Global ACES – Kyle Clark, English First

Name: Kyle Clark was a Mathematics, Management Information Systems and Entrepreneurship major who graduated in December 2018. He now works for English First in Shanghai, China. 

Why did you choose to work for your company?

While at the University of Arizona, I spent a year as a math tutor and enjoyed teaching a lot. I also participated in an internship abroad through Eller one summer where I went to Hong Kong and I absolutely loved the experience. It made me want to live and work abroad again after graduation, which is why I looked into, jobs in Shanghai.

Tell us about your job responsibilities and title –

I am an English Teacher and teach kids ages 3-8. I have a few different classes each day where I work with kids on learning English as a second language. There are also a few other responsibilities such as life clubs which are fun activities outside the classroom. The kids are all fun to work with and make my days exciting.

What do you enjoy most about working at your company?

I really enjoy the community culture at my company. One of my weekends, I went to visit an ancient water town in Shanghai with the Hiking Society. Another night one of my coworkers organized karaoke with me and other teachers at my school. In addition, this summer there was a party for all the teachers in Shanghai at English First. It makes it very easy to make the transition of living in a foreign country since it helps you connect with your coworkers and find things to do.

Please share a fun Eller memory.

I really enjoyed the case competitions and working on those is something that was very rewarding. I can still remember all the different times I would be working in the PDC with a group of other Eller students trying to perfect our case, and then after you would present you would have a great sense of accomplishment and pride. As I think back to each one I can definitely see how much I grew each year as my case competition quality improved.

What advice to you have for Eller students seeking a similar career path?

If you are interested in experiencing life and a career abroad I would definitely recommend partaking in the internship abroad program through Eller. It was one of the best summers of my life and it definitely helped me pursue working abroad after graduation. I met tons of cool people from both Eller and around the world that summer and made memories that were amazing. Everyone else that was involved also loved it, and I cannot think of anyone that regretted choosing to do it.