Back in Taiwan, Jestina studied civic education and English literature and chose to move into language teaching through MA Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) at Bath.

Now based in Cardiff as a freelance language teacher for both Mandarin and English, she spoke to us about her time at Bath and her career since graduating in 2024.

Many roads can lead to teaching English

Civic education in Taiwan is a specific subject; it can include politics, economics, law and social studies, so it gives you quite a broad overview and outlook. For my second year, I decided to study English literature, and ultimately became interested in language teaching.

For my master’s, I definitely wanted to go to an English-speaking country, and the UK became my first choice as the master’s courses are typically only one year long. It didn’t take me long to settle on Bath when I started looking at photos of the city – it's just so beautiful. I didn’t want to study in a more crowded place like London and really liked the vibe in Bath. Studying abroad has always been my dream, and I realised that dream.

A welcoming community

The University, the teachers and people at Bath are really nice. I’m living in Cardiff now, but I love Bath so much that I usually go back once a month. I ended up recommending Bath to some of my Taiwanese friends who were also thinking about doing the TESOL course, and one of them is there right now!

When I did the course, there were lots of other students from countries like China, Thailand, Japan and Taiwan, but also the UK, United States and Uruguay. You don’t need to have teaching experience beforehand, and for lots of us it was a great way to change career paths.

Learning and teaching

Coming from English literature, the language teaching side of things was new to me as well. As an English learner myself, it was also a good way to examine my own learning experience. On the course, you’ll often start with lectures and then follow up with seminars in the afternoon, so you both input and output at the same time.

In the second semester, we were able to visit a primary school to help with an art project. It was a really good experience to look at the education culture in the UK and compare it with our own systems in different countries.

Building a career

After I finished my dissertation, I spent three months completing my CELTA certificate, which is the actual qualification that you need for teaching English. Since then, I’ve been teaching English online through a Taiwanese platform, and also occasionally Mandarin to British students – and currently also one from Brazil! I usually offer 1-to-1 tutoring, and I run a small group class as well, mostly for adult learners.

For now, I’m on a graduate visa and living in Cardiff; it really felt like one year is too short to experience British culture properly, so I wanted to stay on after I finished the course. The degree definitely helped me start my teaching career, and the only thing I miss at the moment is a bit more sunshine!

My advice for future students

Even if you’re not 100% sure yet that a teaching job is what you want to do in the future, go for it. It helps you examine your own English learning journey and how to learn languages with a positive mindset.