What’s your role?
I’m an International Online English teacher, based in the UK, with the EF Teach Online adult team.
Tell us about your job:
I work for EF (Education First), which is an International Swedish education company that specialises in language travel, educational travel, professionally recognised academic degree programs and cultural exchanges. As an online English teacher, I work in the adult department online helping thousands of adults from all nationalities and backgrounds across the world achieve their dream of learning and speaking English.
As an online English teacher, I also use my bilingual skills to help those learning English, those who require more practice and those who need it for work or academic studies to pursue their passion.
How did your French degree help you get there?
I studied French at The University of Chester because I fell in love with the language and culture. Also, I have an appreciation of French wine and food. However, from a young age I was also fascinated by the Spanish language and culture. I have always had a love of travel, trying different foods and wines, reading books and most importantly, meeting and conversing with people from all backgrounds and nationalities. I worked with kids in Spain but after losing my job there, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I was very fortunate to find an online teaching job with EF and I discovered something I enjoyed even more - working with adults.
In addition, I also use my bilingual skills to help adults from both French and Spanish speaking countries achieve their dream of learning English. I have worked with people from many varied backgrounds, diplomats, military personnel, civil servants, to those who need to learn English for their jobs and those who wish to live in English-speaking countries. I use my Spanish skills when I work with those across South America and within Spain. I love it and if anything, my job has become a joy, not work.
If there is anything I have learnt, it’s how fortunate I am to have English as my mother tongue and to be able to educate others in this language. Not only do they learn from me but, working with people from Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe, I learn from them every day too.
Do you have any funny stories from working online with adults across the world?
Yes, I have loads. My students make me laugh every day. But one which stands out for me the most was when I was doing a group lesson on the international server. I was working with students from Russia, Japan, Italy, Brazil and China. I paired them up to do an exercise on organising an office party, where they had to talk in English about how they would organise it and what supplies they would need.
My student from China, Jessica, was ‘Student A’ and my student from Russia, Alexsi, was ‘Student B’. However, Jessica misunderstood his name and when they started, she (Jessica) said, ‘Hello, Epilepsy are you there?’ to which my student in Russia, said, ‘No, Jessica, my name is not Epilepsy, it is Alexsi’, to which we all burst out laughing... and then he said, ‘So what would we need for an office party?’ and she said, ‘Oh, well we’d need snakes’ to which he said, ‘Snakes?’ why would we have snakes at an office party? Do you mean as pets?’ and she said, ‘No Alexsi, snacks!! Not snakes...’ and again we all ended up laughing! Every day is an adventure at EF and it’s just another aspect I love about working with them!
What are your plans for the future?
I hope to move abroad and continue my love for teaching. I also plan on furthering my education so that I can develop skills to advance my career. Finally, I love that in the midst of a global pandemic, I get to reach out to people of over the world with different jobs, languages, backgrounds, nationalities and help them improve their English skills every day.
In the words of Nelson Mandela, ‘Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world...’ and I plan to do everything I can to help those who wish to succeed, achieve their dreams.