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I thought teaching was my passion which was why I went back to my home country, the USA, and spent tens of thousands of dollars on my Master's in Education. Least to say, after obtaining my degree, I was confused and did not know whether to go back to a hagwon, teach at an international school, or try the public school route.
Teaching at Twinkle has been a dream come true for multiple reasons. First, comparable to international schools, I have the freedom to implement various teaching methods and organize the curriculum in a way that suits me and what I think is the best for my students. Twinkle’s curriculum is FUN, and I strongly believe our R&D team works hard every day to create engaging material. Next, similar to hagwons, I have the safety net of a set curriculum. I don't need to worry about state or country-set standards or endless paperwork and legal documents that have nothing to do with actual teaching. Additionally, there are no Saturday open houses and late-night parent-teacher conferences.
Nevertheless, like all teaching jobs, Twinkle does require report cards, grading, prep, and simple documentation for student success. However, I feel that I always have sufficient time and support from our team. That is not to say that I can slack off, as it can be easy to fall behind. I set goals for myself every week to manage my energy and not get burnt out.
Twinkle understands that although I am just a hagwon English teacher, I can make a difference in students' lives by helping them form personal identities and develop their critical thinking to contribute to the future world. At Twinkle, open communication in a warm environment with the other teachers and the Korean team is not an option, but a must. We collectively work together to not only help students, but to thrive in a business. Though I would like to praise most Korean academies for moving beyond the 15th-century approach of teaching English in the Classical Grammar Translation Methodology, many academies are still heavily teacher-centered with a focus on drilling students to memorize grammatical rules, vocabulary, and texts. I believe Twinkle works hard to hire teachers with specialized skills to engage students in authentic and meaningful language. Twinkle always supports me as I follow my preferred method of the Communicative Language Teaching approach.
After dealing with two shooting threats, school vandalisms, and multiple incidents during my six months of teaching at a public high school in the USA, coming to Korea and Twinkle was a no-brainer. Plus, at Twinkle, you can choose nearly all of your own vacation dates, not deal with meetings outside of work hours, enjoy a real dinner break, and actually stay home and rest during the weekends. Like how I always tell my students to add a conclusion sentence; these are the reasons why I teach for Twinkle :)
Miss. Jean
Twinkle U
