This semester I’ve been given the opportunity to teach a university preparation course, a surprisingly popular elective at our university. Tomorrow in class we’ll be discussing motivation. Students will have researched topics related to motivation and reflected on how a particular article relates to them. Since I feel that I should do all types of assignments that my students are expected to do, I spent a part of the day sequestered in my office reflecting on what motivates me. After a bit of freewriting, I realized that what motivates me is change. I don’t mean change for the sake of change but the openness to growing and adapting when the need arises. In addition to the students, the variety of opportunities and diversity in our field are what make me love my job.

Having taught English for 22 years, I have certainly had moments of boredom and inertia, but there are so many possibilities when you teach English: different ages and nationalities of students, skills, levels, institutions, and countries. I’ve done TPR and sung songs with Japanese preschoolers, taught conversational English to immigrants, taught rhetorical analysis in freshman composition classes in the United States, supervised a teaching practicum, taught in an IEP in a U.S. university in the United Arab Emirates for many years, and am now teaching academic English to pre-nursing students at a Canadian university in Qatar. As teachers, of course, we also have the opportunity to try different teaching techniques and new technology, but if devising an innovative way to teach the present perfect isn’t enough change for me, other possibilities always arise. Beyond the classroom, I’ve had the chance to work in administration, curriculum revision, developing policy, mentoring new teachers, and developing a learning center, among others. I am so grateful to be in a field that offers so much diversity and so many opportunities.

In addition to new content and various other projects that I’m working on this year, another change for me has been becoming the chair-elect of the IEPIS. Although I’ve been a member of TESOL for a number of years, this is my first time to take a more active role, and I am looking forward to developing closer relationships with others in our field and learning from all of you. May this academic year be rewarding to you and bring you many opportunities!

Angela Unger Waigand is an instructor at the University of Calgary in Qatar. Her interests include reflective teaching, curriculum development, text analysis, independent learning, and technology in language teaching.