A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss

After eight and a half years, I taught my final day at the USC International Academy today. I am leaving USC to begin teaching at Kansai Gaidai University in Osaka, Japan for the University of North Texas.

Having come to the field of ESL later than many, I never experienced overseas teaching. Since I want to continue to focus on English for academic purposes, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to continue to focus on EAP in Japan.

My tenure at USC lasted longer than any other. I joined the International Academy in 2014 — a corrupt President, a pandemic, and an AI revolution later, a different man occupies the space I used to inhabit. Having taught and developed the level-7 academic skills class, I had grown comfortable. However, without a motivation to move into an administrative role, I have achieved as much as I can there without a change of environment, and I’m not resolved to my final act yet. So, the time has come to move on.

Unfortunately, the Japanese school year conflicts with that in the U.S., so I am leaving in the middle of a semester. And while it saddens me to leave students in medias res, such an example teaches lessons I do not regret bestowing — the preeminent pursuit of self-improvement — the subordinate role of relationship in service of said pursuit — the dynamic potential of disruption.

And so, begins another chapter …