This article is part of a series of posts highlighting our community of teachers around the world. We hope you find their stories interesting and inspiring!

Meet Rachel. Rachel became an ESL teacher because she wanted to empower people.

“For better or worse, language has power. In the US, knowing English provides people with more opportunities. More opportunities give individuals the power to make their own choices.”

Rachel teaches at the Chinese Mutual Aid Association in Chicago and has been a teacher for four years. Her students are all adults and read between a grade two and a grade 12 reading level.

For Rachel, a typical day of teaching in the virtual world involves two hours of teaching on Zoom, grading homework, and planning lessons.

“Before COVID-19, I was teaching about 20 hours a week in-person so the synchronous teaching time has shrunk dramatically. We do much more asynchronous work now, so I spend more time grading homework assignments. The asynchronous work has created more opportunity for students to improve their reading and writing skills, but less time for speaking.”

Check out Rachel’s text response below to learn why she loves ESL Library and how she uses it with her students.

For Rachel, “The most rewarding part of being a teacher is seeing a learner reach a goal they were working toward. It’s really special when you get to be part of their journey.”

She also loves that she gets the chance to learn too.

“My favorite part of teaching is the mutual learning that happens between everyone in the classroom, including the teacher. I think ESL provides a unique opportunity to share cultures.”

Her advice for aspiring teachers?

“I am learning that you can rarely break things down too much. When you spend the time to scaffold and break the material down to smaller pieces, the lesson usually goes better.”

Want to share why you love ESL Library and how you use it in your classroom? Tell us here.