“I have been teaching English as a foreign language for over 11 years. Teaching is really one of my passions, but some time ago I started to feel tired, and maybe a bit bored. It was always pretty much the same, wherever I worked, I was starting to lose the feeling of challenge I used to enjoy so much. In 2014 I decided to stop teaching, I worked for about 3 months as a Seasonal Youth Counselor on board a cruise, I loved travelling, but I was not using all the knowledge I had gained after so many years of teacher training. So I came back to Argentina and started teaching again. I taught at bilingual schools, companies and language schools most of the times, but I definitely needed something different.

In my search for new things, I started to study to be a secretary, I loved the training, but it was not something I wanted to do for a living. In one of the courses, the teacher talked about Community Management, and she suggested that we should have a go at it because it would be very useful for us to expand our job possibilities. I found out what it was about, I liked it and in 2016 I took part in a course. This led me to think about delivering online lessons, so I started to do some research on that matter. It was at that moment that I came across FutureLearn.

In my search for a change, I decided that if I wanted something new, perhaps I needed new skills. I started to surf the Internet for some courses and FutureLearn appeared with all its options. One of them was Teaching for Success: The Classroom and the World, delivered by the British Council. I read what the course was about and joined it. It looked interesting and it was for free (I couldn’t believe it!). I was fascinated by the quality of the course, the engagement other students showed, the teachers’ responses and the material provided. The course opened my eyes as regards to students’ needs nowadays, and I felt there was so much to improve and include in my teaching practice.

From that moment on, I’ve been having a look at FutureLearn courses whenever I can. Other courses I took were Blended Learning Essentials: Getting Started (I have already joined the second part, Embedding Practice), Teaching Literacy Through Film and English in Early Childhood. The good thing about FutureLearn is that you can take the courses at your own pace, wherever you are, and it’s so easy to read and participate. I am really curious and love learning, so having access to the courses at any moment was really important for me.

These experiences motivated me to take other online courses and now I am thinking of my own online project, that’s why I keep on training and I am taking part in other courses. During the year it was a bit difficult because I want to enjoy the courses and I didn’t have that much time. I have recently joined the Starting a Business series in order to plan my business and have already joined other teaching courses which start in January and February. I’m really anxious to start because I know I’ll learn a lot more.

Apart from being an enjoyable learning experience, FutureLearn gives me tools to grow. I was feeling stuck, I felt I was always going to be a teacher inside a classroom and couldn’t bear to see me doing the same thing all my life. Now I have found a twist and being my own boss is a great challenge that will take time, might be hard, but my love for teaching is still here, renewed, and waiting to see new results.”

Inspired by Cintia’s story?

Take a look at the courses that she values most:

Teaching for Success: The Classroom and the World

Blended Learning Essentials: Getting Started

Blended Learning Essentials: Embedding Practice

Teaching Literacy Through Film

English in Early Childhood: Language Learning and Development

Starting a Business 1: Vision and Opportunity

Starting a Business 3: Customers and Competitors