Teacher finds passion for teaching overseas

Wise County Messenger
Date: August 17, 2019
By: Austin Jackson 

TEACHER NICK – Paradise junior high teacher Nicholas Copeland taught English as a first language for the first time, Thursday. Copeland taught English in Taiwan the past 11 years. His students called him, “Teacher Nick.” Messenger Photo by Austin Jackson

For the first time in years, Nicholas Copeland didn’t have to fight through traffic on his way to work.

The only skyscraper he saw as he pulled into the parking lot of Paradise Junior High was a water tower. Only trucks grinding gravel, the distant moan of a tractor and disgruntled heifers broke the silence along his commute.

It was certainly a change of pace.

Copeland, who grew up in Bridgeport, has taught English for 11 years. But as students rushed from the hallways, settling into the desks of his new classroom, he was in uncharted territory.

Thursday was his first day teaching English as a first language.    [FULL  STORY]