Reflection from Geoff, Daphane and Kelly

Teaching Across Borders & Macau                                         

When I was first told that I was going to be finishing my Masters of Teaching program in Macau China, I was very excited but knew that I had to begin researching information about the city. I had never heard of Macau before but had been informed that it was a very fast and upcoming city, which was being deemed the Las Vegas of Asia. After arriving in Macau, I began to discover that it portrayed much more than just the surface image that I had painted in my mind before arriving. There is such a rich culture in Macau with many different sites to see and many different cultures to take in.

After being in Macau for two weeks, Geoff and I met up with Daphne and we attended our first day at CDSJ. The atmosphere was extremely welcoming right from the beginning. The staff, students and environment had all provided an element that was so accommodating to our Teaching Across Borders Program. Along with the wonderful experience of teaching in a foreign country, the school provided all three of us with the support to finish out our University work successfully.

Experience in teaching ESL (English as a Second Language) in an L2 environment (non-native language) has been one of the most rewarding and helpful lessons that I will take with me. We have been teaching a Senior 1 Science A class with a small number of students, so we have been able to get to know the individuals in our classroom and develop insight into their personalities. We have also been teaching the Kindergarten students three days a week working on a play which has provided us with a little more struggle than we originally had anticipated. However nonetheless, we are never going to forget the lessons that these beautiful little people have taught us in our journey together.

We originally had come to Macau with the purpose of finishing our Masters of Teaching Program in a foreign country. We have all had the expectations that we would learn so much from teaching ESL , but the unforeseen benefits that also come along  from being in  Macau has far exceeded our expectations. The students and the staff at CDSJ have made us feel like a genuine part of the team and make us really appreciate our situation. We will miss the students very much and will never forget them as they have contributed to our future careers and have helped us to grow as future educators.  Also very special thanks to our Macau mom who has made our stay here so comforting and truly memorable. Without such wonderful people that have looked after us and welcomed us from the beginning, our time in Macau would not have been the same. We would like to thank all of the people that we have met and that have helped us along the way, we have truly enjoyed our time here and will never forget it.

Daphne Macdonald, Kelly St Onge, & Geoff Kearney

Teaching Across Borders Students

From the University of Calgary, Canada 2008