Chatterbox #152 – An interview with Luke

Sample transcript:

Andrew: And so I’m curious. Why are you living in China? You’re a Canadian. Why are you on the other side of the world in this foreign land?

Luke: Well, I used to live in Korea, but after I came back, I decided that I would get my teaching certificate, so I went to school for a year and got that. And by the end of the year, I was starting to think, “Oh, where can I get a job?” I didn’t really like the idea of going around to different schools and having to go to new places every day and meet new students, so I thought… I had an opportunity in China to get a full-time contract there.

Andrew: Ah, right. Because this is a problem for a lot of new teachers in Canada. When you start, it’s often difficult to get a full-time, permanent job, right?

Luke: Yeah, that’s true. It’s almost impossible.

Andrew: So you have to start by being a substitute teacher, and that’s when you’re sort of on call, so you’ll get a call at 6 in the morning and the principal of the school will say, “Oh, one of our teachers is sick. We need you to substitute for this teacher. Can you please show up at 8:00?” And that isn’t really that great of a job. It’s difficult, right? Because you don’t know the students and you’re only there for one day, so…

Luke: Yeah. It can be a little stressful.

Andrew: Yeah, for sure. It’s very stressful and it’s kind of something that all teachers in Canada have to go through these days. But you decided, “I’m not gonna do that. I’m gonna have my own class. I’m gonna have my full-time students, but I’m gonna do it in China.