshops.

Nearly two years later I finally decided it was time for a change and left ILA and moved back to the states.