This is me teaching a class in one of the TESOL courses I took – Toronto/Canada
Hello there! Welcome back to my blog, the place where you, English learner, can practice your reading skills.
Today, I’m going to tell you about how I became an English teacher. So, GRAB your notebook and your pen to take your notes of the new vocabulary, and get ready!. 😉
(HEADS UP: I’ve written the vocabulary that I think that might be new to you in CAPITAL LETTERS, and I’ve included a glossary with that vocabulary in English and in Portuguese at the end of this article)
High School
I’ll start by talking about HIGH SCHOOL. High school is the moment in our lives when we ARE SUPPOSED TO decide what we want to do for the rest of our lives, right? And while I saw some of my friends already having an idea of what they wanted to do and already deciding on which courses they wanted to do in university, I HAD NO CLUE WHATSOEVER. The only thing I knew was that I liked English very much because I was doing a course. I had been doing a course for four years.
I think I had an idea that maybe I’d like to do something related to English. THAT WAS ALL. So, when I finished high school, I decided to TAKE A BREAK and not continue with my formal studies, just continue with my English course and have a job for the first time in my life.
My first experience teaching English
So I APPLIED FOR A JOB at a COMPUTER TRAINING SCHOOL in a neighborhood not very far from my house, and I started working there at 18 years old. It was all okay. I was having fun there. Everything was very new to me. And after working there for one year, I think, the school started offering English courses, survival English courses.
And my boss, who knew that I could speak English well, soon offered me the opportunity to get a group and teach English for the first time in my life. I remember very well the moment when he came to my office and talked to me about that. I remember how THRILLED I felt at the opportunity of really using my English professionally somehow.
So I got a group for myself, and without any training, I started teaching survival English. I remember the group had around six students, and they were all of mixed ages. There were elderly students, there were students in their thirties, forties, and even teenagers.
And as a first experience, it was very DAUNTING. I felt quite UNEASY in front of the class, especially because I was a very shy person. I continue to be a very shy person, FOR THE RECORD. I can PRETEND very well that I’m not shy, but I am. And I was still learning how to DEAL WITH that SHYNESS. But they were really friendly to me and they EMBRACED me.
They knew that that was my first opportunity teaching English. And, yeah, they were great students. And I KEEP THOSE MEMORIES from my first group very DEAR TO MY HEART.
How I decided what to study in university
So, at that time, there was another teacher teaching other groups in that school. An English teacher. And in our breaks, we USED TO talk. And I remember one conversation that we had in which she told me that she had just GRADUATED FROM university, that she had studied Translation and Interpretation at a certain university, and that she was very pleased with the course.
And I told her that I was not sure what to study in university, but that I loved English. I also said that I was having a great time teaching that group. And she recommended that I do the same course. She said that the course would prepare me for a number of jobs, because there are so many jobs in which you can use your English. She said that if I studied Translation and Interpretation, I could be a translator, I could be an interpreter, I could be a PROOFREADER, I could be an English teacher, and I could have other careers in which I could use my English.
I remember coming back home and talking to my mom about this conversation that I had had with that colleague and how excited I was about this idea of studying English in university and being able to use English in any CAREER THAT I MIGHT DECIDE TO PURSUE. And ALTHOUGH I felt quite uneasy about the idea of pursuing an English teaching career because, as I told you, I was a very shy person, and just the idea of teaching in schools to big groups of people really kind of scared me, I felt like that course would give me the chance of doing that in case I wanted to do that in the future, besides all the other FIELDS, all the other careers that I could pursue.
Me and one of the closest friends I made in university
So I decided to study Translation and Interpretation. I ENROLLED IN the same course at the same university where my colleague had studied, and I enjoyed the course very much. AS TIME WENT BY and I DELVED DEEPER AND DEEPER INTO the field of translation and interpretation, I could see myself more AS A TRANSLATOR than as a teacher.
So I put the idea of being a teacher behind me. But at the beginning of THE SECOND TERM, my English PROFESSOR at university called me and invited me to be a monitor for the online English course that the university was offering all its students. I liked the idea of being a monitor there, and also, I would get a 50% discount in my course if I did so. So, from the second term until…how long was that for? I think it was for six months, maybe one term or two terms. I don’t remember very well.
So, I worked as a monitor for the university, and it was very, very fun. By that time I had already registered at an INTERNSHIP website to get my first opportunity as an intern in my field.
The first time I was hired to teach English
And by the beginning of the third term, I was invited for an interview at Cultura Inglesa, a very well-known school in São Paulo, and I LANDED A JOB there as a pedagogical assistant. And one of my responsibilities there was to teach a few classes.
