Why I am Doing What I Do

If you can’t tell by the Title, I am in Georgia. No, not the U.S. state, but the country. Georgia is located between Turkey and Russia, it is a former Soviet State, but does not have a good relationships with Russia today.  I am here, as a volunteer, to teach English in the public school systems through a program called Learn and Teach with Georgia (TLG). The program was started in March of this year and the first teachers arrived in late summer it is run by Georgia’s Ministry of Education and Science (MES).  I know that background stuff is a little boring but it kind of explains why I am here.

 A year ago I was certain I wanted to be a teacher and had started working on classes I need in order to get certified, then I realized I am not sure what I want to do and I feel like I want to live a lot more before I settle in to anything. I knew I wanted the opportunity to live in a country other then the U.S. and I wanted more teaching experience before committing to a grad school program. At first I was thinking about going to Korea, because they employ a high number of native English speakers to teach in both public schools and private academies. I had taken steps towards going to Korea when I learned about the Learn and Teach with Georgia program, but I still thought I wanted to go to Korea.  I am not sure when or why my mind changed from getting paid well to teach in Korea to volunteering to teach in Georgia.  But what I wanted didn’t change, to live in a new country and to gain teaching experience.