- Hello everyone.
My name is Amanda Barrows.
I'm originally from Maine, USA.
And I would like to take this time to welcome you
to my ITA Instagram take over.
Today I'll be showing you my life adventures
and teaching day in Suzhou china.
And if you have any questions along the way
please feel free to reach out and ask me.
You can shoot me an email at amanda.barrows@gmail.com
or I would be happy to share my adventures with you
by Instagram.
My Instagram user name is @amibarrows.
Okay.
So without further ado
I'm currently living in Seudo China.
And I moved here from Seoul about six months ago.
This is my fourth year teaching abroad so.
I've had some other experiences as well.
But thus far this experience has been one of my favorites
in that my schedule is really flexible and I really have
a chance to work one on one with my students.
It's currently 8 a.m.
So you may be asking yourself,
why is she not at school
if she's teaching in China?
Well, the truth is
I teach at a training school here.
So my hours tend to be in the evening
and on what is considered the standard weekend,
Saturday and Sunday.
So my weekends are typically during the week.
I teach between 20 and 25 hours of classes each week.
And the age range is typically three to five year olds.
I found my job when I was working in Korea.
The interview happened to be online and I found it
working with a recruiter.
If I had it all to do again,
I would have gone through ITA
because they're able to make sure
that companies are good to work for
and really help with the job process,
which is a plus.
I was lucky to have found a good company.
So I actually found my current job
through a recruiter here in China.
But if I had to all to do again I likely would have gone
through ITA because they do provide that sort of
support and it's a better way to make sure that
you fall into the right hands
with a good contract.
So my next time moving forward and to any new teacher
out there I definitely recommend going through ITA.
You cannot go wrong that way.
And there are some companies out there that
I've heard are not so good.
Or some companies that are more like scams
or not true companies.
So, just to be on the safe side,
I recommend that.
With my current school my interview was online
as I was living in Seoul South Korea.
So the the time difference wasn't really that severe
or difficult to compensate for,
which was great.
Arrival here was relatively simple,
in terms of communication and all that.
My boss picked me up from the airport,
and before that we had gotten the working visa.
So all of my documents were arranged.
And there really was no problem.
So, yeah.
I arrived here safe and sound in Suzhou, China.
And yeah.
To help me prepare to teach ESL,
I took the online TEFEL course,
which I found to be very convenient for my schedule.
And I was actually able to complete the practicum
during my first teaching experience in
Grenoble, France,
so that was just excellent.
ITA was so willing to help me along the way
and it made this experience wonderful.
I found that the class itself provided a lot
of one on one help for teaches who are learning
how to teach.
And I just had a lot of mentors and other alumni
helping me along the way with any questions.
And that kind of information and having that support network
really helped me to find my feet in this career.
So that really helped and I came,
I hit the ground running
and really felt prepared to teach.
It's of course a learning process.
So along the way I've been able to reach out to other
teachers in my area.
Exchange ideas.
And continue to grow as a teacher.
So that's one of the pluses,
one of the things that I love about ITA.
Just that continual support and the sense of community.
So I definitely recommend ITA to anyone looking
to get their TEFEL certification to teach.
Yeah.
So for me right now.
It's time to go out the door.
I'm on my way to Chinese class in the Suzhou city center.
So without further ado.
Let's go.
Alright.
(upbeat music)
So I just got back from my class in Suzhou.
So I'm going to go to Family Mart to pick up some snacks
cause I'm starving.
Family Mart.
Let's see.
So many different options.
(upbeat music)
Hello everyone.
I just returned from my class in the Suzhou city center.
It was great.
Had lunch as well.
And now I have about three hours before I go in to work.
One thing I love about this Chinese class is
it's really helping me to break down the components
of a language and I think learning the language
also helps to break down any cultural barriers as well.
Communication is essential in the world.
And I can kind of link this feeling for my reason behind
teaching ESL.
I find it as a great opportunity
to bring people together from all parts
of the world.
And I can also create windows of opportunity
for my students.
Learning English will give them
many opportunities later in life.
And I've also in the past done international projects
between different English schools.
So in that way you know
you can connect schools from South Korea and India
and any country in the world.
It doesn't even have to be juts in the country
within which you are teaching.
So I definitely recommend that.
I think a good,
one of the many goals of ESL should not only be
language acquisition but also making for
a more peaceful world,
which is kind of what I endeavor to do.
And one of the reasons I've stuck with it for so long.
Not as long as some,
but quite long for me.
But I've loved every moment of it.
I'm always learning,
always exploring.
And I wouldn't change it for the world.
So.
Yeah.
I would definitely recommend ITA to anyone
who is looking for life long job opportunities
and job help in searching for ESL jobs.
ESL is a great field to pursue
and especially for those who have a love of language
a love of teaching, it could be perfect.
And there is so many different schools in China
to choose from.
So many different types of arrangements,
whether you're at a public school or private school.
And wherever you go in the world,
there is always going to be an ITA Network to support you.
So that's really one thing I've loved about the program
that I haven't seen.
That I didn't see from a lot of other ESL providers
that I had considered.
So, to anyone who's looking to study
ESL
to become certified or even just to like
network in their country,
I really recommend, follow up on the website
and all that and it's definitely,
it's a great tool, a great resource and it's something
that's really helped me to continue growing as a teacher
and all stages of my ESL career.
So yeah.
Like I said before,
any of you that have any questions
please feel free to contact me on Instagram.
@amibarrows.
Shoot me an email at @amanda.barrows@gmail.com
My schedule is a bit different from most.
So,
but that doesn't prevent me from getting back to you.
So yeah!
I look forward to hearing from you
and I will see you all in a bit.
Hello everyone,
coming to you live from my local fitness center.
I had a power nap so I don't have as much time here
as I ideally would.
But one of the perks of where I'm living is that
I have a gym ten minutes from my house.
So I feel very lucky to have this.
I will see you after the workout.
When I got to work.
Okay, bye.
Hello everyone and welcome to
American Baby International English.
My students are arriving in roughly an hour.
So I have an hour to prepare.
Probably eat some dinner before I get started.
In this academy there are roughly 450 students.
I'm responsible for seven classes.
So I work with about
72 students.
The maximum number of students per class is 12.
And my students are typically age three to five
as I mentioned this morning.
So, they can be a hand full at times,
but they're really a joy to work with.
Each class period is an hour and a half long,
which seems quite intense.
But we actually break it up into different segments,
so there is a video time,
there is lots of games and fun activities
as well as a craft time.
And a lot of times I like to bring in some snacks.
Have random dance times for my students.
So I really try to keep them engaged
and have them participating as much as possible.
And I feel like the curriculum here
facilitates different learning styles.
So it really,
I've really loved working with the curriculum
that is in place here.
So yeah.
I look forward to sharing more of my adventures
and we'll be showing you around my classroom in a bit.
But for the time being I'm going
to work on some lesson plans.
I'll see you in a bit.
Okay.
Bye bye
♪ You put two hands in ♪
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♪ And sing a song ♪
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♪ Good. ♪
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