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After all the hassles of daily long-distance commute, I finally graduated from the Faculty of Education in 1993. My mother-in-law and my husband were at my graduation to celebrate with me. It was a proud moment for my mother-in-law because she was there with me when I first visited the university. She knew how frustrated and determined I was to graduate from this particular university. Now I had officially graduated with another degree in Education. It would be easier for me to get into teaching profession in Canada. (Or, at least, that was what I thought at the time.)
All the graduates were excited about the end of another phase of learning journey, but most of us actually had a looming concern about job prospects in the future. The average age in my class was 32, so most of my classmates were older, the middle aged crowd. Most of us took time off work to study or had a career move, and we had to find a job as soon as possible due to our family responsibility.
The school boards usually would come around to the Faculty of Education all over Ontario in April to promote their Boards to the new teachers and to hand out job applications, but not in 1993. By then, we had officially stepped into recession, and jobs were scarce. Many Boards did come to present some basic information to us, but they frankly told us upfront that they were not planning for a massive hiring that year. The only people got interviewed that year were teacher candidates with French or music qualifications. In my class, only three teachers were interviewed. So, here we go. Now what? Three years after landing in Canada, I was still unemployed, except now I was an unemployed teacher.
I sometimes read other people’s stories about how they have struggled to survive in a new country and I can definitely relate to their experiences because I myself had been through similar situations. I am lucky to have a loving caring husband who encourages me to pursuit my dream without pulling my leg or holding me back. I, on the other hand, was my own worst enemy. I was depressed with the fact of my joblessness which later became a sense of worthlessness. I was depressed with going nowhere after three years in Canada.
I didn’t really know what hit me. I guess I just realized one day that I could not simply sit at home and mope about my depression all day long. I could drive myself crazy, or I could do something to keep myself busy or make myself useful. So, I found a part time job working at a furniture store. At the time I thought if I could get hired by a Board, it would be easier for me to quit a simple job from the store and no transition would be required.
The job was a no-brainer but it did give me an opportunity to talk to people, present our store and explain products to customers every single day. More importantly, it brought me out of the house again. The store sales actually required the same skills as my previous jobs in Taiwan. It often reminded me of the days when I worked for the Convention organizer and the export business. Anyway, I always took my job seriously. So, three months later I became the full time manager for the furniture store.
When September 1993 came, I still could not get a teaching job, and school boards didn’t even add new teachers to their substitute teachers list. I could not remember how many resumes I had sent out. I do remember at one time I photocopied 50 sets of cover letters and resumes to send to 50 private schools. Nothing had returned except kind rejection letters to acknowledge that they had received my resumes and they would keep it on file. Meanwhile, I started my full time job that I did not intend to keep.
One day I happened to read a little ad in the newspaper about the local Chinese School Registration. I did not know we actually had a Chinese School in town until I read this little ad. I called the head teacher and left a message for her to call me back if she needed someone to supply for the Mandarin class. That phone call was a turning point in my teaching career because the Mandarin teacher was leaving due to her decline in health. I was then interviewed and hired to take over her Saturday morning class. It was just perfect timing for me. A Chinese teacher with an Ontario Teaching Certificate was like gold apparently. I finally got my first class in Canada.
All the graduates were excited about the end of another phase of learning journey, but most of us actually had a looming concern about job prospects in the future. The average age in my class was 32, so most of my classmates were older, the middle aged crowd. Most of us took time off work to study or had a career move, and we had to find a job as soon as possible due to our family responsibility.
The school boards usually would come around to the Faculty of Education all over Ontario in April to promote their Boards to the new teachers and to hand out job applications, but not in 1993. By then, we had officially stepped into recession, and jobs were scarce. Many Boards did come to present some basic information to us, but they frankly told us upfront that they were not planning for a massive hiring that year. The only people got interviewed that year were teacher candidates with French or music qualifications. In my class, only three teachers were interviewed. So, here we go. Now what? Three years after landing in Canada, I was still unemployed, except now I was an unemployed teacher.
I sometimes read other people’s stories about how they have struggled to survive in a new country and I can definitely relate to their experiences because I myself had been through similar situations. I am lucky to have a loving caring husband who encourages me to pursuit my dream without pulling my leg or holding me back. I, on the other hand, was my own worst enemy. I was depressed with the fact of my joblessness which later became a sense of worthlessness. I was depressed with going nowhere after three years in Canada.
I didn’t really know what hit me. I guess I just realized one day that I could not simply sit at home and mope about my depression all day long. I could drive myself crazy, or I could do something to keep myself busy or make myself useful. So, I found a part time job working at a furniture store. At the time I thought if I could get hired by a Board, it would be easier for me to quit a simple job from the store and no transition would be required.
The job was a no-brainer but it did give me an opportunity to talk to people, present our store and explain products to customers every single day. More importantly, it brought me out of the house again. The store sales actually required the same skills as my previous jobs in Taiwan. It often reminded me of the days when I worked for the Convention organizer and the export business. Anyway, I always took my job seriously. So, three months later I became the full time manager for the furniture store.
When September 1993 came, I still could not get a teaching job, and school boards didn’t even add new teachers to their substitute teachers list. I could not remember how many resumes I had sent out. I do remember at one time I photocopied 50 sets of cover letters and resumes to send to 50 private schools. Nothing had returned except kind rejection letters to acknowledge that they had received my resumes and they would keep it on file. Meanwhile, I started my full time job that I did not intend to keep.
One day I happened to read a little ad in the newspaper about the local Chinese School Registration. I did not know we actually had a Chinese School in town until I read this little ad. I called the head teacher and left a message for her to call me back if she needed someone to supply for the Mandarin class. That phone call was a turning point in my teaching career because the Mandarin teacher was leaving due to her decline in health. I was then interviewed and hired to take over her Saturday morning class. It was just perfect timing for me. A Chinese teacher with an Ontario Teaching Certificate was like gold apparently. I finally got my first class in Canada.
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