Posted on March 6, 2013

Loving my job

I'm Caleb Lee and this is my success story.

A few years after graduating from UBC, I decided to go back to school to learn how to teach English to speakers of other languages. And since graduating from VCC’s TESOL certificate program, it has been a rollercoaster ride from one event to the next. I started pounding the pavement as soon as I finished college and got hired on the spot at a local international school. I also got a few substitute teaching jobs at a number of different schools and learned more about teaching some of the finer points of English.

I also started picking up volunteer experience, helping out at conversation clubs for immigrant students and soon started volunteering at the Immigrant Services Society of BC (ISSofBC), where I helped out as a teaching assistant. Through my contacts there, I was able to get hired as a substitute instructor before applying for a regular position. Now, I teach a full-time ELSA for the Workplace course in the evenings.

Finding a job and place that you’re happy with isn’t easy in any profession, but with the right contacts and a love of the job, the world could be your oyster! Everything came together for me because I was available, the job suited me perfectly, and I was introduced to the right people.

 

Click the links below for more information about the TESOL programs available for international students:

 

Caleb Lee - from an ESL student to a full-time ELSA teacher