Meet Our Miami Teachers

Patrick McNichol

After graduating with a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, Patrick McNichol wanted to see a different corner of the world. He found a job teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) in Korea.

"There were a lot of opportunities in Korea," Patrick says. "I wanted to go someplace that was very different from any place that I've ever been and Korea offered the most money, the most flexibility, and was the best offer in Asia for teaching." He spent 15 months in teaching in Daegu, Korea's third largest city.

Patrick's stay in Korea made him realize how much he enjoyed working with people from different cultures. He also realized how difficult it can be to learn a language in another country. "I lived in a foreign country where I couldn't speak the language and there were a lot of people who helped me," he observes. "So it feels natural that I would help people in the same situation in my home country."

Patrick taught Levels 1 through 4 at Rennert Miami. His students came from Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Holland and Japan. He liked teaching on the campus of St. Thomas University, where Rennert Miami's language school is located. "St. Thomas as a campus is very comfortable," he says. "It is a nice pleasant area that is focused on the outdoors, going outdoors for breaks and sometimes having a class outside. It is also a very green campus and it was nice to have the students living at the school they were on time more often and they could run and get something if they needed it."

It is also a relaxed environment where English teachers can focus on the special needs of their students. Based on student interests I could make a very special lesson plan," Patrick says. "For example, I was teaching a Brazilian woman who had a catering business. She was learning English to help in her business. With her I had a lot of focus on food and food preparation and describing how to prepare a dish and how it would be served."

Asian students who are seeking a true immersion experience benefit because there are so many South American students at Rennert Miami. "It's great for Asian students," Patrick says. "The worse thing could happen would to be in a class where everybody in class all comes from the same country; all the cultural inhibitions come back." he adds. "With classes in Miami there is a lot of natural spontaneous conversation from everybody, not only because of the variety of students, but because Japanese students in Miami are more outgoing than in other cities. It's not necessarily because of their personalities but because of the diverse atmosphere."

Patrick's career as an ESL teacher has opened up a whole new world for him. "I like meeting people who are different from myself, and who are not so different from myself as well," he says.