Reflections on Twinkle

I arrived to Korea in late winter 2018 to work in Anyang, just outside of Seoul. In about a year’s time I was able to work my way up to middle management in one of the big-box English academies. The long and short of being: it was not cool or fun. Work often came home with me and professional and personal boundaries were blurred. Around 2020 Covid rolled around and beside it was a good excuse to leave Korea and go back to New York. 

Life in New York was not tremendously better than it had been in Anyang. My mother had moved out of Woodlawn to a sleepy little town in upstate New York with a population of about 9,000. Covid compounded the usual restrictions accompanying moving back in with my mother and I knew pretty quickly I would not be sticking around Port Jervis very long.

I was back in Korea by February 2021. This time to an even less cool and fun big-box academy where I was nickel and dimed and overworked. Believe me when I say there was no love lost when they and I agreed it was best we parted ways. Around this time I began chatting with a few hiring managers and all I can really say is that I consistently felt talked over and low-balled. This pattern, paired with knowing my contract was ending created a weird pressure to accept an offer I knew in my heart wasn’t really a square deal. I tried to walk back one offer and wound up scrapping the entire deal. That very night I interviewed for a position at Twinkle and here we are 4 years later. 

My mock lesson was about One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and the symbolism of McMurphy’s cap. This placed me firmly on the fiction side of the Twinkle ecosystem. Despite being primarily a fiction teacher I taught one nonfiction class and came to find it was the highlight of my week. When negotiations happened a year later I knew I’d be selling myself short if I didn’t ask to switch to teaching the nonfiction curriculum. Twinkle was surprisingly accommodating, even enthusiastic in supporting my request. Compared to my previous experiences in negotiations, this was a tremendous personal and professional win. 

Ultimately this transition proved to be quite fortuitous. A little less than one year into being a nonfiction teacher a new branch opened north of Seoul and another opening was in the works for Busan. This combination made me eligible for the head teacher position.

It being my second go-round at being head teacher was exciting and promising. Formerly I had been something of a pawn in the large educational industry. Twinkle offered a space to effect change and share a voice with the adults and students around me. These newfound freedoms and respect motivated me to make Twinkle the very best I could make it. My successes influenced the success of those around me. The successes of those around me influenced me to do even better still.

I don’t know if anyone loves their job every single day and I’m not here campaigning to convince anyone Twinkle is a paradise. Is it even a reasonable or realistic thing to ask for? But it is a place I have seen encourage eudaimonia unto its staff and students. What I can say is that Twinkle gave me room to grow and use my natural leadership abilities to make the world around us all a little better.

-Mr. Arthur