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September 1993 came and went. I lost my father, and there was still no teaching job available. My self-esteem went down to the lowest point in my life. I started teaching on the weekends at the local Chinese School. During the daytime, I worked full time at the furniture store. I was frustrated because I could not do what I truly wanted to do. The business at the store was not the greatest either because consumers were really careful about their spending during the economic down time. Meanwhile, I kept on sending my resumes to school after school, any school within about an hour of driving distance because I had to think of winter commute here in Canada. I did not have a car then.
After I started working at the Chinese School, I decided to volunteer at an elementary school in my neighborhood. I needed some Canadian teaching experiences but no one could offer me one. So, I introduced myself to the vice principal and offered my help to teachers at the school. I met one of my classmates there at the school. She just started supplying for the school board. I was happy for her because she at least got a real job as a substitute teacher.
I volunteered for three and a half hours every morning from 8:30 to 12:00 at the school. After half a day of volunteer work, I would then take the bus to the store to work from 1:00 to 9:00 four days a week. I literally worked from 8:30 in the morning to 9:00 at night every day. On Saturday, I would teach from 9:00 to 12:00 at the Chinese School and then worked at the store from 1:00 to 6:00 in the afternoon.
I hate tears! I sometimes cried secretly during those dark days because I really had no idea how long I had to keep going on like that. It seemed to be no hope in sight for me to get hired as a professional teacher. My husband knew how eager I wanted to get a teaching job. He encouraged and supported me during those dark days because I spent a lot of time out of the house in order to gain what I had to put on my resume. He would change his work time to accommodate my schedule. He was concerned about my physical health and emotional stability. I had never cried that much in my entire life, but I could not tell my frustration to my family who were dear to me back home. My husband thought that I was literally stressing myself out. Sometimes, he would get really frustrated and tell me that I was my own worst enemy.
The job prospect was not good, and it went on for a while. I was not alone though. It was simply very difficult to get into teaching then. I met an East Indian teacher, Sheila, at the International Language School. She was a full time immigrant case worker for the Multicultural Council, and she also taught at the Hindi School on Saturday. I got to know her because I was a volunteer interpreter for new Chinese immigrants at the Council. Sheila was a teacher in India before she came to Canada. When I first met her, she was also looking for a teaching position. One fall day in 1994, she came to tell me that she just went to a hiring orientation at the neighbouring board. There were at least 3000 applicants there at the convention hall where they held the orientation. My spirit went down another level. It was almost impossible to get into teaching!
A few days later, I decided to send my resume to the board anyway despite the large number of applicants. It would not hurt just to try. By this time, I had volunteered at the local school for about a year. The teachers at the school were very nice to me. Unfortunately, they were not the ones who were in charge of hiring, but they gave me a really fantastic letter of reference to add to my resume. I was grateful that they really appreciated my help and wrote the letter for me. I was also hopeful that something wonderful might happen sooner or later.
Later, the neighbouring Board conducted a massive interview process that I had never seen in my entire life. They used banquet halls for a massive interview. I remember that people came in waves to wait in two large banquet halls. One hall probably could hold more than a hundred people. We would first sit down to fill out some sort of questions regarding teaching and management in the classroom and then signed an agreement to allow the Board to verify the listed references. Those hundreds of applicants would then take a number and wait for their turn to enter another gigantic hall where there were at least ten or fifteen booths in there. Each booth had two or three principals stationed to conduct the interview with an applicant. It was like a conveyer line interview. All the applicants just went through the process by the dozens. Apparently, it went on all day long like that for two or three days. My friends Sheila went for her interview on a different date as well. Sadly, nothing came back to me afterwards, but only a letter arrived later to tell me that they would keep my resume on file. So, no good news came and my dark days continued…, until one day in September 1995.
Most schools here in Canada start the school year after Labour Day weekend (the first weekend in September). Two weeks after Labour Day of 1995, less than a year after my first interview and two years after my graduation, I finally got a phone call from the Human Resources at the School Board Office to inform me that they had my resume on file. They would like to know if I would be interested in going to the Board Office for another interview. OH, MY GOODNESS! It was the best news I had heard during those two long years after my graduation! I got the phone call on Wednesday, had the interview on Thursday and signed the contract on Friday. Everything happened so fast. Even now, I still have trouble recalling all the details on those three days. It was like a whirlwind in a dream and then the sun just came out to shine on me!
The first two weeks of school is usually our so called “re-organization” period. The Board needs to hire or lay off teachers based on the enrollment number at each school in September. In 1995, my Board received a special federal government grant for the ESL program because most of the new immigrants settled in the Greater Toronto Area. So, the Board got the money to hire 12 and a half extra ESL teachers by the end of September. That was the reason why those HR people had to work overtime on that last Friday afternoon in September to sign contracts with us. In the fall of 1995, I finally got a job to officially work as an ESL teacher WITH PAY!
