A Canadian in Birmingham
Late last spring, I decided to come to teach in the United Kingdom with TimePlan. I was very excited and a little nervous, after having taught abroad before which turned out to be a negative experience. Therefore, I did enter this experience with a little trepidation. However, from the very first contact with TimePlan all my worries were put to rest. I had my interview on the University of New Brunswick campus in Canada and was happy to find out at the end of the interview that I was qualified to teach in the UK.
Within a week of my interview, I started to receive emails from the TimePlan offices. My first challenge was to pick where in the UK to teach. Initially, I was interested in Leeds, but I then chose to come to Birmingham because I had a friend living here and I was told by the Birmingham office, that I had a good chance of getting a full-time, year contract.
I can’t vouch for any other TimePlan office, but the ladies at the Birmingham office have been very helpful. They quickly got me an interview with a school in Birmingham and by June, I knew that I had a year contract. Throughout the summer, they kept in contact with me and were very kind in answering my numerous emails of questions. Some of the many services provided by the TimePlan office included, airport pick-up, booking into a Bed & Breakfast, help with bus routes, and they put you in contact with a letting agency. Less than a week after I arrived in Birmingham, I was settled into a very new apartment building. Upon arrival, I completed the BASS training through TimePlan, which was a great introduction to the British curriculum and other parts of the school system here. When I was having a down homesick day during my first week here, the ladies at the office were very comforting and sat and had a chat with me and gave me a much needed hug!
I have only been here for three weeks now, but the aid from TimePlan has not stopped. They called to see how my first day at school went. This Friday, is one of the many TimePlan socials. I am looking forward to connecting with some of the other overseas teachers and to catching up with the ones from my BASS training.
I highly recommend coming to teach in the UK through TimePlan. The support I got in my previous experience of teaching overseas cannot be compared to this and I wish you all the best of luck in your teaching careers.
SARAH HOLLAND
If you have a story you would like to share with us then please send it to ben.lewis@timeplan.net and we will send you a bottle of Champaign to say a BIG thank you if we use it.