Episode Description:
It’s hard to believe, but the 2017-18 school year marks the start of our 10th year teaching English online! The beginnings were humble: I sat with a laptop, headset and a couple of textbooks at our dining room table in Roanoke, Virginia, at 7:00 a.m. two or three days a week, teaching English to about a half dozen students in Hsinchu, Taiwan, at 7:00 p.m. One of my favorite Bible verses is the oft-overlooked Zechariah 4:10– “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin.”
It was clearly a small and humble beginning, but now that we are starting our 10th year teaching online, I am humbled, grateful and overwhelmed at how far we have come; what wonderful friends, students, and team-mates we are blessed with; and what the future has in store for us. When it comes to helping Chinese speakers improve their English skills, I feel like we have just begun to barely scratch the surface. One of my favorite statistics is, “there are more people learning English in China, than there are people in the USA.” In this episode, we take a walk down memory lane as I reminisce about some of the key people, events, decisions, and turning points over the past ten years of teaching online. Thanks to everyone who has helped us and has been a part of this exciting journey, and as a podcast listener, you are a part of our team too!
Word of the Day: anniversary (noun) the date on which an event took place in an earlier year
Word Stem: “ann”(or spelled “enn”) –means “year“ Other words with “ann/enn”: — annual, centennial, annals, perennial
Question of the Day: Bill Gates said, “Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.” Do you agree or disagree? Can you think of any examples from your life?
Listen to Episode 12 below.