Please meet Irene!
Irene Reyero Calera is originally from beautiful Ramales de la Victoria in Cantabria, Spain.
Irene currently lives in Ulverston (England) with her English husband. As they both work from home, they decided to leave the big city of Sheffield for more relaxed country life “the closest to my hometown I found in England”.
Initially, Irene built her reputation on several tutoring websites, but now she has her own independent growing business as well. She teaches Spanish, her mother tongue, and she is expanding her customer base through recommendations and even by meeting some of their students in person.
What's your story about becoming a teacher?
"It's pretty funny - I studied History because I wanted to learn about everything, and I always said I never wanted to be a teacher. I wanted to work in a library.
In my last year at university, I spent some time with Erasmus students, and I enjoyed helping them practice Spanish. I also met my now husband, who is English, so we had to overcome the language barrier.
That got me looking into what I needed to teach my mother tongue. I studied a course to certify myself as a Spanish teacher and have worked as a Spanish tutor ever since."
What is your niche?
"I teach Spanish to anyone that wants to learn, and even some that don't want but their parents made them to! I teach Primary kids, homeschooling, GCSE, IGCSE, A-level, University, and independent adult learners (curious about the language or because they want to go on holidays to Spain or they have a second home)... As for nationalities, I taught people all over the world, which is fun as I get to know many people and have many interesting conversations."
What's your favourite thing about being a teacher?
"Helping people to achieve their goals. My greatest reward is when they come back from the holidays and say how much they enjoyed being able to speak in Spanish and get by. It makes me very happy!"
How would you describe your teaching style?
"I like to adapt to what the students want and need. For example, if we need to learn the past tense and the student loves movies, they can talk about what they like rather than just fill in the gaps exercises. I mainly use conversation, but they also have the option of doing exercises from a book if that is what they want. With kids, I follow a particular book with games, comics, etc."
Can you think of a unique story or experience you lived because of being an online teacher?
"I had the freedom to live in Montpellier (France), in Spain, and in England (and to move from one place to another here, where I currently live, without affecting my job). As I said before, it also gave me the chance to meet amazing people all over the world."
What are valuable tips and tricks you've learned from your experience teaching online that changed how you're approaching classes now?
"For the lessons with kids, it always helps to have some props. If they get distracted, you show them something out of the ordinary and get their attention back.
For the adults, I always ask how they are doing (for real), so I can see what mood they are in and adapt accordingly. Maybe something happened to them that week, and they will be more interested in talking about that instead of doing some grammar, and they get to practice the language either way."
What advice would you give a new teacher/tutor to help them start their own online teaching business?
"Be patient, and don't compare yourself to others. I used to beat myself up when I started because I had two or three students per week, and now I have 8 lessons per day. It takes time to build up. Just focus on your job, do it great, and the rest will follow!"
Do you have any creative ways of using our Virtual Classroom features for your classes?
"I like that it's very interactive, and I can play audio while the student can see the worksheet and write or draw on it simultaneously. It's very handy.
Kids also like to colour and use the shape tools, sometimes too much that I have to lock the classroom so they can focus on the exercises. I use it for the lessons with kids as it's easier to work with them as they don't have to use anything else on the computer."
Irene is currently working on rebranding her business, and if you want to get in touch, you can reach out to her on Instagram or Facebook.
This series focuses on highlighting some of our valued teachers' stories. LearnCube has incredible educators from around the globe using our virtual classroom software daily. By sharing their experiences, we hope to inspire many more to start and grow their businesses.
If you're curious about our products, including our award-winning Virtual Classroom and Online School software, please click here for more information.