Do I Have Enough Experience to be a Teacher?

For those of us who aren't education majors, yet are applying to teach abroad programs, a major question that may be going through our heads is do I have enough experience to be a teacher?

Having a myriad of friends in education majors have helped me glean both the short answer and the more complex justifications for teaching without a teaching degree.

The short answer is no. While I've volunteered in classrooms (okay, one classroom), and worked as a teaching assistant, in my current state, I don't have enough experience to be a full-time teacher.

Apparently no one understood that teaching my father that stripes and plaid don't go together may as well have been a full-time job.

However, the point is, if you didn't spend four years studying and working to become a teacher, you shouldn't have the experience. What you need is the qualifications and the drive to welcome an opportunity to get the experience.

As my wise friend once reminded me, everybody has to start somewhere. And since not everyone who joins EPIK graduates with a teaching degree, that somewhere may seem to be far less relevant than those who did the student teaching, who led a classroom for a straight semester, who took the qualification exams.

As much as I would like to, I can't just march into a public classroom and announce, "hey guys! Today I'm going to teach about the amazingness that is the semicolon!" But I can gather the qualifications and knowledge I need to get to that point. I can read up on education theory. I can ask teachers questions. I can observe willing teachers. I can take an online certification. The opportunities aren't as vast, but they are there.

Generally, there will be some tutoring centers that would be happy to see your level of interest and enthusiasm to learn how to be a better instructor. A lot of public ESL teachers are so swamped in work, they could really use a (free) helping hand when conducting lessons (hint: I got my TEFL practicum hours by taking a shot and emailing every ESL teacher ever, thinking it would go nowhere. Two teachers emailed back, begging me for the help).

As far as EPIK goes, while having an impressive resumé certainly isn't going to hurt you, it seems to be more about the willingness to learn and have the experience than having the experience itself (and also finally learning how to make a successful lesson plan. That helps, too).

In this regard, it's similar to working as a writing tutor. Throughout my first month as a tutor, I was terrified that I wasn't qualified enough and that every student would see right through me. Turns out, I just had to learn by observing other tutors, understand the theoretical articles on tutoring, and just practice, and I would be okay--okay enough to, one year later, be trusted to mentor a new tutor.

Of course teaching is a more involved process, but, in the end, having an open mind and being willing to learn from your teaching mishaps will get you further than you think.

So, to my fellow EPIK applicants, good night and good luck.