Across the Oceans by Jasmine

Across the Oceans by Jasmine - November 2017 Scholarship Essay

Ten pairs of eyes stared expectantly at me. As a student, I rarely stopped to consider what being a teacher, and having an entire class dependent on me, would feel like. This changed over this past summer when I experienced the nerve-wracking excitement of teaching as a volunteer in rural Taiwan. A reluctant public speaker, I quickly realized that maintaining the attention of ten kids while teaching English and enforcing discipline was a demanding responsibility. However, as the days went by, the kids helped me gain confidence as a teacher with their youthfulness and eagerness to learn. This experience has emboldened me to continue teaching, and since my return, I’ve started a piano club at a local elementary school.

Being able to contrast my teaching experience in Taiwan with my service in America has raised my awareness of the different cultures that I’m connected too. Not only are the two places separated by an ocean and twelve hour time difference, but the kids and teachers alike differ in their culture and attitudes towards each other. Although both groups show a sincere interest in learning, the children in Taiwan show a stronger deference to authority, a quality enforced by the greater discipline established by the teacher. To be exposed to a different style of education is one reason for why I want to study abroad.

Ever since starting french in fourth grade, I’ve longed for the moment where I would be strolling down the Avenue des Champs-Elysees and saying Bonjour to people around me. Also, I believe that reading the textbook and learning how to order a Croque-Monsieur is vastly different from actually walking into a french cafe in the heart of Paris. Being able to improve my french while pursuing new activities without the support network back home is why I value study abroad and plan to do so in college. Studying abroad would not only expose me to a new culture, but I would be able to experience a different teaching style alongside learning to be independent.