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Details

I've been teaching English both online and in the real world for the past 18 years. Today I teach online most of the time and run a private tutoring business out of a small office here in Istanbul where I live with my husband, my 7 year old son and our two cats. With a Creative Writing degree in my pocket, I came to Turkey after graduating from George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. Teaching English seemed the logical thing to do at that time. Within two years I had completed my Master's degree in TEFL and had begun to teach at a university. In the following 16 years, I taught kindergarten students, elementary school children, university students, business people and homemakers. As Director of Studies, I worked with a team of 20 teachers in creating and running a university Preparatory English Program. And then, after my son was born, I moved into private tutoring and online teaching. I hope my joy for teaching, my experience and knowledge can help you on your path to becoming a TEFL professional.

Passion

My passion is writing. I can't live without writing. Writing helps me gain perspective, allows me to lose myself in another world that I create and it is the only way I know of making sense of the world around me.

Advice

My advice: Know that you will be nervous the first time you teach. Your hands will shake, your voice will sound strange and you'll probably forget everything. But remember that even at that point you know English and they want to learn English...so you are the right person for the job.

Know that teaching is a skill you develop with experience and the most important quality you need to begin is a desire to teach topped with a need to help people.