Pretty much, I can sum up everything that I want to say in “I love teaching English” simply because that is the truth. Period. But my boss isn’t going to like a 1-sentence introduction so I have to lengthen it.
It’s been weeks since I received the news that I have to write an introductory blog about myself. Man, I still don’t know what to say about myself. So let me just tell you about pizza, and how much I love it, and how much I would die to eat it every moment of my life. My student recently noticed that I often use “pizza” in my examples. It scared me that I was unconsciously telling others how addicted I am to pizza. Please, forgive me.
You see, the feeling that I have for pizza is equally the same as what I have for English. I love English as much as I love pizza. It’s just…it’s addictive
I was photobombed by my bosses.
Once when I was in university, while I was watching a Filipino variety program on TV, I saw a man singing a song. Now, this is weird, but when I listened to the lyrics of the song, I was completely in awe. I was amazed with how the words were strung together to convey a wonderful meaning. I know it sounds crazy, but really this is the reason why I changed my major from engineering to English.
Even when I was in elementary, I know I was already in love with languages. I mean, I was into English and Filipino poems, stories and essays. I looked at it as an imaginative piece of art. Now I also love the Japanese language.
I cannot emphasize enough how enormous English occupies in me. It is flowing in my veins. It is embedded in my heart. (That’s cheesy, sorry.) My first job after studying English in university was as an elementary school teacher. I taught the language to kids. I gave my best to share with them the passion and knowledge I have about English. Then I worked as a call center agent in Manila. I talked with British every night, and this is where I honed my skills in speaking skills. After that, I started teaching Japanese, Koreans, Taiwanese and other different nationalities. Every step of my way to where I am now, English has been by my side.
Now in F2F, I mainly teach grammar, vocabulary, and speaking. I notice that students tend to get confused about the sentence structure and appropriate verb they will use in conveying what they want to say. I love it when I teach a word, then from there a student can make a sentence, a paragraph, and then lengthy essays. It is overwhelming, it is fulfilling as a teacher.
Some days, I can’t get my head around how F2F has been a small collection of different people from every walk of life. I mean, we have students who are doctors, nurses, engineers, university students, part-time workers, teachers, dancers, and what have you. Can you imagine how we all fit in a community and we treat each other as a family.
On the days when we want to hang out, we cook okonomiyaki together, watch movies, go to malls, go to the beach, climb mountains, simply hang out in the living room, or eat out…which brings me back to pizza. I’m sorry, I just love pizza. Like really. Pizza is something I want to eat by myself, in the corner of a room while everybody is busy savoring a hearty conversation. But unlike pizza which I would selfishly eat all for myself, English is something I would love to share with others.
Oh, I am Bryan, by the way. Let me share English and (maybe) pizza with you here at F2F.
