>> I think if I had known that I was going to do this when I was an undergrad,
I would have definitely started preparing by taking more classes about education,
learning more about what it is to teach.
When I first started teaching in Korea, I thought you know, all I need to do is stand here
and talk and they'll listen to me and they'll start to learn which is completely untrue.
I think the best way to learn a language is to use it so I discovered that through experience
and through also at my Master's Degree courses that getting the students to interact
with each other, to talk, to produce the language
and while I was just a facilitator basically, I wasn't lecturing them.
I wasn't holding their hands.
I was letting them make mistakes.
I was encouraging them to communicate and things like that.
So I think those are the kinds of things that I could have learned if I had started you know,
doing some research and taking some classes related to education earlier in my career,
in my life but I think that it wasn't such a hindrance
because I was still able to get the job and go overseas.
But I think the most important thing is to have an open mind.
If you have a location in mind that you want to go to, to start working,
start to learn more about that culture.
Pick up even a few words of the language if you can.
I think that will make your initial transition so much more easier than it would be otherwise.
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