A few years ago, Olivier chose to TEFL with i-to-i. As a result, he’s now the managing director of an English training centre in France! Olivier’s inspiring story shows us where TEFL can take you… and you don’t need to be a native to succeed.
“Should I enrol on this i-to-i training course or not?” With so many offers aimed at inspiring TEFL teachers flooding the market, I couldn’t quite make up my mind…
The year’s 2015 and I am about to move back to the South of France for good, after having spent nearly 10 of the most exciting years of my life in London. I finally decided to trust my friend Helen, a British expat who obtained her i-to-i certificate a couple of years back, and who is now teaching English in France. Being a self-taught person myself, I wanted to opt for a TEFL course that would allow me to work at my own pace, while at the same time remaining fully independent.
I have to say, I was immediately pleased with the i-to-i TEFL format. I wanted something complete enough to start working as a TEFL teacher in France right away, while at the same time not exceeding my 3-month threshold. This is exactly what i-to-i TEFL made available for me.
True, at first I hesitated between a CELTA and a TEFL certification. I was a bit apprehensive regarding how valued a TEFL certification would be on the job market, compared to a CELTA one. However, I quickly came to the reasonable conclusion that at the end of the day, it is your TEFL certification coupled with your years of experience that eventually makes the difference. If you are a non-native speaker like me, my advice to you would be to embark on the i-to-i programme, while making sure that your English accent remains clear and spot on.
Today, nearly four years down the line, I have the pleasure of being the managing director of FC TRAINING. It’s my own training centre in the South of France (www.fcmarseille.com). We specialise in intensive accent-reduction classes in business, legal and creative English. I also teach business English at a well-known business school once a week. Training business English to inspiring CEOs and managing directors has been very rewarding as a teacher.
In conclusion, I would definitely recommend i-to-i. It’s a way to become a TEFL-certified teacher, even if English is not your mother tongue! i-to-i will give you the tools you need to reach your goals. And at the same time, never chipping away at the quality of the teaching skills one needs to acquire, master and maintain in order to be among the best TEFL-certified teachers.
With i-to-i, a new career path could be just around the corner and who knows? You could well be the one writing your own story, a couple of years down the line…
