Meet Jarin Tasnim Raisa

We recently connected with Jarin Tasnim Raisa and have shared our conversation below.

Jarin, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?

“Purpose-driven” this very word defines me. In my life, I set goals and work relentlessly to fulfill them. However, there are struggles in the path. Fortunately, those struggles could never take me away from my goal as once I set my mind to accomplish anything, I also measure the hindrances that I will have to overcome. Moreover, I am flexible to go through any situation. For instance, I spent an entire academic year in the U.S.A, as a teenager of 15, all by myself. I had to spend my time with 3 different host families of different cultures, and so many other people. In every single step, I had to overcome cultural difference to personality differences to come closer to their hearts.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

Currently I am working as a lecturer in English in a private university. The most exciting aspect of teaching is to be introduced with many different young minds. I come across these people who have diverse talents; therefore, I consider teaching more as a quality time spending rather than a profession for monetary gain.

During my office hour, whenever the students come, I can learn about their own unique stories: their ups and downs in life, their determination, their dream. In some cases, I also become a part of their journey in fulfilling their dreams.

Since I mostly teach English writing courses, I can see the gradual development of my students, which gives me a sense of accomplishment. Sometimes their portfolio work also shows me their inner struggle and psychological growth.

This teaching profession defines me as I always wanted to work in an educational setting, surrounded by young minds.

Although I have started my professional teaching from January 2024, I am involved in serving my community through teaching since 2016, which shows who I am as a person. Being the recipient of different U.S. Department grants, I have organized several English language projects in my home community in Bangladesh. My most recent and successful project has been “Take Initiative and Speak” organized in two phases in 2020 and 2021. More than 100 students of Dhaka University have been trained on spoken English, with 60% improvement, both by national and international trainers.

Before my project, there was a negative tendency among the students regarding English conversations in public places. However, after this project, I started observing a change. The trainees started conversing in English, which indirectly affected 500+ students.

This particular project boosted my confidence as I realized a very little spark can make a fire. Similarly, I organized English Teacher Training programs with high school teachers of my community, English workshop for local vendors in a tourist place and other different projects. All of these projects created a sense of belonging in me, which inspire me to flourish myself as a member of my community.

Because of my involvement in teaching arena for over 7 years, in 2023, I was selected as a trainer in Workshop for Youth Leaders in English Teaching, organized by American Councils. During my participation in a 7-day workshop in Washington D.C, I felt that I was worthy of being a role model for the young high school students from 30 different countries, who had dream for implementing English language projects in their own communities. I also realized that over the years, I developed my negotiation, communication and critical thinking skill, that I was able to use for communicating with the workshop trainees and American Council staffs. Additionally, since my expertise is in teaching English in real-life context, I took the trainees in American Council Kitchen and showed how to teach English related to cooking in a natural setting. This way, my passion for teaching received international exposure.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

“Just Do It,” this particular phrase is behind all of my achievements. If I look back, I can see myself as a young invigorating person who loved taking challenges. When I applied for K-L YES Program (A U.S. Department Cultural Exchange Program), I was a girl from small town who never set her foot alone outside her home town. However, that same girl took the courage to fly for the U.S.A, a completely unknown place to her. She did not only survive there, but reigned in the hearts of the people through her kindness, intelligence and hard work. She even had a great impact on a U.S. community in Tulsa, Oklahoma through 100-hour community services. Moreover, she was selected as “March Student of the Month” among all U.S. Department exchange year students, because of her extraordinary activities.

Beside my mindset of taking challenges, my open-mindset also became my strength for shaping the person who I am today. I have made friends across the globe. If anyone brings me a global map, I can set my finger at any of the place and name a friend with whom I can meet there. Having conversation with all of these different people, I learnt that diversity is the beauty. Since I can see through people, I do not come to any random conclusion, rather I try to see the entire picture of a person. This particular quality has increased negotiation and acceptance quality in me. Therefore, when I go to my class, I consider every single student as different individuals, which brings inclusivity in classroom.

However, I will consider persistence as my most important quality. In my first semester in university, I was struggling to cope up with academic study. As a result, I ranked seven in my class. Nevertheless, through my persistence, I topped on my class at the end of my bachelor. This journey was not easy as I had ups and downs both in terms of physical and mental health. It was my determination which motivated me to go forward.

Hey, young folk who are at the beginning of your journey, I would like to tell you:

Be bold in your steps and keep the mindset that your journey will be full of problems, but you have the potentiality to overcome all of them. If you keep going, you will reach your destination sooner or later.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

My international exposure at an early age has motivated me to involve in international collaboration. I have conducted English language projects in collaboration with U.S. Department alumna from Armenia, Ghana, Morocco, Tunisia and other countries.

Since I am a professional now, I am looking for doing international collaboration with professionals who would like to conduct research on changing language landscape in our current decade, which will serve the global academia.

If you are reading my story, and would like to collaborate, please contact me through: [email protected]

Contact Info:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/16Mzm64LMV/?mibextid=wwXIfr
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jarin-tasnim-raisa-836375115?trk=contact-info