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[00:00.63] Jeremy: So Abidemi, you were a teacher at one time but now you’ve gone back to school.

[00:04.88] Can you tell me what that’s like?

[00:06.88] Abidemi: Well, Jeremy, I think it’s great.

[00:09.88] I think it’s awesome to be able to go back and play the role of a student after being a teacher for a few years.

[00:19.13] I’m actually loving it. I really enjoy learning.

[00:22.63] So that aspect of it is great. I love the fact that I have less responsibility as a student now, whereas before, as a teacher, I had the full pressure of all the students on me.

[00:34.38] If I had 30 students, that means 30 times as much pressure or so it felt like. But now, I just have to concern myself with only me.

[00:43.88] So that aspect I love.

[00:45.63] Jeremy: Is there anything you miss about being a teacher?

[00:47.88] Abidemi: Maybe, yeah. I miss standing in front of a whole bunch of people and getting to teach them something that they don’t know about, share my own opinions and lead discussions.

[01:01.88] I really miss that. And getting to know each of my students in a different way, I miss that. So yeah, for sure.

[01:11.13] Jeremy: Do you think you have a new appreciation of being a student now that you didn’t have before you became a teacher?

[01:18.38] Abidemi: Yes, definitely. Definitely. I wished I had been able to go back to be a student a long—way before this time.

[01:25.88] And I would love for every teacher to go back and become a student because personally, I think I was very strict as a teacher before. Some of students said it but I didn’t realize.

[01:38.38] I didn’t understand how but maybe I did give away too much homework and expected way too much.

[01:44.13] So now, if I had to go back, I would, yeah, be more lenient, I think.

[01:48.38] Jeremy: So you think becoming a student again has made you, maybe, into a better teacher.

[01:52.38] Abidemi: For sure, definitely, definitely. It’s made me appreciate what my students do a lot more.

[01:58.63] Jeremy: So do you have any desire to become a teacher again after you finish your degree?

[02:02.88] Abidemi: Yes, I do. Yes, I do. I would love to go back into the classroom as a teacher, whether it’d be to teach English or teach something else.

[02:10.88] I enjoyed that role a lot, so I look forward to it.

[02:14.88] Jeremy: Yeah, I can say that I had a very similar experience. I was a teacher after I graduated my undergraduate, and I taught for a year in Korea.

[02:24.88] And just that experience really made me appreciate how much freedom you have as a student but also how much motivation you have to push yourself forward. How it has to be up to you to do it.

[02:39.13] You know, you don’t have anybody else breathing down your neck to do stuff.

[02:44.13] So I really found my second go as being a student was much, much more successful than my first go because I enjoyed being in the classroom.

[02:51.63] I didn’t feel I had to be in the classroom. So yeah, I’d like being a teacher made me a much better student.

[02:58.13] And being a student for many, many years, my graduate degree also made me a much better teacher, I think.

[03:05.13] Abidemi: That’s great.

[03:05.88] Jeremy: Yeah.

[00:00.00] Abidemi: That’s great.