By JENNY DERRINGER
While jobs are hard to come by in Ohio, one former Defiance resident is taking advantage of options around the world and the need for qualified candidates.
Kara Mealer, a 2003 Defiance High School graduate, spent approximately 22 months teaching English in Vietnam. The daughter of Randy and Heidi Mealer, she earned a bachelor's degree in 2008 in specialized studies (Southeast Asian studies and urban geography) from Ohio University in Athens.
"I studied abroad in Vietnam for two semesters (2006-07), then after graduating, I scored a summer internship with the U.S. embassy in Hanoi," said Mealer. "Even before I landed the internship, I had every intention of living in Hanoi to be an English teacher.
"During my undergrad years, I made a lot of friends who were doing their master's degree and they had also taken a break in between their undergrad and grad school by teaching English abroad. So, I was already familiar with Vietnam, and I got a lot of advice from my friends who had taught."
Mealer fulfilled those intentions and taught English at a school in Hanoi from September 2008 to June 2010.
"I usually taught children from middle to upper class families who could afford the extra English classes on top of their public school tuition," she said. "These parents are serious about their children's education, who can attend school up to 12 hours a day. However, I learned that children are the same just about anywhere in the world.
"Kids have the attention span of a goldfish and can raise mutiny at the smell of a new teacher," she relayed. "Teenagers still cop an attitude and slouch and mumble as they roll their eyes at my corny jokes. American culture has seeped into Vietnam via cable television. For example, girls love Hannah Montana and other 'cringe-causing' shows offered up by the Disney Channel. But this is exactly why their English is going to be phenomenally good. They watch foreign language TV regularly. They eat it up."
While living in Vietnam, Mealer rented a room in a building similar to a dormitory. Students living here were Vietnamese, Laotian, Cambodian, South Korean and Russian.
"I wanted to live somewhere that was away from the backpacker area and other expatriates, and sought a neighborhood that was very Vietnamese," she explained. "I washed my clothes in a bucket in my bathroom, there were periodic black-outs, and rats always scurrying about. It was great."
Mealer was abroad when the swine flu epidemic became headline news.
"When the swine flu was creating panic attacks across the globe, Vietnam mustered its usually can-do attitude and within days, fliers and news announcements were broadcast across the city's loudspeakers, which were originally erected to warn citizens of bomb raids and promote government propaganda," she noted. "Children still had to go to school. Where I worked, kids came with surgical masks around their face in a misguided attempt to keep the pig flu at bay.
"For me, I didn't realize the outbreak was as serious as it was until I came to work one day and there was a line of students and teachers cascading out the door and into the street," she added. "The security guards would not allow anyone inside until they received a thermometer reading in the ear. No one could get in or out without knowing our bodily temperatures were normal. And this went on for weeks. Yet, still students and parents came."
Mealer moved to Columbus a month ago and is currently enrolled at Columbus State Community College to earn a bachelor's degree in nursing. She has also served as a substitute teacher for the Northwest Ohio Educational Service Center since her return.
"Since coming back to the USA, getting a job has been tough," she added. "I've been seriously reconsidering going back to Hanoi where I can earn between $20 to $30 an hour and I know there is a need for English teachers there.
"Lately, I've been asking myself why I came back to Ohio," she added. "But I know once I finish my nursing degree, there were will be an innumerable amount of nursing jobs open around the world. I've always wanted to work for an internationally recognized health program like Doctors Without Borders or the Red Cross."
No comments:
Post a Comment