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Read full storyEntrepreneurial ESL Tutor Story No. 4
Welcome to the 4th instalment of our Entrepreneurial ESL Tutor series where we highlight teachers from the Off2Class community who have branched out to forge their own paths.
This week we’d like to highlight Tina Antoniades, an Australian native with Greek roots who found herself living in rural northern Greece. She started tutoring as a hobby and has grown from there. Take it away Tina!
‘Without much thought, many years ago, I landed up in a small town in the countryside of northern Greece. Leaving behind my very ‘fast’ life in Sydney, I quickly realized that this was going to be a huge challenge to adapt to, not only in language and culture but also with…. ‘what will I do?’.
With a business and PR background and a degree in Travel and Tourism I decided to try and teach English to the locals. It started off as a hobby and then I thought to get a little bit more serious and searched the internet for online work. I was convinced that I could do this and got my lucky break 3 years ago with an online school in Italy.
Always the adventurer, I also found other online schools in Japan, China, Russia and Brazil and I was, to say the least, kept extremely busy all day and late at night. I found myself adapting to teaching young children in Japan to business professionals in Russia and Italy in the same day.
Never satisfied, I wanted to move on and ‘do my own thing’. A handful of private students from ‘word of mouth’ advertising lead me to make my own website. With my private students I have always used Off2Class and have found this platform amazing and immensely satisfying. Students love the simplicity of looking at a picture and being stimulated to talk about anything and everything while at the same time learning correct grammar and sentence structures. I also use some different sites for worksheets but Off2CLass is my main (and always will be) lesson content.
Nothing is impossible. I think I have proved it. Life is an adventure. Go out and find yours!
My niche? I would have to say… versatility!
I have kept a couple of online schools as a ‘stable income’ until I am able to go completely solo. In one day I travel the world through the eyes of children in China, oil and gas professionals in Kazakhstan to bankers in Madrid.
My goals for 2016…. Hmm…. Well, I would love to expand my own online school in collaboration with a few good friends and colleagues and of course – Off2Class. I am convinced that I will be able to make this dream come true with hard work, perseverance, versatility, and good marketing skills and of course a good dose of luck!
I would love to hear from anyone who would like to know more about my site or would like to collaborate/join me in my new venture.’
Thanks to our latest Entrepreneurial ESL Tutor – Tina Antoniades! Your story is both interesting and inspiring.
Please share some words of encouragement for Tina in the comment section below!
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16 Comments
Esli says:
April 13, 2016 at 10:03 pm
Awesome journey! Congrats on starting your own online school.
What I like about off2class are the the simple features but what I love most is that the speaking lessons gets my students talking! They like it, too!
I’m interested in joining you in your new venture. Talk soon.
Tina says:
April 20, 2016 at 10:17 am
Hey Esli!
Thank you so much for your kind words.
Send me an email through my website so we can connect :D!
Cheers!
Shari says:
April 20, 2016 at 4:00 pm
Hi Tina,
I’m just starting this latest chapter of my teaching career. I was an elementary classroom teacher for 25 years and worked extensively with ELL students. After retiring I moved to a new town in the US for my husband’s job. I happened to meet a man who has a company that teaches Chinese children to speak English. Though the company is great and I really like the man who runs it, I know I could make a lot more money if I was working for myself.
Now my challenge is to develop my own website and start generating my own clients. I continue to enjoy working with children but would like to expand my geographical reach in order to be able to have more hours available to teach.
Loved reading about your journey and hope to have my own blog soon so others can follow mine and share information.
Hana Arafat says:
April 22, 2016 at 10:11 pm
Congratulations Tina! Your story is truly inspiring! Wish you all the best.
Tina says:
April 23, 2016 at 4:46 pm
Thank you so much Hana!
Would love to connect with you! Send me a message through my website !
Best,
Tina.
Tina says:
April 23, 2016 at 4:07 am
Hi Shari,
Thank you for your message. Yes, it is a challenge but not impossible!
If you would like to connect with me to chat about various teaching ideas etc, send me an email through my site!
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Best,
Tina.
Nelly Alister says:
April 30, 2016 at 9:55 pm
Congrats Tina, I really love what you do. I love teaching and I am starting a similar adventure like you do. I think it is a great idea to teach online. I would appreciate if you could give me some ideas about how to start. I am an English Spanish translator and at the moment I’m doing the CELTA course and a Master for Teaching Spanish as a Second Language. My native language is Spanish. My idea is to teach Spanish and English online. I had the experience to live in various countries and I think it’s great to be in contact with different cultures, there is so much learn from others.
Thanks in advance and look forward to your comments.
My email na.alister8@gmail.com; skype: nelly.alister
Nelly Alister
Teresa-Anne Crawford says:
May 13, 2016 at 10:06 am
Tina, your experience is inspiring. I used to teach French as a second language many years ago in South Africa and I am now starting out as an ESL teacher in France. I have been living in France for 25 years. I would ideally like to include online teaching to my portfolio. I recently started using off2school. If you have any advice to share, it would be most appreciated. I hope to set up a blog and some of my own online lessons one day. Here are my contact details : terry.crawford28@gmail.com and tac280562 (skype) should you wish to make contact.
Just English Online says:
May 13, 2016 at 5:32 pm
Thank you Teresa… I will contact you soon!!
María del Carmen says:
May 13, 2016 at 11:26 am
Thank you for sharing your experience.!
Just English Online says:
May 13, 2016 at 5:31 pm
thank you so much 😀
Tina says:
August 14, 2016 at 5:47 pm
And I made a short animated video….. https://youtu.be/wtD3mst-ylA
Enjoy!
Kris Jagasia says:
August 14, 2016 at 5:50 pm
I love it Tina! Took me ages to make my first PowToon video, but I also enjoyed the results 🙂
Debra says:
November 19, 2016 at 9:19 pm
I’m inspired to do the same. I’ve been teaching ESL in Thailand for 5 years now, and while it’s been a good stepping stone with regards culture, I find the Thai Ed system to be very far from adequate. It’s taken me almost a year to decide that I am going to go “solo”, and when Off2Class happened to come up on my newsfeed, it was a sign for me to get my you know what into gear and do it. I am a travel junkie, and would love to be working wherever my whims take me -without losing income. Your post has given me a kick in the butt, and today is the day I become pro-active and stop procrastinating about it. Thank you!! Best of luck to you and your independent online teaching.
Kris Jagasia says:
November 19, 2016 at 11:37 pm
Hi Debra, thanks for stopping by! It just so happens that our latest story features two solo teachers based in Thailand. They’ve commenced a project and are looking for potential collaborators. Say hi over at: https://www.off2class.com/esl-teacherpreneur-stories-teryn-dan/
Kris
Fawzia says:
February 22, 2021 at 5:24 pm
Congrats Tina, your story is truly inspiring! I would be happy to join you in your new venture. My email is fawzia090@hotmail.com. Since the past 7 years I’ve been traveling the world and made a lot of new connections and had beautiful experiences. So please get in touch as I’m interested in joining you and I could share with you about my experiences and knowledge. I hope to hear from you soon! Cheers! Fawzia