One lesson changed everything: Giusy Lavarazzo’s story

I live in a small village on the outskirts of Modena in the Emilia Romagna region which is in the North of Italy. My first exposure to the English language was when I was a teenager. I became a fan of the music band Queen and loved to sing along to their songs, even though finding their lyrics in the 90s was quite challenging. 

When I started studying English in high school, my teachers were impressed by my pronunciation and my ability to pick up new sounds effortlessly. Also, another pastime for me was to shadow singers on their interviews. I found it incredibly gripping, imitating the way they spoke, and it gave me immense pleasure to do it.

After high school, I didn't pursue further studies and instead focused on building my economic independence.  Since then, I changed a bunch of jobs thinking that I could have lived without English in my life. I couldn't have been more wrong. 

After reaching a career plateau, I realised I needed English again. So, I enrolled in an English school in the city where I lived and my passion for the language flourished one more time. I studied, with more intensity, for about 5 years until I got C1 advanced certification. This gave my career a huge boost, and I was able to apply for a multinational company to work as a secretary in the sales department for about 15 years. Sadly, the pandemic came. I was stuck at home during the pandemic - not only during the 6 weeks of lockdown - but even further. The economy was stuck. 

A new beginning

During that time, I was put on furlough and, coincidentally, my neighbour's 10-year-old child was sent on a distance learning programme, needing help with her English classes.

As I was the only one in the building who knew English, I took it upon myself to tutor her for the whole academic year. She was 10 at that time, and being sent to do distance learning at that stage just meant being asked to do an exam at the end of the year without much teaching beforehand.

So my first thought was to help her finish at least the textbook. I didn't have much experience back then, especially in terms of understanding why one activity from the book would have helped more than another, so at first I strictly followed the book exercises. I was not sure whether I was actually helping her. After the first couple of lessons, I started to pay attention to what she was struggling with the most, reading, and based on that I tried to understand what strategy could have worked better. I started to research how to teach reading strategies. Interestingly, I found out that creating some prior context and pre-teaching some vocabulary from the text would have made the difference. 

The only way I could understand whether I was doing right or not though, was the way she responded to the exercises. She didn't have her teacher's feedback either, during the school year. For her age group, it was enough to say what topics to study, and then they would have arranged the final test. The more I went on teaching and researching teaching strategies, the more I felt she was achieving the goal. It was only at the final exam - which she passed with flying colours - that I realised I tangibly helped her strive through that difficult time. She was so impressed with her results that she asked me if she could ask her Mum to hire me for the following year!

Getting TEFL certified

I started looking for information on how to get TEFL certified and found The TEFL Org. After carefully reading all their course plan offers, I thought that this was the perfect fit for me.

Once I completed the 120-hour course , I took the 40-hour Teaching English online course and started looking for companies to get hired. After a month, I got hired and started my journey teaching English online. Although the salary was nowhere near what I deserved, the company provided the material and the students. I changed my perspective and saw this opportunity as an internship and kept going to gain experience. I was still working for the company (9-5) at that time, so I accepted and committed to teaching online every weekend.

What I liked the most about this experience was that I was able to teach different classes at different levels and ages. Mostly, I taught adults or young adults, and occasionally kids. I was allowed to teach from other companies, too. I wanted to try a marketplace instead of a company because I could charge my own price and start to earn some extra money. The main difference between the marketplace and the online company was that I wasn't provided either students or materials. I was thrilled to try "my own way" and plan lessons myself. I had to build a profile of my teaching background as well as my certifications. I still have a profile on this marketplace after almost two years, although I was able to teach only a few classes there.

I kept looking for other marketplaces and kept adding TEFL advanced courses like Business English and Exam Preparation classes. These last two courses have given me the chance to increase my hourly rate tremendously. 

I am still in the process of defining my niche in the teaching industry. I base my decision on a combination of market demand, which is primarily exam preparation, and personal preference. Although I have identified a niche, I also teach general English and Business English. 

Looking forward

After three years of part-time teaching, I decided to quit my office job and focus on full-time teaching. I started with zero students of my own and not from online companies or marketplaces. However, I was able to gain 4 clients quickly, and after promoting my tutoring services, I had 16 students in just a couple of months. I was even hired for a project to teach Business English to the unemployed. 

Since January 2024, I have been working full-time as a self-employed tutor, and word-of-mouth has been the most effective way to promote my services. First-hand experiences from students are more valuable for marketing my services than just an advertisement on the internet. 

Teaching online can be rewarding as a self-employed person, and although it takes time to build up experience and clients, it is not impossible.

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