What is your favorite travel memory?
I would have to say my travels in South Africa are some of the best experiences that I have had. As I have family there, I’ve probably been around 12 times now! Cape Town is quite possibly my favourite place in the world, so any memory there is a good one.
I think my top memory would have to be from my most recent stay there. It was my first time not staying with family and living there by myself, and I had to go out and meet new people. I found an incredible meet up group that was focused on deep conversations – skipping the awkward part of meeting people for the first time. It obviously worked, as the next day I had an invitation to go to a hidden cave on Chapmans Peak Drive. Known as one of the most beautiful roads in the world, how could I say no! We found the cave and ended up watching the most beautiful sunset, with sky turning pink and yellow and the sun slowly disappearing into the sea. A local friend that had been to the cave before said that it was the best sunset he had seen there – so I obviously got lucky!
Another top memory from South Africa is definitely Kruger. I have been lucky enough to go on safari there twice, and it never disappoints. Being able to see the Big 5 up close is such a surreal experience, paired with some of the most incredible scenery. A highlight was going with a friend who spoke the same language as the guide, and getting an extra hour of safari for free by ourselves, as he was so excited to be able to speak his local language at work. Traveling with local friends always brings out the best experiences!
How have you changed/grown since working for your current company?
I haven’t been at the company for long, but I’ve definitely seen some growth already. I’ve become a lot more aware of what my strengths are, and how I can use them to benefit both myself and the company. Having Arnold (Director at Impact Teaching) let me implement any ideas that I have on the technical side of everything has really helped me to develop more confidence in what I do, and will definitely help me in this company, and in whatever else I end up doing.
I have also become more self-assured. No two days are ever the same in this job, and sometimes we have issues that need to be dealt with quickly, like something that needs to be fixed urgently on the website or a last-minute applicant that needs a school in a week. Through my work at the company, I have found that not only do I have the skills to deal with these types of issues, but also, it turns out that I do some of my best work with a bit of extra added pressure.
In terms of changes, I think that they came during my time in China. I moved when I was 22 and left when I was 28, and as anyone that has lived abroad before knows, it forces you to grow up quickly! I never had a job outside of being a sports coach at home, so being thrown into teaching English in a classroom setting was a big step. Suddenly you have the responsibilities of living by yourself, the expectations of parent, the expectations of a school and the pressure of being a good teacher for the kids, and for me that worked out. A one-year job turned into 6 years in China, and now working for Impact Teaching.
What is the best story you've heard from a return student?
Over six years in China, I taught hundreds of different students of all ages, so as you can imagine, I heard plenty of weird and wonderful stories! The ones that stick for me are definitely the ones from the younger kids, as they definitely do just say anything.
One of my favourites was when we were learning about jobs in class – the kids in this class were about 5 years old – and we were deciding what they wanted to be when they were older. Of course, we had the standard options, doctor, nurse, footballer, musician, teacher, and all pretty much all of them were giving relatively normal answers, of course with a few princesses thrown in. That was until we got to Charles. Charles had incredible English for his age, especially as his parents didn’t speak any. So, when I asked Charles what he wanted to do when he grew up, he said “Teacher, I don’t want to do any of those jobs when I’m older”. I said that it’s fine and asked him what he did want to do, and he replied “Teacher, I want to be a Narwhal!”
At this point, my Chinese co-teacher stepped in to point out that being a Narwhal isn’t a job, but Charles was insistent, spouting out tens of different Narwhal facts that he had learnt at home. He was sure that he didn’t want to be anything else, so we left it. For the next 2 weeks, Charles was coming into class with new Narwhal toys, explaining to his friends that it was what he was going to be when he grows up!
If you could go on any program that your company offers, which one would you choose and why?
I think this is a difficult question, as I would genuinely do any of our programmes. I think the one that probably sticks out to me the most is the Australia program. Not just being biased as I am the coordinator, but it’s the program I would be most excited about.
The fact that you can go to so many different types of schools across the country, and that you have the opportunity to teach different subjects besides English. The salary of course would be a huge bonus. I think I would be willing to go to a more remote town if it meant I could get £80,000 a year! Australia itself is such a cool place with so much to offer. I’ve been to the Gold Coast before and had such a good time, so I would want to see more of the country. I would always be spending the school holidays traveling around!
I would also definitely want to do the China programme again. Since I did it in 2019, we have so many more options in terms of types of schools and locations. Again, not being biased (I’m the China coordinator too!) but I think that the programme that I did was probably the best things I have done in my life so far. China is an incredible place, and life is very easy there. A big bonus of our program that I loved when I did it was that you get to meet the people that you are going with before you go. It creates a community, and makes the move a bit easier.
What makes your company unique? When were you especially proud of your team?
I think that what makes us unique, especially as a small team, is how personable we make the whole process. From the initial interview to moving to a new country, we try and make everyone feel as confident as they can be, from emails making sure they know what to do next in the visa process, to zoom calls giving them ideas of things that they can do in a lesson. We try incredibly hard not to make anyone feel like they have just been dropped in the deep end.
The contact with our director Arnold is something that I think is unique too. He regularly keeps in touch with teachers, whether they applied last week, or 10 years ago. There are meetups scattered across the year, where new teachers can meet alumni – even if they aren’t still teaching, to hear about their experiences, and even give them some advice as to how to deal with life after living abroad.
One thing I’m proud of is the effort we put in to listening to feedback, and the amount of time we put in to making sure our partnerships are as beneficial as they can be to our teachers. TEFL isn’t always easy, and there are schools that definitely take advantage of people with low wages and few benefits (speaking from experience at those schools!), but we put in the effort to make sure that isn’t the experience our teachers get. It can be incredibly daunting moving abroad, and we want everyone to feel happy and safe in their jobs.
What do you believe to be the biggest factor in being a successful company?
I think that one of the biggest factors in being a successful company, especially in this industry, is trust. People are trusting us to find them a job on the other side of the world, where they don’t know anyone, and don’t speak the language – that’s a huge responsibility. This makes the in-country partners especially important. People won’t trust you if you send them to a school you’ve never spoken to. Even more important is the trust you have from the teachers themselves - building relationships with them from the first interview, seeing what they’re excited about, seeing what they’re worried about – it all goes a long way. Sometimes ESL recruitment can seem like an over saturated market, and so being a company that teachers and partners trust is the difference between being a successful company and not.
Another factor that I think is important in being a successful company, is being consistent. Sticking with the same few countries and establishing yourself as a trusted partner goes a lot further than changing countries each week. I think this is something that Impact Teaching is good at. We have years of experience in China – we were previously Teach English in China – and so we have many trusted contacts there. The same with Poland, Hungary and Thailand, countries that we worked on early into changing to Impact Teaching.
