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Language level B1/B2
Nearly nine years ago, I returned to Greifswald after eight months of parental leave. The majority of the time was spent in my home country, Australia. My once stable English teaching contract ended after 6 months of my return due to company spending cutbacks. With no income and a growing debt to my private health insurance company, my then boyfriend suggested I build a website on Wix and promote my services as a freelance English teacher. At the time, my online capabilities were confined to email and Google searches, so building a website seemed a rather daunting task, but I was willing to give it a try. Teaching jobs weren’t exactly falling into my lap, so it wasn't like I had much of a choice.
To my surprise, even though I was a complete novice it was simple to set up my first website. Within a few days I was "The Director" of Chatterbox Sprachschule.
I chose the name Chatterbox as a retaliation against all the serious language schools I had worked for, or researched online, with their photos of sleek professionals in business suits and no-nonsense branding. I deliberately chose light colours and took photos around Greifswald to make it more relatable to my audience and less stiff. A place where any Greifswalder would feel comfortable coming for English lessons.
The photo of me below in front of the Europakreuzung is the only photo from that time that has survived the design evolution of my website.
Most importantly, was the Chatterbox website successful when I first published it?
Yes. Shortly after, I started a toddler play group with just my daughter and another girl of the same age. A lovely woman from a nearby village reached out to me for English lessons. My living room became the headquarters of Chatterbox Sprachschule. I used a Norden table borrowed from a friend for my adult classes since I had sold my dining table before going on parental leave.
Not long after, I ambitiously rented a small two room flat with the intention of transforming it into a language school. I maintained a combination of children's and adult's lessons of different kinds, also taking on company lessons. We even had ballet lessons in English. Juggling multiple teaching positions in town and at my school while transitioning to single status proved to be quite challenging. The responsibilities of a freelancer seem to be never-ending. Currently, it's 11pm on a Thursday night and I am writing this after putting my daughter, Tilda (*not her real name), to sleep.
After a while, I made the choice to get a “normal job”. I was exhausted and yearned for a routine where I could go to work at a predictable time, come home and simply focus on spending time with Tilda. I put the language school on ice.
I got that normal job.
On the cusp of beginning a new job in March 2020 the pandemic sent everyone home. It was a time for many of us to reevaluate and reorganise our lives. I was grateful at that time to have signed my contract a week before lockdown. Just in the nick of time!
Eventually, we all stumbled our ways out of the pandemic and readjusted to a new working atmosphere.
At the beginning of 2023, I began noticing changes in Tilda. That April she was diagnosed with a condition that scared the bejeezus out of me. Thankfully, the biggest hurdles have been overcome but it has had, and will probably always have, an impact on our lives. Currently, my daughter might look happy and healthy, but she still has ongoing challenges which make school difficult. It's difficult for me to hold a steady job while never knowing when Tilda might need to be home. So now I’m stepping one foot back into self-employment. I’m lucky I have the flexibility to do so.
When Tilda got sick, I was forced to reprioritise health, people and work. I decided to make a fresh start. I am now offering courses with a different focus in combination with language learning. I’ve secretly named them my two-in-one courses where I combine English with another interest or focus.
Since the pandemic, many people have taken to online learning, but that’s not for me. The best thing about teaching is being able to look into the eyes of my students, learning about their interests and sensitivities toward language acquisition. To do that I need to be in the same room as them. I can teach online, but it isn’t the same for me. Some teachers I know are brilliant online. Unfortunately, I’m not one of them.
Probably the most difficult thing about my language school was deciding on the name. Originally, I wanted a name that wasn’t serious and a little fun. But since then, I have changed. My life and values have changed. I like the name Englischgarten because it implies growth. Gardens have a knack for continuing to grow no matter what the obstacles.
Vocabulary list for English learners:
English | German | English | German |
debt | Schuld | to transition | einen Übergang vollziehen |
capability | Fähigkeit | exhausted | erschöpft |
daunting | beängstigend | to yearn | sich sehnen |
novice | Neuling | grateful | dankbar |
retaliation | Gegenschlag | in the nick of time | kurz vor Toresschluss |
toddler | Kleinkind | to scare the bejeezus out of someone | jdn. zu Tode erschrecken |
parental leave | Elternzeit | sensitivity | Empfindlichkeit |
ambitiously | ehrgeizig | to have a knack for | ein Händchen für Akk. etwas haben |
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