Key facts
- Who: Natalie Vassilaka, former cabinet maker and exhibition stand builder
- Where: Rome, Italy
- Course: Global English TESOL, plus the 30-hour Teaching Business English course
- Outcome: teaching at a private English language school in Rome with a large business client base
Global English TESOL graduate Natalie Vassilaka was already teaching in Rome, Italy when we approached her to try our updated 30 hour teaching business English course on our new interactive learning platform.
The good news is Natalie LOVED the course, but we wanted to know more about her experience and how the teaching business English course benefited her in the classroom.
How Natalie became an English teacher in Rome
Hi Natalie. Firstly, a bit about you; what brought you to Rome and English language teaching?
Just over two years ago, at the age of 45, I decided a change would be a good idea. So, I packed up my life, sold or gave away everything I own and left my home in Australia where I worked as a cabinet maker and custom stand builder in Exhibitions for Rome.
After a long struggle to be acknowledged in my field here I had to admit defeat so, the question was: what to do now? Luckily, the world of teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) isn’t as biased on age, gender or connections. So, with the help of Global English, I got my first qualification in TESOL.
How easy was it to find teaching English work in Rome and what type of teaching did you do?
I found work very soon after my TESOL qualifications. The private English language school I’ve been teaching at in Rome for the last year uses a lot of the techniques I learned and has a large client-base similar to the examples that were given in my TESOL course.
Why did you choose to take a teaching business English qualification?
Teaching business students is quite particular and, quite simply, business course books are often too general to meet their exact needs. It was, therefore, by good fortune that Global English approached me to test-drive their new, updated version of the business English course and provide some honest feedback. So, I happily accepted the challenge and dived into it, eager to see how it would help me build on my business English teaching skills.
The business English course is designed to teach you how to tailor your lessons to individual students, no matter what their needs are or what business they are in, but what else did you learn on the business English course?
I learned how to adapt the general listening, reading, writing and speaking skills to any business English needs. The course also taught me how to differentiate between general and more specific business English needs, which can often be neglected in schools as they have too many diverse business students in order to completely tailor to the individual.
The interactive nature of the course makes it easy to follow, move between modules and find information. One of the perks of this course is the amount of links they’ve given which are particular to this area of teaching: from advice articles to practical teaching aides, these tools have been saved in my browser and will be used for however long I want to in the future.
What Natalie learned from the Business English course
How has it helped you in your teaching?
The business English course has been particularly useful as it’s given me a more in-depth look into how and where to look for additional information and the areas I should be aware of in order to better service these students. All in all, the course gave me some interesting challenges, which helped me hone my skills in planning for business English students.
Thank you, Natalie and I hope you continue to enjoy Rome and English teaching.
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Where next?
Try these:
- a link to the course that we recommend for teaching English in Italy
- the 30-hour teaching business English course Natalie took with Global English
- Australian Alison David teaching English in Milan
- American Chris Venning teaching English in Florence
- finding work, general advice & comments from Global English graduates in Italy
- What is business English teaching and why teach it?
- our full teaching English in Italy guide, and the UK government’s foreign travel advice for Italy
Got a question about teaching in Italy or TESOL course training options?
Email GE Director of Studies William