A really nice and deep journey back in time. I would watch the video again and again and I am thrilled to share! I had a wonderful time with Anita. How lovely to have an interview on IGTV Moscow-London! How exciting!
She visited Italy mostly for skiing and in the “Around the World” series is keen to explore the lives and careers of teachers around the world (Turkey, China, Spain, etc.) starting from Italy and changing every month. I was the only one who is Italian and moved to London (with visual proof of the city from outside my place in South East London, we even managed to see a double decker bus!). Anita misses London.
I was introduced to her by my trainer Dmitry. I attended a course about managing schools organised by Lexical Lab in summer 2019. I really learnt a lot in a very short time! I feel very grateful about this introduction and was delighted to hear that he is now offering yearly consultancy courses in Russian to school owners.
September is a special month for me, by the way. Back in 2008 I got qualified (Celta training) in London and decided to move there.
Why did I choose London?
I have always dreamt of living in London and right now I am a part of the city where I have always wanted to be (after living in West London and in Alexandra Palace, or Ally Pally, in North London), near the river and near Greenwich. I decided mostly to try my luck with no real opportunities and I feel I have been very determined in doing so.
When I was at secondary school I was inspired by a teacher who used to live in London herself. She got us to watch Mary Poppins 3 years in a row at Christmas time. I really made that dream come true. Anita mentioned watching “The Sound of music”.
We focused on my life and teaching career in London.
Anita was also surprised that there are no pedagogical universities to prepare to become teachers in Italy. My university background is related to Interpreting and Translating. However, when I received an offer to teach medical English in hospitals I really felt that teaching was my vocation. I in fact I used to teach in my area (Piedmont,) At that time, back in 2006, Winter Olympics were happening in Turin and I taught for 3 years (before moving to London).
Courses were free for doctors, nurses and professionals in the administrative roles.in public hospitals (funded by the EU). My translation background really helped to provide technical vocabulary. I was hired by the training agency CampusLab. My boss, Livio was really supportive. In unfortunately had experienced a very serious car accident and was starting to drive again after a while. I used to teach Italian to immigrants, as well.
After that experience (less courses were offered), I really wanted to be fully fledged to have the equivalent competence of a native speaker. A teacher of a friend of mine in my home town spoke very highly about IH and recommended to get the qualification there. What a small world!
Teaching English as a foreign language in London is very tough and competitive, However, I was very determined and, more specifically, I pursued a career teaching teenagers from all over the world in summer schools, both residential and teaching only (very hectic time!). I had contracts extended in winter. My bosses were all very supportive and I was guided for opportunities of professional development as soon I started my career in London.
I have always been very determined. It was the year of recession and I was very careful watching every single penny, working hard to actively get training assignments. I remember renting a loft in West London. My landlady (unfortunately she lost her husband that year) was very helpful and present for me. I have been enjoying teaching Italian, too.
In 2015 Neurolanguage Coaching® really transformed my life. I love studying about the brain and understand about emotions and stress in the leaning process.
At the beginning of the year, my mentor Max guided me to find what drives me most and tap into my intuition. In addition to that, over lockdown people kept commenting on my voice, defining it as calming and soothing. This actually was the case when I was at University, as well. My flatmate at the time used to comment on my Zen attitude. I decided then to start some courses for Mindfulness and get qualified. Anita commented on how workaholic teachers of all the world can be.
In these unprecedented times, with covid happening I had no chance to teach in summer schools and I am exploring and adapting to the online mode of my work. Everything is happening more via the internet, making the global scene accessible to anybody. Some of my colleagues benefited from some furlough schemes, or grants, others just decided to seek opportunities in other fields or somewhere else.
In these unprecedented times, it is key to build resilience, more than ever and I am really keen to offer mindfulness solutions to professionals. I feel that I can certainly put myself in the shoes of professionals in the language teaching field. Helping teachers embedding Mindfulness in their lives would be very rewarding for me.
Finally, my advice to anybody deciding to live in London?
Times are different compared to when I moved here, back in 2008. Brexit is starting soon (adding on to the uncertain scenario). Rules and career perspectives will mark a change. It is therefore certainly beneficial and recommended to be extremely determined and adaptive. Appreciate the good things, create positive things out of the positive outcomes as they occur can help, as well. It can be tough, but nothing is impossible if you really want that to happen!
I was sorry to hear Anita had to cancel her 5 week trip and I hope to see her in London or travel to Moscow at some point in time! Anita qualified in London, too.
What a fantastic interview!
Thank you Anita.
Paola Francesi 