Hello,

My name is Jace Briand. I was born and raised in multiple northern British Columbian
communities. I have also lived internationally for a number of years in Belgium, China, Italy, and
Malaysia, and I speak two other languages: French and Italian. My experience traveling started when I
was in secondary school and the first country I lived abroad in, Belgium, was as an exchange student
through Rotary International. Since this time one of my favourite hobbies has been traveling. Other
hobbies of mine include snowboarding and mountain biking – which were extra-curricular sports teams I
joined in one of my schools – but also rock climbing, backpacking, as well as reading and writing. I am
currently in the process of writing my own fantasy novel! The process has been slow, but I have a lot of
support from my wife and friends.

I had a very rough relationship with school at a few points in my life, but they were never
sustained. I was bullied a lot in elementary school but moving to so many new secondary schools helped
me gain a confidence in myself that allowed me to excel in the last few years of school. I gravitated
towards Social Studies and English but had natural talents in P.E. and secondary languages. Math and
Science were subjects I really had to work hard at to learn. Throughout school I had opportunities to
tutor my younger peers, and this was something that I found I really enjoyed. In grade 12 I took a 120+
hour online course in teaching English as a second/foreign language and upon graduating I taught
English in China for almost half a year. When I returned home to Canada, I got a job working for my old
school district as an EA. In northern B.C. EAs are resources that are hard to come by, particularly ones
that speak French. I got a lot of work split between French immersion classes and children who had
developmental disabilities. Later, I moved to Italy for two years where I also did a bit of teaching English,
this time to adults. Since starting university, I have worked as a Disability Support Worker for Quest
Support Services in Lethbridge. While I have a couple of years experience as an EA I never did Ed 2500.

I’m excited to teach because think I can bring inspiration and wonder into the classroom.
Teachers were some of the people who inspired me to travel and explore the world, and traveling has
taught me more than school ever could have. I want to inspire students to take their learning into their
own hands and continue to be life-long learners outside of the classroom.

Something that I look forward to learning during teaching is who my students are as individuals
and how I can connect them to their learning in a personal way. I look forward to learning what kind of
teacher the students both want and need, and then striving to be that.

Jace Briand