1. A New Job in TEFL/TESOL.

I became an English Language Coach this year.

Cartoon image of a 45-year-old woman with a grey-streaked brown ponytail. She has green eyes. She is smiling and working on her laptop.

A New Role: Coaching and Tutoring English to Speakers of Other Languages.

I officially have a new career at 45. I’m starting all over again, and I think I have about enough working years left in me to actually make a go of it.

I’m leaving behind my past life as a dog behaviourist, which I have been for many years, due to some ill health and a few financial issues, and am settling into life behind my laptop screen.

Ideally, I would have loved to have been a full-time writer, but despite a book and numerous blogs, it never came about. So, I’m blogging for fun and using my experience with language to teach others online to ramble away in English, too.

Preply.

I’ve been plugging away on Preply since January. At first, it was a means to an end. A way to earn a few quid from home, while I wait for an operation. But then I found I really quite enjoyed it, and as much as I love teaching dogs, I have a new passion for teaching humans.

I’m not daft enough to put all my eggs in one basket, especially on a website as saturated as Preply, so I have started to put the bare bones of a self-employed business together. I even created a website of my own to make it official. I’m taking on private students as well as those who find me through Preply, so if you need help, let me know by clicking the button at the end of this newsletter.

Preply seems to have a bit of a bad reputation, which isn’t helped by some of the tutors who slag it off constantly on the likes of Reddit, but actually, I’ve found it to be a very welcoming place.

Provided you stick to their rules, and understand they are running a business and therefore make decisions that suit their business (and not always to the joy of their tutors), it is a pretty easy place to be.

You set up your profile and add any relevant qualifications. Set your own hours, your own rates, and your own teaching preferences regarding what kind of students you wish to teach. Work your way through their academy and in-house certification, then wait for students to notice you and book a trial.

Sure, trials are not paid (at least, YOU do not get paid), and commission is high (going from 33% down to 18% as you gain teaching hours), but you earn almost immediately and as far as jobs go, sitting at a laptop chatting to people all over the world is not too terrible at all.

The Difficult Bit.

The scariest thing I’ve found is the sudden realisation that native English speakers use grammar naturally, but unless we go to college, we are not taught grammar.

Like most English speakers, this little factoid never occurred to me until it was too late and I was knee deep in a conversation, trying to explain to a Korean about using Zero, First, Second and Third Conditionals. Or the time I was asked when to add a second consonant when spelling verbs (such as running, putting, and stopping) and when not to bother or to do something completely different (typing, drawing, eating).

I completed a 200-hour, Level 5 TEFL/TESOL Diploma, which gave me a better idea of what I’m doing and what I still need to do. To skill up further, I’ve applied and been accepted for a CELTA course at Cambridge next year to give myself even more grey hairs.

And of course, I’m going back to my old love of writing, to document the process.