What inspired you to work for The TEFL Academy?
The opportunity to use my skill set to help people teach around the world is very rewarding and a huge reason why I decided to take up a role at The TEFL Academy.
What is your favorite part of your job?
Finding people who TEFL really works for and after completion, watching them explore parts of the world while keeping us updated on their travels. Now we seek to reward and offer advice for students that choose to stay in touch.
Tough Mudder England
How do you use your education and international background in your current role?
I come from another country and my education is primarily business meaning I try to always understand how we can provide value in a competitive market. Also, I try and understand that everyone is different. We try to make our courses as simple as possible (two choices) and allow our support to be layered depending on each student's needs.
What challenges do you often face and how do you overcome them?
It is hard to explain why our course is more expensive than other TEFL's in the market. It's largely because we are certified by two governing bodies: the UK and U.S., whereas some providers aren't certified and when pressed, usually provide huge difficulties with job recruits and visa entry.
What advice would you tell your pre-travel self?
I would tell myself to be organized, the more you prepare, the more you will save in your pocket! Being organized leads to more activities, places, and adventures to have on your travels and that's a large part of traveling.
What makes The TEFL Academy special?
What makes our organization special is the staff, our policy is to be as helpful as possible and it really shows in our reviews. We offer support for all aspects of travel, not just the course. We even provide support to students who purchased competitor courses just because we enjoy giving value and help when it's needed. That's why we continue to be such a respected authority in our industry.
Why should someone choose your organization over competitors?
Students should choose The TEFL Academy because we are certified by two governing bodies, the UK and the U.S. Meaning our students are purchasing the most qualified and widely recognised TEFL in the world. It's the sole reason why we are a market leader, we provide the best chance of getting a role post completion from a qualification point of view.
What hopes do you have for the future of The TEFL Academy?
I hope to move towards providing more of a 360 business model and helping our students more, mainly post-course completion. I hope to provide more value in areas like job placement, flights, accommodation, and communities to meet on arrival.
What do you hope participants take away from your programs?
Apart from the certificate itself, we always want our participants to take away confidence. Teaching requires you to be an academic, which for native English speakers is very natural, but also the confidence to stand up in front of a class and feel comfortable with what you are teaching. As a result, our course is really built to develop confidence.
Why is it important for people to travel abroad and experience new cultures?
The saying "travel broadens the mind" is widely used for a reason. Everyone would answer this differently but I'd say it's important to travel and experience new culture because it rounds you as a person. The most amazing thing I’ve found around the world is how friendly everyone is. They want you to experience their culture and they want to learn about yours. As a result, you start developing as a person and seeing things in a different way.
Marathon Day
What advice do you have for individuals thinking about going abroad?
Do it! If you are worried about travelling alone or travelling in general, really don't be. If you are travelling the tourist trail, there's a lot of support and people to meet along the way. Plus, with modern technology, there are so many ways to communicate with the other side of the world.
What does meaningful travel mean to you?
Meaningful travel for me is to contribute to the society or communities you attend. TEFL is a great way of doing this because you are helping and influencing people to better themselves. Which is an amazing thing to do. Aside from that, just bringing great energy and never failing to be polite along the way is another example of how to travel meaningfully.
What hopes do you have for the future of international education?
I hope to see a more educated world and as a result more opportunities around the world. An educated population can innovate and help develop a world where we have some real global factors to consider and find solutions for. We also have a responsibility to provide everyone in the world a platform to learn and chase dreams they may have.
What qualities in program & host community relations are important to you and The TEFL Academy?
I'm proud to be leading a program which brings together so many wonderful people. The fact that we give them the opportunity to travel to countries less fortunate than their own and help children and students learn English is very important to me. English is the business language of the world, especially now with coding. So to indirectly be giving children and students opportunities to learn English is the most important thing the TEFL academy can do.