After I started working at the Chinese School, I decided to volunteer at an elementary school in my neighborhood. I needed some Canadian teaching experiences but no one could offer me one. So, I introduced myself to the vice principal and offered my help to teachers at the school. I met one of my classmates there at the school. She just started supplying for the school board. I was happy for her because she at least got a real job as a substitute teacher.
I volunteered for three and a half hours every morning from 8:30 to 12:00 at the school. After half a day of volunteer work, I would then take the bus to the store to work from 1:00 to 9:00 four days a week. I literally worked from 8:30 in the morning to 9:00 at night every day. On Saturday, I would teach from 9:00 to 12:00 at the Chinese School and then worked at the store from 1:00 to 6:00 in the afternoon.
I hate tears! I sometimes cried secretly during those dark days because I really had no idea how long I had to keep going on like that. It seemed to be no hope in sight for me to get hired as a professional teacher. My husband knew how eager I wanted to get a teaching job. He encouraged and supported me during those dark days because I spent a lot of time out of the house in order to gain what I had to put on my resume. He would change his work time to accommodate my schedule. He was concerned about my physical health and emotional stability. I had never cried that much in my entire life, but I could not tell my frustration to my family who were dear to me back home. My husband thought that I was literally stressing myself out. Sometimes, he would get really frustrated and tell me that I was my own worst enemy.
The job prospect was not good, and it went on for a while. I was not alone though. It was simply very difficult to get into teaching then. I met an East Indian teacher, Sheila, at the International Language School. She was a full time immigrant case worker for the Multicultural Council, and she also taught at the Hindi School on Saturday. I got to know her because I was a volunteer interpreter for new Chinese immigrants at the Council. Sheila was a teacher in India before she came to Canada. When I first met her, she was also looking for a teaching position. One fall day in 1994, she came to tell me that she just went to a hiring orientation at the neighbouring board. There were at least 3000 applicants there at the convention hall where they held the orientation. My spirit went down another level. It was almost impossible to get into teaching!
A few days later, I decided to send my resume to the board anyway despite the large number of applicants. It would not hurt just to try. By this time, I had volunteered at the local school for about a year. The teachers at the school were very nice to me. Unfortunately, they were not the ones who were in charge of hiring, but they gave me a really fantastic letter of reference to add to my resume. I was grateful that they really appreciated my help and wrote the letter for me. I was also hopeful that something wonderful might happen sooner or later.
Later, the neighbouring Board conducted a massive interview process that I had never seen in my entire life. They used banquet halls for a massive interview. I remember that people came in waves to wait in two large banquet halls. One hall probably could hold more than a hundred people. We would first sit down to fill out some sort of questions regarding teaching and management in the classroom and then signed an agreement to allow the Board to verify the listed references. Those hundreds of applicants would then take a number and wait for their turn to enter another gigantic hall where there were at least ten or fifteen booths in there. Each booth had two or three principals stationed to conduct the interview with an applicant. It was like a conveyer line interview. All the applicants just went through the process by the dozens. Apparently, it went on all day long like that for two or three days. My friends Sheila went for her interview on a different date as well. Sadly, nothing came back to me afterwards, but only a letter arrived later to tell me that they would keep my resume on file. So, no good news came and my dark days continued…, until one day in September 1995.
Most schools here in Canada start the school year after Labour Day weekend (the first weekend in September). Two weeks after Labour Day of 1995, less than a year after my first interview and two years after my graduation, I finally got a phone call from the Human Resources at the School Board Office to inform me that they had my resume on file. They would like to know if I would be interested in going to the Board Office for another interview. OH, MY GOODNESS! It was the best news I had heard during those two long years after my graduation! I got the phone call on Wednesday, had the interview on Thursday and signed the contract on Friday. Everything happened so fast. Even now, I still have trouble recalling all the details on those three days. It was like a whirlwind in a dream and then the sun just came out to shine on me!
The first two weeks of school is usually our so called “re-organization” period. The Board needs to hire or lay off teachers based on the enrollment number at each school in September. In 1995, my Board received a special federal government grant for the ESL program because most of the new immigrants settled in the Greater Toronto Area. So, the Board got the money to hire 12 and a half extra ESL teachers by the end of September. That was the reason why those HR people had to work overtime on that last Friday afternoon in September to sign contracts with us. In the fall of 1995, I finally got a job to officially work as an ESL teacher WITH PAY!
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