Or ‘how speaking English changed my life’
Even though English is not my first language, it has become my primary language. And it has enabled me to have a life I hadn’t imagined possible even in my wildest dreams.
At 17 I took part in a youth exchange program, but I didn’t embark on this adventure because of my love of English, in fact, I kind of hated it. But I knew how important it would be for my future self to be able to speak it fluently. And that’s how I found myself living in a small town in Australia.
Since then, English has been a huge part of my life: my first job ever was teaching English. I then dabbled in translating technical documents and manuals, went back to teaching and writing pedagogical content, courses and materials. My whole professional life developed and grew because of and around English, which in and of itself would have been pretty big, but there is more.
As I spoke fluent English and had built a career working as an EFL teacher, I was able to immigrate to Canada as a Federal Skilled Worker nearly 15 years after being an exchange student in Australia.
A couple of weeks after landing in Toronto, I got my first job as an ESL teacher in the biggest language school in the country. It was not an easy journey, and the learning curve was steep. But my experience, my certifications, and my level of proficiency ensured I had a path to follow.
Now, 11 years later, having lived and worked in Canada and most recently in Europe, I can say without a shadow of doubt that speaking English has changed my life and allowed for some of my wildest dreams to come true.
Was it what I had envisioned when I set off to Australia as a teenager? Not even a little bit. But I am so happy life has brought me here.
Naturally, everyone’s journey is unique. All I’m saying is that you never know where life will lead you and, truth be told, having English as one of your languages can never hurt.
vspoke language 