Each video presents the evidence for each section. Each video has a table of contents in the beginning of it, for easier video navigation. Most of the pictures and video clips included in the videos have annotations to describe what the viewer is seeing.
1-Communication Abilities
1.1 ESL Teaching Online I have been an ESL teacher now for 3 years, this job requires a good amount of communication to teach students. Recently I have been teaching online and I have been able to record a few clips from my online teaching classes. Since I am literally teaching my students how to communicate in English, I use a variety of techniques.
1.2 Teaching Young Learners In China, I was teaching young learners (mainly ages 3-6, but some students came to us as young as 2 years old). This means I had to learn to communicate with kids through various interactive methods. Kids learn better through the teacher engaging their senses to have a fully immersive experience. We underwent a lot of training for child psychology and planned our lesson plans carefully, so the children could learn better through play. We also used large flashcards which the children could touch and see.
2-Teamwork and Leadership
2.1 Photos from my work in China When I was working in china, our whole job depended greatly on teamwork. We had a team of around 15 teaching staff at our work. We often did photoshoots and promotional videos. The videos and photos I have included shows the way we worked together in our school. We often sat together and brainstormed business strategies for the school.
2.2 Photos from Perriyaslav Artists Center, Ukraine My husband and I have been involved in working with an artists’ collective here in our small town in Ukraine. This is a shared space where everyone contributes financially and energetically to keep it running. Some people have different roles and interests in our collective, and we make everything work together. Anyone can come work in this space when they need to. Some participants are painters, some artisans, and my husband is doing English tutoring out of this space.
3-Information Gathering and Organization
3.1 Website Screen Captions I have off and on been working on a little website, dedicated to transcription of lectures by my spiritual master from India. Transcription means that I take videos or audio recordings and type them out, for people to read. I have done this already with a few classes. I have made this website to share it with others. It can often be difficult because sometimes, words are spoken in languages other than English. I have tried my best to present the transcribed classes in a clear format on the site.
3.2 Lesson Plan sheet from China In China, our bosses were adamant that we should write all our lesson plans out by hand, on paper. I had around 16 lessons per week, which meant that I had to write out 16 lesson plans every week by hand. I kept all these lesson plans and made a big folder. This folder has been used as a demo for new teachers, as to what they should be doing at work.
4-Problem Solving/Decision Making
4.1 Pictures of me with new baby Julia It was a very hard period of my life when I was young, alone, single and carrying a child. That was around 4 years ago. It was a long hard decision to carry her to term and then give her in adoption to some of my friends who were not able to have a child. It has been really nice to have an “open adoption”, which means I can receive pictures, and talk freely to the adoptive parents, even now. I still receive pictures of her often and talk to her parents as well. We communicate by email, which is really nice. They have their own life and I respect that, I don’t try to get involved. Overall, it was the best decision to give her up for adoption. She has a great life with loving parents.
4.2 Wedding/Married Life Photos It was a big decision to get married to someone living in a foreign land, and then come to live in that foreign land. I have been with my husband now since 2018. Of course, with living in a completely different culture, there are many difficulties and adjustments to make. There is constant problem solving needed on my part and the part of my new family here. For one, I cannot fluently speak the local language, and over here it can even be dangerous for foreigners. At this point, I am also around 7/8 months pregnant, so there are a lot of decisions to make about the delivery and baby as well. Since I am pregnant during this worldwide pandemic, the borders are closed, my visa is expired and I am not able to leave the country to renew it. There are often many complications when living abroad, which require good problem solving skills.
5-Numeracy
5.1 New Baby Spreadsheet We are expecting a new baby in one month from now. So I have created this spreadsheet to budget the cost and check off the main things we will need for the first year of her life. Many items are from AliExpress. This site is for Chinese merchants to sell their goods to the world. I really like this site because I like to price compare everything and get the best deal. AliExpress also ships very quickly and most items arrive efficiently within a few weeks, which is really fast seeing as they ship from the other side of the world. I also shop on a local Ukrainian app called Rozetka, which is similar to AliExpress, but it’s only available in Ukraine. I like online shopping because I can search for the best product for the best price from the comfort of my phone.
5.2 Managing money online One thing I have really learned over the years of travelling so much is how to deal with money online. I am greatly appreciative of apps such as Paypal, Alipay, and others. I live in a digital world of money. I currently make my money online and especially when living in China, I had to figure out ways to transfer money to Canada (it’s not easy to do from China). I also have some money as an investment in Bitcoin.
6-Critical and Creative Thinking
6.1 Love of Cooking At a certain point in my adult life, I could only make very simple dishes, and with difficulty. Being involved in the temple community helped me to properly learn how to prepare delicious meals. I love getting creative with my cooking and always trying new recipes. I consider this like another artform. Instead of enjoying with your eyes or ears, you can enjoy it with your tongue.
6.2 Artwork/Handicrafts Here are some pictures of artwork and handicrafts I have done over the past few years. Sometimes I work with acrylic/oil painting, other times; I work with clay or fabric to create interesting pieces of art or jewelry.
7-Independent Learning and Intellectual Maturity
7.1 Photos from Premaloka Center in Montreal I don’t have many photos from the time I spent living in an ashram environment. I think you could say I wasn’t focused on taking photos at that point of my life. I never thought I would leave that path- unfortunately my head mother/mentor passed away from cancer, and I was forced to accept that I should move on to new things in my life. Therefore I got married and I’m trying to work on getting my university degree now. The transition from ashram life to married and working life was not easy initially.
7.2 Singing of religious songs One thing which has been a pleasure to learn on my own has been devotional music. Much of this music, for me, comes from India. Many of the songs are written by saints in Bengali, Sanskrit or Hindi. I learn the tunes from friends, mentors, and also the internet sometimes. I have also been studying Bengali recently with a tutor. My initial effort was to learn the longest songs I could, as a challenge to myself. I think something which also really attracts me to this “foreign” religious path is my love of studying new languages.
8-Applied Knowledge and Skills
8.1 Translation Texts I have been studying French almost my whole life. I started in school when I was around 10 years old, but in the English Canadian school system, we don’t have much of an opportunity to become fluent. I was desperate to improve my French so I immersed myself in it by first moving to Montreal, then living in France for a few months. In France I translated this book “Skinhead Devenu Swami” a.k.a “The Skinhead Who Became a Swami”. With this I had to use my knowledge of French and also knowledge about my religious path to properly translate this book in to English.
8.2 ESL Certificates/Awards/Competitions I have participated in competitions in China for ESL teaching. I was in the annual “Speak Out” contest as part of working with ABIE China, and though I didn’t win, to participate was a big deal seeing as our center was very very small and in a 3rd rate city. To be accepted to participate in this competition, we had to submit a teaching video and be accepted by the judges.