After getting all the marks for my assignments as well as a
mark on my teaching practicum (where they come and see me teach and mark how
well I do), I got my Post Graduate Diploma in Education specializing on English
as a Second Language. I will not get my final marks until the end of the month
but all my marks have been above a B so there is no chance I have failed.
It has taken two years and a bit of work. I wouldn’t say it
was stressful or demanding as far as the workload but it was tiring due to the
distance from my work to school to home. It was at least an hour and a half via
public transportation. The work mostly came in the last 3 months of the whole
program. In all, it has made me a better teacher. It forced me to look at how I
teach and look at ways to improve my teaching. I got what I wanted out of the
program meaning I have become better and that is all I wanted. It was worth the
investment of time and money. Now that it is over, I am thrilled but still a
bit unsure what it all means.
The certificate will not qualify me to teach in Canada, but
I don’t plan to teach there. I am not sure how valuable it is outside of Hong
Kong but the university is internationally known. It is a diploma and not a
degree and in the bigger picture I am not sure what that means. I know my almost
10 years of experience in front of kids means more but in Asia it tends to be
all about the paper (degrees, certificates, diplomas and such).
I plan to take the year off of serious studying. I am
thinking about my Masters of Education but need to explore if it will help me
continue to be a better teacher or is it just another piece of paper. I think
everything will depend next February when they let me know if they want to keep
me on as a teacher here. If so, then I probably will try to get my Masters. It
is like what a friend of mine said, the best investments are in Education and
Property.