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Globally speaking By MEGHAN BLUMER HAMORSKY ’14
Teaching Abroad: Why anyone can—and should—do it
It’s hard to grow within your comfort zone.
W
hat more enriching way can you leave your comfort zone than with a new stamp in your passport as you surround yourself with exotic foods, a different language, and your own brand new students of a different culture? Teaching abroad allows you to immerse yourself in a place so foreign that each day becomes a new adventure. Though you’ll be responsible for educating your students about language and the world, I can guarantee you’ll be learning just as much as they will. My own teaching portfolio has been a diverse one. From volunteering at a high school in Valparaíso, Chile, to interning as a migrant educator in rural Pennsylvania, to being a Spanish TA at the University of Maryland—I suppose it was no surprise when I hopped on a plane to teach abroad for a whole year. But you don’t need a background like mine—foreign language and education— to do what I’ve done. Just ask my husband, Tony Hamorsky ’14, who graduated from Mother Fair with a B.S. in accounting and worked for two years as a production supervisor for a home building company. With no teaching experience whatsoever, he suggested we
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both apply for a teaching job in Asia, and before we knew it, we were landing in Seoul, South Korea. And he’s not alone:
• Abby Miles ‘16 (music/
communications) taught in Brazil for a summer and is now with Teach for America.
• Chelsea Phillips ‘15 (communications) is currently teaching English in Shenyang, China.
• Kasey Shaffer ‘13 (communications)
spent more than three years in the Czech Republic and met her fiance during that time. She began her time in Prague as a teacher and then switched careers.
• Lisa Giardina ‘11 (Spanish/human
resources) taught in Spain for two years.
• Rachael Wetzel Zahn ‘14 (Spanish/
education) volunteers in the Dominican Republic every spring, and has worked as a language teacher in Peru and Chile.
• Teresa Whetstone ‘14 (Spanish/
political science) taught in China for more than two years through the Peace Corps.