Me, working at Cultura Inglesa English-language school
I remember that I had around three groups per term. I would teach adults, teenagers and children, and all those ideas about being an English teacher came back to me.
Because of that opportunity, at the end of my two year internship program at Cultura Inglesa, I was invited to become a permanent teacher there. And that made me so, so happy. But, as I was in the last term at university and I had to PUT IN a lot of hours to study and write my FINAL PAPER, I felt like I wouldn’t be able to JUGGLE having a big number of groups in that language school and also putting in all the hours of study that I had to to write my final paper at the same time.
After a lot of thinking, I decided to DECLINE THE INVITATION and really focus on writing my final paper. For one semester, for one whole term, I didn’t work, I just studied. And I read a lot to write my final paper.
THANKFULLY, I had the help of my mother who supported me in university during that time. At the end of the course, I HANDED IN my final paper to my professor and she really liked it. She suggested that I apply for publishing it in a University of Sao Paulo journal for translation. And I DID SO, and to my surprise, it was accepted and it was published. And it made me so proud of my work.
I’d never thought that something that I could create, something that I could write, would be publishing material for an USP JOURNAL. That made me REALIZE that I could do the same things that the people who study at USP or at any other of those WELL-KNOWN universities can do.
BY THE WAY, just a parenthesis here. Since I published my paper in that journal, a number of other papers have been written and they have my study mentioned in them. And when I realized it, I was so, so thrilled, so excited. So, since I realized that that was happening, around twice a year, I check my name online to see how many more papers are mentioning my study.
If you want to check it out, here is the link to it.
Did I ever work as a translator or as an interpreter?
My classmates and I at the graduation ceremony
I graduated from university at the end of 2013, and because I had spent so much time studying to be a translator and an interpreter, I decided to GIVE working as a translator A TRY. So, I decided to apply for translating jobs at a number of translation agencies and I got called by a big translation agency for an interview, and I landed the job and started working there..
And SHORTLY AFTER starting working there, I realized that I was not made for that. I didn’t like being in front of a computer all the time just working with papers. I really missed the interaction with people. So, I tried to do it for almost one year, and then I couldn’t do it anymore. I couldn’t BEAR it anymore, and I decided to QUIT THE JOB.
I finally understood what career I should pursue
And that’s when I started teaching English as a SELF-EMPLOYED teacher. BACK THEN, I would see my students in person in different places. I would teach them in my house, I would teach them in their houses, in a library, and in companies. I was always traveling around, and by the end of my working days, I was so exhausted.
So, although I loved that job, I loved teaching English, I loved being around people, A.K.A. my students, that routine was really DRAINING all the energy I had. But one day, a student of mine totally changed my life because she was moving to Portugal, and she asked me if I could teach her online when she was already in Portugal.
And that’s what made me think about that. Like, “yeah, I think I can do that”. So, I migrated my classes from in-person classes to the online environment for that student, and I liked it. And it was so much easier for me that I decided to migrate all my other classes to the online environment. And since then, I haven’t taught in person anymore. I’ve always been teaching online.
This is one of the advertisements I started making to get more students
So, Luiza, if you’re reading this article, I’M very GRATEFUL TO you FOR opening my eyes to that opportunity.
What I like most about teaching English is the interaction I have with my students. It’s the conversations that we have. We talk about so many things! I GET TO know their points of view about different ISSUES, different things. I learn a lot from them, and at the same time, I have a feeling of doing something important. I have a feeling that I can help them ACHIEVE THEIR GOALS with what I can offer them.
And that’s what made me realize that being an English teacher is really something that gives me pleasure in life and is the career that I should pursue. AFTER A WHILE, I started investing in my education more to become a professional English teacher.
Now, I’ve done a number of things. I’ve done a few courses and I’ve obtained a few certificates, both in Brazil and ABROAD. And this whole process has been very ENJOYABLE. And I keep studying. I have never stopped studying, and I never will.
So, this is my story of how I became an English teacher. It’s been a long time already since my first experience. I had my first experience when I was 19 years old, I think. And now I am 32 years old, or 33…..Yeah, I’m 33! I can never register that! Haha
Final considerations
This is the end of this article. I hope you liked reading it and learned a lot of new words and expressions! If you want, you can leave a comment below.
If you want to practice your listening skills by listening to me talk about this same story, you can do it by watching a video I recorded for Youtube (click here to watch it), or by listening to that same video on your favorite podcast player (look for Eliana Capiotto – Prática de Listening)
See you in the next article! Bye bye!
Eliana Capiotto
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