Meet Karolina – English Teacher Turned Freelance Writer

In this article, we will chat with teacher Karolina, who successfully pivoted her career from teaching to becoming a professional writer.

Through teaching English you can learn a range of valuable skills – writing skills, communication skills, problem-solving skills, personal presentation skills, and more. These can help you to become an effective teacher, but they can also help you to transition into other lines of work.

If you’re a teacher who is currently thinking about pivoting and embarking on a new career path, you may be wondering if it’s possible. It definitely is! Your teaching experience can serve you as a solid foundation for a new career path. 

Karolina’s interview:

💬 What was it that made you decide to start teaching English?

“What got me interested in a teaching career was the idea that I could teach English around the world.

At that time, I was working a very boring and unfulfilling job at a call center. I felt very lost because I ended up working a job that I hated and I could not figure out what I truly wanted to do. All I knew was that I wanted to do something fulfilling and that I wanted to travel!

So, I started researching different career ideas that would allow me to have the freedom to travel or live abroad. I discovered that I could teach English as a foreign language in different countries! I loved the idea. That’s what made me decide to get started on this career path.”

💬 How did you get started?

“It’s a long story!

After I decided that I wanted to become an ESL teacher and I got my TEFL degree, I had to figure out where I could teach. As a non-native English speaker, I got rejected from many teaching opportunities that I applied for through TeachAway (if you are looking for teaching opportunities around the world, it is a great place to start).

However, I wasn’t ready to give up!

At that time, I decided to quit my job and buy a one-way plane ticket to the Dominican Republic to embark on a new chapter in my life. I chose the Dominican Republic because I heard from a friend that it was quite easy to get a teaching job there, even as a non-native English teacher. Additionally that, I always wanted to live in the Caribbean so it seemed like the perfect opportunity!

After I arrived in the Dominican Republic, I found a full-time job as an English and French teacher at Academia Europea, which is the most popular international language school in the country. A few months after that, I found another teaching job at a local high school! I continued teaching at the language school part-time and at the high school full-time. That’s how my teaching career started.”

💬 How and why did you start teaching English online?

“I started teaching English online when the pandemic started.

After the school that I was working for implemented the online teaching model, I remembered my original motivation for starting my teaching career: I wanted to do this because I wanted to be able to travel!

It gave me the idea to start teaching online independently.

After some research, I decided to join iTalki as an online English and Polish teacher. I joined the platform in April 2020. It took me three weeks to get my first student, six weeks to get another and by the end of June 2020, I already had a full schedule. I have been successfully teaching with them ever since and I love it!”

💬 What’s your favorite part about teaching English?

“I think that my favorite part about teaching English (and Polish) is when I realize that my students are achieving the goals they set for themselves when they started taking classes with me. A lot of my current students come to me at a beginner level. It makes me feel proud when I see them communicating more and improving their language skills with every class!”

💬 What’s your favorite teaching memory?

“I think that my favorite teaching memory is when I got my first student on iTalki!

I was so excited about our first lesson together. I was so grateful to him for trusting in me when I was new to the platform and had no reviews and no teaching hours to prove my teaching skills.

A lot of people choose teachers who have a lot of reviews and who have given many teaching hours already. When you’re new, it can be difficult to get new students. However, all it takes is just one person to trust in you to get started! Thanks to that person, I was able to create an online teaching career.”

💬 What do you currently do for a living besides teaching?

“Apart from teaching on iTalki, I am also freelancing on UpWork. My transition into a content writing career was quite unexpected! I didn’t expect that it would turn into a full-time career when I first started freelancing on UpWork. I registered on this platform in May 2021. It took me two weeks to get my first writing job. Now, I get writing jobs regularly.”

💬 What was it that made you interested in exploring different career paths?

“I started looking for a different career path after I decided to quit my teaching job at the school. I had been thinking about it for a while before quitting, but I didn’t want to let go of that income.

By the end of March 2021, I decided to take the leap of faith and transition into teaching online full-time! I was getting a lot of teaching hours on iTalki but giving so many classes felt exhausting. I started thinking about doing something else that would allow me to have a more flexible schedule. I also wanted to add another income stream, as my teaching hours were fluctuating a lot.”

💬 How did English teaching help with the transition?

“I don’t think I would have ever been able to become a content writer if I didn’t have teaching experience!

Given the fact that I am not a native English speaker, being a professional English teacher gives me credibility. It proves my English language skills.

As a teacher in high school, I used to teach my students how to express themselves in this language, how to write well-structured texts, and how to get their point across in a clear and concise way. All of these skills make me a good writer. 

Thanks to teaching English part-time, I was able to not only pursue another career path that I love but also dedicate time to my other passions. I am passionate about design and home décor which I combined together by opening an Etsy shop that sells digital prints. I also launched a YouTube channel a few weeks ago!”

💬 What advice can you give others interested in exploring alternative career paths?

“Use your teaching experience as a foundation for your new career.

As teachers, we learn many important skills, such as communication skills, organization skills, and interpersonal skills. You can use those to your benefit!

If you don’t know what other career path to choose, you can choose something that compliments teaching. It can be translation, transcription, writing, or maybe even creating educational resources and materials. Think about what you enjoy doing and what you’re good at! Don’t be afraid to get creative.

I feel that many people have excellent ideas about what they want to be doing but never act upon them because they don’t think it’s possible for them. I want you to know that everything is possible! You can make a career out of everything these days. It’s all about figuring out what you want to do and finding the right way for you to do it. “

Conclusion

Many people devote their whole careers solely to teaching. There are many different paths that you can take, from teaching at schools nearby where you live, to teaching overseas, and even teaching online while traveling the world. However, your journey doesn’t need to stop there. 

While teaching English you’ll grow as a person, and will develop new transferable skills that you can put to use in other jobs.  You could teach other subjects, launch a career as a writer, explore marketing and sales positions, move into corporate training, or even use your great interpersonal skills with social work.

When choosing an alternative career path, think about your strongest skills, your personality traits, and your passions. Nowadays, it is possible to monetize almost any passion. Don’t be afraid to explore ideas that may seem too good to be true!

Just keep in mind that every transition takes time – which is why teaching English part-time can be an excellent solution until you’re able to take the other career path full-time.

Teaching English is a fulfilling career path. As teachers, we teach our students many skills, but let’s not forget that we also learn useful skills that can help us in the future.