In the beginning…
My ESL teaching journey began in 2007. I was living in Barcelona and had just lost my job in design due to “restructuring” when a friend suggested I contact a school that was looking for native speakers to teach English. I had no TEFL qualification but had taught art before and I got hired. Before I knew it I was teaching Business English to students at Torre Agbar (Glories), and at various companies in the city, plus working in a school in Premia de Mar teaching children. I did this for 2 years and then got offered a job where I didn’t have to travel so much (The constant commute was getting me down, and I yearned for a regular *“office” job). Fast forward to 2018 and I had lost that job (due to “restructuring” again!), so I decided it was time to do the inevitable; get TEFL qualified.
* whatever an “office” job means now!
An older student…
I did some research and got accepted on a CELTA programme, but in the end, I decided to follow a 190- hour TEFL Certificate programme at the Sagrada Familia training centre, in Barcelona. This was during August 2018 when most of the locals are on holiday, and the city is flooded with tourists. For me, it was the start of a month-long journey into everything an ESL teacher would ever need to know. This was one of the most intensive 4 weeks of my life! There was so much to learn, and as an “older” teacher in a class of mainly 20 somethings, it was fun to see how different everyone was and make the most of our short, but intense time together. The course taught me so much, and even though I’d taught before I realised I knew little about class management, TPR, peer to peer as examples.
It felt strange but good to get back into studying after 30 years away! The 190-hour TEFL Certificate course was one of the best things I have ever done. I highly recommend this course in Barcelona. After gaining the qualification and applying for jobs I saw just how much the market had changed since my first foray into teaching. Everywhere required a TEFL or CELTA, and usually at the very least a BA degree. The market was very competitive, but I was lucky because I got hired by two companies to teach Business and General English, and worked in-company in nice, well-equipped offices in Barcelona, and did my first streaming on-line classes from my home.
Carer and Covid…
In the summer of 2019, I decided to return to the Wirral, UK for a while. My contracts had ended and my mother (who has Alzheimer’s) was getting worse and wasn’t able to cope living on her own. The transition back to living at home has not been easy, especially considering that I have lived in different countries including Norway, the US, and now Spain for the last 24 years! I could have applied for an online teaching position last year, but I didn’t. I had bookmarked a company that I’d always wanted to apply to called Whales English, mainly because they were not looking exclusively for teachers with a US accent, like some other companies. But it wasn’t until this year (when Covid had transformed everything that we took for granted ) that I thought seriously about applying. Now that the “new classroom 2020” uses Zoom and similar platforms, it seemed like good timing for me to use my training. Plus my mum’s house has a very good internet connection, so a shame to waste it! Some things to mention, Whales English teach children from ages 3 to 18. They only hire native speakers from the UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand. Secondly, a TEFL/TESOL/CELTA is vital. Thirdly, a minimum BA degree is required. The more qualifications you have, especially if it’s in linguistics or teaching children, your value would go up.
I sent in my CV and maximised my experience of teaching children. I hadn’t taught them online (just adults), but I spoke about TPR, games, learning strategies etc. to demonstrate that I could teach children. I got through to the next round which is teaching a mock class. This does seem a little bit weird given that the interviewer is pretending to be a 7-year-old, but you just have to run with it and give a 10-minute mock class demo! (The lesson materials are provided). After that, I received confirmation that I’d passed and was offered a contract which I was very happy about.
I was assigned a TC (someone in the Beijing office that is your direct contact and can assist with anything, and also help you get hours based on what slots you want to work). Don’t forget that all the slots are in Beijing time, so when I work at 11:00-11:50 in UK time, it is really 19:00-19:50 in China. Each class is usually 50 minutes long, except for the beginners whose classes are a fun-packed 25 minutes!
I don’t have a spare room in my mum’s house for my “classroom”, so I made a classroom set up on the kitchen table. It is quite basic but functions well. It includes my laptop to run the platform from (a tablet won’t work), noise-reducing headphones, some books to elevate the laptop, a portable whiteboard, and any props you may need.
That’s basically it. A compact, portable, virtual classroom that can function from anywhere in the word with a decent internet connection. When I return to Barcelona I can work from my home too. The teaching platform is similar to Zoom (Whales English have their own), with annotation bar etc. and once you have practised a few times it is pretty easy. I was very worried the day before my first class, but everything went smoothly. One of the best things about Whales English is their supportive community. There is training to help you be a better teacher, and webinars to attend. Everyone really does help each other with advice and tips for the lessons. (The lesson plans are designed by Whales English in collaboration with National Geographic Learning, and Oxford Learning Tree). I would like to work more hours (at the moment my availability is 10 hours, so a bit more than the minimum requirement of 8 peak hours per week). But taking care of my mum is a full-time job and my main priority. I am extremely grateful to Whales English to give me the opportunity to work from home, with cute and clever students, in a world where teaching has changed from a close classroom environment, to not even having to be in the same time zone. It never ceases to amaze me!
If anyone is interested in applying to Whales English please use the referral link below, and I will be happy to help!
https://teacher.whalesenglish.com/employ/create?channel=referral&referred_by=teacher1005286
Christina Nicoll
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