Think 100 hours isn’t enough time to turn your life around? Well in the world of TEFL it is!

A hundred hours might not sound like much, but for expat Graham Hays, who completed i-to-i’s 100 hour online TEFL course, it was enough to dramatically change his life.

Graham, a computer engineer by trade, moved to the south of Spain with his wife Linda over three years ago. While the sun and Sangria in Valencia, was great, making a living out of computers in deepest darkest Spain wasn’t so successful. In fact, Graham, who is originally from Berkshire, goes as far to describe it as a ‘waking nightmare’.

Fortunately, a chance meeting led to a total change of fortunes for Graham culminating in him opening his own language school.

Things started when Graham became good friends with a Spanish artist, Loli, and her English husband, Harold, after designing a few websites for the couple. It turned out his fellow Brit, Harold, was working as a TEFL teacher, teaching students in a small classroom attached to his wife’s art studio.

And while Graham’s problem was not having enough work to live on, Harold’s problem was having too much – his English classes were becoming so popular that the time was rapidly approaching when he’d have to start turning students away.

“Their answer to this problem was to ask me to join them in teaching English. For me this was an obvious answer to a waking nightmare, as my computer work simply did not bring in sufficient money to live off,” said Graham.

So, after a few conversations with one of i-to-i’s expert TEFL advisors, Graham enrolled in i-to-i’s fast and flexible 100 hour online TEFL course, which he studied from Spain. But while Graham was getting to grips with grammar and how to energize students on his TEFL course, Harold and Lori were coming to a realization: their little classroom simply wasn’t going to be big enough.

Fortunately, the couple stumbled upon a disused shop in Beniganim, a small town south of Valencia, which could be converted into a language school. Just days after Graham completed the last module on his online TEFL course, the trio were throwing an opening party for their brand new language school, Home From Home English Course, attended by the great and the good of Beniganim, including the mayor, the doctor, the chief of police and even the local priest, who blessed the centre!

The Holy Water seems to have worked. Even though Home from Home has only been open for just over a month, the school’s 40+ students are already outgrowing their premises. Graham, Lori and Harold will be refurbishing over the Easter break to make room for more classes, and are likely to move to larger premises by the end of the summer. They may even have to find another TEFL teacher.

Graham is understandably proud of what the three friends have achieved: “It’s not quite a rags-to-riches story, but certainly from nothing to a thriving language school in just a few months is impressive in anyone's language.”

Want to follow in Graham’s footsteps? As you can see, you don’t need any previous experience to start teaching English as a foreign language, just a willingness to learn and a spot of ambition. Just visit http://www.onlinetefl.com/tefl-courses/online-tefl-course-100.html to find details of the course he did and book today! Who knows, in 100 hours time you could have totally changed your life.

Want to ask him how he did it? Graham’s right here on Chalkboard for you to chat to. Just get in touch at http://www.tefl-chalkboard.com/haysg.

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