When I began teaching at Future Envision, I realized I have now taught students on every continent except Antarctica. I’m proud of that, yet humbled. It utterly amazes me to think that I get to be a part of my students’ educational journeys in so many different countries.

When I first decided to be an English teacher back in high school, I had no idea that one day I’d be sitting in my office in Florida, instructing students in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America.

I’ll always remember one student I had onsite who was originally from the Philippines. He always had a willing smile and loved sharing his food with you. I didn’t realize how much we had in common, however, until I had the students compose an essay one night about their dream home. He wrote about a beautiful farm he one day hoped to have in the Philippines. As I read his description, he could have been describing my dream farm that I’ve always wanted here in Florida. We grew up oceans apart, yet we shared the same love of the land and desire to grow our own food.

Now that I’m teaching students from Singapore online, I find myself learning increasingly about their lovely country. But I was surprised by how much they enjoyed listening to me share stories of my Florida childhood in my southern accent. My rural childhood is vastly different from their decidedly urban ones, but we still share great love for our grandparents and a passion for learning.

The most unexpected question I’ve received from my students in SG is wanting to know how tall I am; when I told them I was 5’5″ tall (that’s 1.651 meters), they thought I was quite tall. Seeing each other on a Zoom screen makes it hard to see each other’s actual size. But our smiles seem to transmit quite accurately!