| It was a year ago when we moved to Korea. A | | | | ultimate reason for the profession to thrive. The |
| thousand miles away from our hometown in Texas, | | | | moment you start counting the fees, or the working |
| and everything seemed very strange. The cold | | | | hours, the benefits, or criticizing the place where you |
| Korean breeze rushed to meet us at the airport. | | | | are teaching, or who you are teaching - it would be |
| Although basked with the delightful winter seasons | | | | wise for you to start looking for another profession. |
| from the United States, I was expecting a warmer | | | | Her lectures would often end with her famous lines, |
| welcome during our arrival in Korea. But that too, like | | | | “The message and the knowledge I give to |
| everything else, is part of my illusions of Asia. We | | | | those who listen are far more precious than what they |
| were foreigners, in a wonderful new land, and we | | | | pay me. And someday, when these kids turn to grown |
| knew, the moment we arrived that we were in for | | | | up mean and women, and become great help to |
| quite an adventure. | | | | society, I, then would have received ten times my |
| My mother was on assignment from WorknPlay.co.kr , | | | | reward.” |
| South Korea's job placement agency for ESL | | | | My mother and I braved Korea. Armed with just her |
| teachers. Two months ago I was debating with my | | | | TESOL certificate, she brazenly faced her new |
| mother, about ESL jobs. I was new to the whole | | | | employers at WorknPlay.co.kr . And a few days later, |
| “English as a Second Language”teaching | | | | she met her class. Seeing my mother teach, gave me |
| field. I knew there were better benefits for her in the | | | | a great sense of pride. I could see myself in the |
| local schools in Texas. And I never fully grasped the | | | | students she teaches everyday. I realized then how |
| gravity of her reasons to teach in Korea. | | | | important her job is. |
| One night, my mother spoke to me. Teaching, she said, | | | | She was a teacher by profession, as well as by heart. |
| is more than just about fees or benefits. It is a noble | | | | Teaching English was a worthwhile activity for her and |
| calling,where the need to teach, to instruct, and to mold | | | | she loved every moment of it. She was a teacher for |
| young people to become what they can be is the | | | | as long as I can remember. |