As an English teacher in South Korea, I learned how to engage my students by relating the material to them based on their personal interests. I continued my work teaching abroad upon being hired by the Tokyo Board of Education in the summer of 2014. I taught English at a public high school for the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program. My colleagues were from dozens of countries all over the Anglosphere. Overcoming the challenges of living abroad and building relationships with people from a variety of remarkable cultures has inspired me to commit to a career in education. At the root of my wanderlust is a genuine passion for learning. As a result of my travels, I have a profound desire for everybody, regardless of culture and identity, to view issues from a more global perspective. Teachers should be proactive in representing educational equality by promoting an atmosphere that values an open exchange of ideas. Our differences should not be marginalized, but celebrated.

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Teachers who learn how to deal with diversity through experience are better prepared to deal with uncertainty than those who have simply learned it as an academic exercise. My watershed moment in appreciating the uniting power of pluralism happened in a Berber tent on a chilly Saharan night, drinking tea with strangers from all over the world. A conversation between a retired woman from France, a quirky Chinese salesperson, and a Russian musician, would not have been possible if it weren’t for my own mother tongue. We learned more from each other than a book would have taught us. These situations are why I advocate for international exchanges. Hopefully, these stories will spark my students’ curiosity and they will develop into informed, inquisitive, and responsible global citizens.

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