After hearing his brother’s enthusiasm and passion while he was teaching English in Japan, Luke Roblesky, BSc ’24, BEd ‘25, was intrigued. He found a program in Thailand that offered a Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) certificate and job opportunities upon completion.
“It was four weeks of TEFL training,” says Roblesky with a smile. “Compared to the BEd, it was such a light brush on teaching. Very basic strategies on how to teach English to language learners.”
While initially Roblesky had anticipated the experience to be a working holiday, he found a shift in his perspective a couple months into teaching at a middle school.
“As the time went on, I realized I really enjoyed teaching,” he says. “I enjoyed the whole experience.”
After teaching in Thailand for two years, he decided to come back to Canada to further his education and pursue another field – Computer Science.
“I wasn’t set on going into teaching,” he says. “When I came back to Canada I was torn between teaching and working in the technology field. I had friends pursuing their Computer Science major at UBCO and decided to apply as well.”
He was two years into his degree, and in the thick of a heavy class load as well as an internship position, when he began to reflect on what would be next.
“I couldn’t see myself sitting in front of a computer for the rest of my life as my full-time career. The internship was a great experience, but I realized I missed the interactions that teaching had provided.”
Roblesky adds that his path towards becoming a teacher may have taken longer than he had planned.
“I’ve had conversations with peers who have had all kinds of different jobs that then found their own unique path to teaching, and I think when you take a longer path to get there, you bring a lot of valuable experience and ideas with you to the classroom.”
For individuals who may be interested in pursuing teaching as a new career, Roblesky recommends gaining different types of volunteer experiences and following the advice his field advisor once shared: always “be curious.” For example, if you have volunteered in a high-school math class, try exploring opportunities at the middle school level, or even look into programs outside the classroom setting.
In what could be seen as a full circle moment, Roblesky completed his final practicum experience in a middle school.
“When I set out to become a teacher, I thought I would be teaching math, science or computer science,” he says. “I never thought that I would teach inquiry-based social studies, or lead a drama station on a school field trip. It’s been a good experience for me to stretch and press myself beyond what I thought I would be doing.”