Tamara Roose ’07, MA ’10

Profession: PhD student, Ohio State University

Location: Columbus, Ohio

Worked in or travelled professionally to: South Korea

I love getting to know students and seeing them grow in confidence. I love that I learn so much from their experiences, challenges, perspectives, and stories.

What drew you to English language teaching?

During my undergraduate studies at APU, I met international students and became very involved in the International Center community. I discovered my passion working with these students because I found great joy in learning about their cultures, helping them adjust to living in America, and supporting them in gaining the English language skills needed to achieve their goals. I was an English major at APU, and I thought I wanted to teach literature at the university level, but after working with international students, I realized that teaching academic English would enable me to have a different level of impact on people’s lives from diverse backgrounds.

What inspires you to push through the challenges of this career path?

I feel honored to have the opportunity to be a part of students’ journeys, even if just for a short time. I am inspired by their resilience, their vulnerability, and their aspirations. Particularly, as a writing teacher, I feel privileged to read their papers and get insight into their lives. Building strong rapport with my students and seeing them find joy in learning fuels my desire to continue in this field.

What have your professional travel experiences been like after receiving your TESOL master’s?

I lived in South Korea for three years and taught at Sejong University in Seoul, and it was an amazing experience. I loved teaching English composition and pronunciation courses to Korean university students and elective courses to foreign students studying abroad in Korea. It was a very enriching season for me, because I experienced role reversal on a daily basis—at one moment, I was a professor teaching English and felt confident before the classroom, and the next moment, I was lost on a subway or struggling to buy food using my limited Korean language skills. I attended a Korean language community class and felt humbled learning the language, and this language and cultural immersion gave me deeper insight into my students’ experience learning English. It also helped inform my teaching practices as I tried new ways of helping them out of the lessons I was learning from my own challenges. Having returned to the U.S. now to pursue a Ph.D., I believe this experience of teaching and living overseas will remain an indelible memory for me because it has shaped my vision and heart as a language educator and teacher trainer in the future.