| Why, How and When | | | | The CELTA |
| Why, how and when did you choose to be an English | | | | Later I began to teach EFL classes to foreign |
| language teacher? When this question came up | | | | immigrants part-time, evenings and weekends in state |
| recently during an online interview, I had to seriously | | | | government funded programs. One of my first classes |
| reflect, not on what to answer, but on how much to | | | | was a group of Chinese immigrants who had been in |
| exclude. My path into English teaching wasn't exactly | | | | the U.S. for less than a week. I quickly found out I |
| as direct as many of my other colleagues. For each of | | | | needed more training. After completing a CELTA EFL |
| us, the story and path into the field of teaching English | | | | training course (at that time a TEFL Certificate from |
| as a foreign or second language is a bit different. | | | | the Royal Society of Arts) and TBE (Teaching |
| Sometimes it's really a lot different. So briefly, here's | | | | Business English) certifications and then furthering my |
| what happened to me. | | | | university education to post-graduate levels in |
| Studying Mechanical Engineering | | | | Education and ELT at Harvard in Boston, UC in San |
| When I was at the university studying Mechanical | | | | Francisco and OHC in Barcelona, Spain, I took a |
| Engineering and technical design, there were at lot of | | | | sabbatical from NASA and began working abroad |
| my classmates who were from foreign countries like | | | | teaching English at universities. |
| Ghana, Cameroon and Liberia in Africa, in particular. | | | | No Regrets |
| They were constantly asking me questions on English | | | | That was 15 years ago now and I've never regretted |
| language vocabulary, idioms, expressions and usage. It | | | | the decision to teach English. Through teaching, |
| wasn't too long before I developed a keen interest in | | | | education, travel and related experiences in my own |
| advancing my own skills and abilities as a native | | | | foreign language learning, I've grown and matured as |
| speaker of English, so it actually became my second | | | | an English language teaching professional. Teaching |
| major giving me Engineering and English degrees. | | | | English has provided me with the opportunity to travel |
| | | | extensively by visiting or living in 22 countries world |
| First, I worked as an Electro-mechanical and Avionics | | | | wide. So the experience overall has enriched my life to |
| Designer for NASA (the National Aeronautics and | | | | an almost untold degree. |
| Space Administration) for a number of years working | | | | A Special Surprise |
| on the Hubble Telescope and Voyager 2 spacecraft | | | | Now, how about you? How did YOU become an |
| among others. Included in this stint were tenures as a | | | | English teacher? E-mail me with your story in brief or |
| technical design consultant with other high-tech and | | | | post it in comments. The most interesting stories will |
| aerodynamics companies as well. | | | | receive a special surprise. |