| I, Mr. Ronald B. Gonzales have experienced teaching in some parts of the international community. My first teaching assignment overseas was in Papua New Guinea. After a few years, I worked at the International Teaching Faculty in Atlanta Georgia, USA where I stayed for 6 years. My new assignment as of present time is as a teacher in Shymkent, Kazakhstan.
Every teaching experience I can say is a different learning experience. When I passed all the requirements to teach in NIS Shymkent, I got really excited for I knew, this would be another opportunity for growth.
My first impression of my teaching assignment in Shymkent is that a tough responsibility awaits me in NIS school system. A kind of responsibility that I need to equate with perseverance, hard work, and resiliency in order to perform well at it.
After my in-service training in Astana and up to this point, I realized that my first impression about my teaching responsibility in NIS Shymkent is true. However, I take this as a challenge worth taking. Every day, as I come to school, I learn something new about my students, my colleagues, and my school. Aside from the academic preparations, I do making of teaching plans, teaching pedagogy, curriculum designs and others, I get the experience of working in a team, getting a deeper understanding of my teaching partners and fostering love and concern for them and my students as well.
I am a person who is always open to change. This is the reason why I did not experience any problem immersing myself in the culture of Kazakhstan. What every individual has to remember is to have a respect to the culture of every nation she/he visits. This is also what I would like my colleagues, my school and my students feel when I share with them my life and the culture of my country, the Philippines.
What keeps me more excited in my first teaching assignment in Kazakhstan is learning the Russian and Kazakhstan Languages. Although I have to admit that this fact excites me, this also gives me difficulty in.
Until now, I have a hard time understanding the language of Kazakhstan. However, I try to keep on spending time to know and identify at least some words and speak sentences daily. There has to be a great effort on my part in order to learn the language because it is my key to better understanding of my students’ expressions of feelings and emotions.
As part of my adjustment with the language, I always search the web to type the words in Russian language and their English meanings or translations.
As to date, I am a little confident to speak and communicate using the Russian and Kazakh Languages. I can assess that after a few more months, I am already confident to do so.
My professional growth in Shymkent is evident. Every week, there is a challenge to perform well in preparing lessons for the students. Though this entails planning, preparation and assessment, I do not feel performing alone because of my partner teacher (co-teacher).
Team teaching has offered a great help in my adjustment. Through team teaching, I have a partner that enables me to do my responsibilities with ease. My school has also played a great role in my adjustment period. The provision of a meaningful orientation and in service training have made me realize that there is no task so difficulty to do if I have direction to follow, path to lead to and people to assist me in my teaching journey.
I want to thank the people of Kazakhstan for their warmth, their love and understanding. As my response for my continued growth, I will discover more about the NIS school system, team teaching, culture and language through self-searching of necessary information and insights about Kazakhstan: its people, culture and education.
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