Why should someone choose globalU over your competitors?
Someone should choose globalU over other competitors because Jessica is a small business who has handpicked any program on globalU's docket, and you aren't dealing with a large agency. These programs are high quality, the right price, and provide the education you need in order to become a stellar English teacher.
Machu Picchu, Peru
What is the globalU mission and how do you continue to work toward it?
Part of globalU's mission is to unite those who wish to teach English abroad with the right adventure, because teaching English abroad is just that! GlobalU focuses on the right fit for someone willing to step outside their comfort zone in order to travel, dive into a new culture head first, and take off on a path that will change their life.
Considering globalU’s mission to promote teaching English abroad, why do you think learning a new language is important in the world today?
Learning a new language is a life skill like no other! If you really want to step inside another culture, their language is the true gateway. Without the ability to communicate, your experience is already limited. Whereas, if you learn at least a few phrases or words (or even become fluent), you're increasing your chances of immersion and impactful experience.
What is your favorite part of your job?
My favorite part of my job is how challenging it is to put myself in the shoes of a potential English teacher abroad in order to address their needs, desires, and concerns. Though I have never taught English abroad, I have done a significant amount of traveling and living abroad to draw experience from. The challenge of adequately addressing the audience of globalU is a learning experience I wouldn't trade for knowing everything.
Church in Salvador, Brazil
Describe a typical day at work for you.
A typical day at work for me entails switching between managing social media accounts, including posting and engagement and developing/writing content for articles.
How do you use your education and international background in your current role?
I use my master's degree in English to write, edit, and develop content for social media and blog posts. I've also lived and traveled abroad extensively, so I have the foresight and experience of those qualities to draw on in my current role.
Why do you think it is important for people to travel abroad and experience new cultures?
It's important for people to travel abroad in order to expand their world view. To see how they fit in this world, but more importantly, how they *don't* fit. Stepping outside of yourself and your culture is the most impactful way to see how things are done differently, with similar results. There are so many ways to get something done, and no way is necessarily wrong; this is something experiencing new cultures can teach you!
What does meaningful travel mean to you?
Meaningful travel, to me, means allowing for enough space and time to sink into another culture. I've been able to breeze through a country and also live inside one, and living there changes your views on that culture almost immediately.
Traveling meaningfully means willingness to learn without an intent to change.
City view of Bogota, Colombia
If you could participate in any of globalU’s programs, where would you go and what would you do?
I would snatch the Thailand TEFL Program up in a heartbeat! I've personally never been to Thailand, but I feel like I have considering how often I have promoted or written about it. I can feel the magic of that country without having visited it, so if a globalU program could take me there, I'd do it!
What hopes do you have for the future globalU?
I hope globalU keeps the unique and intimate processes it has as an organization while expanding to meet the needs of a wider audience. I also hope globalU continues to offer a variety of programs across the world, while adding more and more programs that speak to its mission.
What advice would you tell your pre-travel self?
This is such a great question! I would warn my pre-travel self that while planning in advance is to be appreciated and taken seriously in terms of logistics, the outcome of travel is rarely about getting from one place to another and more about the flexibility in order to give you a holistic and fun experience. So don't sweat the small things, and look at any "failures" as learning opportunities.