My name is Dwayne Runke. I come from a small farming community in southeastern Manitoba, Canada where the winters are extremely cold and summers very hot. Like many young boys in Canada, I played hockey while growing up and my favorite hockey team was the Winnipeg Jets.

After completing my high school, I did undergraduate and graduate degrees in psychology.  Following university, I was employed as a psychometrician and taught college part time. 

I enjoyed teaching so much that I decided to do it full time and that is how I became an English teacher.  

For my first job teaching English, I flew to the other side of the globe and taught kindergarten and elementary students in South Korea for three years.  After South Korea, I moved to Shanghai to teach middle and high school students at an international school. 

In Shanghai, I taught English to better prepare students to continue their high school abroad in Canada and USA and eventually go on to pursue their education in universities in those countries.  

Although my time in Shanghai was fulfilling, I decided to join JESIE because their schools were in smaller cities.  Another factor that weighed into my decision to join JESIE was their highly organized and supportive team.

They were welcoming from the very first conversation I had with their recruiter and they answered any questions that I had before I decided to join their organization.  I feel I made the right choice and now I am in my fourth-year teaching in China. 

I have met many wonderful students and friendly people while living here and I look forward to many more new experiences that lay ahead.