Personal Statement on Motivation to Join a FLTA Program

I was eleven when I first entered an English classroom. I had some pressure at home, my mom had been an English teacher for some time in the past, and for her it was just as important as graduating High school. The language itself came easy to me, my classmates were not very nice, but I enjoyed learning and finishing tasks before anyone else. I fell in love with English, so I decided to make it my career. I have never written an admission essay, not even when I got to college to get my Teaching Certification, I can say I completed my studies in the four years I was supposed to, and I took and learned everything I could on those four years. Met incredible people that opened my mind, who became friends and much more than examples and mentors. But I feel that chapter of my life was finally concluded in November of 2017, so I decided it was time to pursue more.

I had the opportunity to meet and work with ETAs in my home country, I would spend hours just asking questions about their lives in the US, the education system, the universities they went to, their lives, family and adventures. From that, I decided to make it my goal to spend some time in an English-speaking country. I had already fallen in love with the language, I was an admirer of the American and British cultures, I watched American shows and movies, and read books from American authors. So, I began to dream with the college dorms from the movies, the traditional thanksgiving dinners and snowy winters.

When I first heard about the FLTA program, I knew it was for me, not only because of my teenage American dream, but because it included university courses and, most of all, because I would be able to share my own culture the way Americans had shared theirs with me, and for the first time I realized I had a lot to offer, too. I was born in a small town, in the north of Uruguay, just next to Brazil; because of that, I acquired Portuguese as a second language from the very beginning. The uniqueness of the two towns that mixed and created their own dialect (portuñol) helped me shape myself and realize how much I adored being able to communicate on both sides of the border.

I guess it is easy for me to define myself as a communicator, a language addict, one of the best students of my class at college. I found that it was easier to define myself by who I am professionally, the way I plan my lessons, the way I study and teach. My achievements motivated me, and even my failures did so, too. So, I defined myself as a teacher, my career and profession are the things that make me proud of myself.

I like to think of my life as a book, full of chapters I am still about to write. Being able to know other cultures is part of the goals I have for the future; and living in an English-speaking country at least for a while, would mean a dream come true. It is not where I want to stop, though. I plan on getting a master’s degree in the near future, too. There are not many options in my country, as I would like to study linguistics, English language and culture, or literature. I plan on finding options online or pursuing some sort of scholarship that helps me travel to a foreign country to complete my studies.

Finally, I could not feel more prepared to take this opportunity and make it the greatest experience of my life so far. I am ready to share everything I have learned and learn a lot more while making this dream of mine a reality. I consider myself a very organized person, I set my objectives and I pursue them every way I can. I expect to improve my English, immerse myself in the culture I have been fascinated by all my life, and keep studying, embracing the opportunity to take courses abroad and learn as much as I can, from the classrooms I step into, to the people that will come my way.