Tina

Tina Tutor Interview

Q. Hi Tina! Please tell us a little bit about yourself.

A. Hi Cafetalk! I’m Tina,28 years old, half british half italian! I was born in a tiny fisherman village in the south of italy, my father’s hometown, but when I was 2 years old I moved to London. 18 years later I went back to Italy, where I lived and worked for 6 years.

Now, I’m living in Bangkok, Thailand , where I work in a buddhist temple school, teaching english to more than 600 students per week and to a bunch of buddhist monks! I’ve been to Japan twice, and I lived in Tokyo for a while, enjoying japanese food and studying japanese language! I’ve been working as an English teacher for 6 years so far and this is a great passion for me, not just a job!

Q. According to your profile, you’re a half British half Italian, so you have two mother tongues! I’m interested in your life in Italy and England. Do you feel any differences or similarities of those countries?

A. I enjoyed both of the countries.

In UK, London in particular, I liked the melting of different cultures from all over the world and the sense of freedom you have there. I don’t like the weather, always cold and cloudy, and don’t really like the food (I used to eat chinese, japanese and indian food all the time I lived there!).
Italy is a lovely country! The weather is just perfect, the food is great and the wine as well, people are really friendly and the cities are full of colours, art and history. Honestly I think these two countries are really different from each other, especially the lifestyle!

Q. I heard your passion is traveling! Could you share your traveling history with us?

A. Yep, my biggest passion is traveling!

My very first trip was a tour of Europe when I was 18 years old, after my high school diploma! I traveled in Europe for 2 months, from Portugal to Turkey! After this trip I stopped in Italy and started living there..Italy is a very convenient place for traveling in Europe, so during the time I spent there I had many others opportunities to visit european countries again and again! When I left Italy I had been to japan, where I spent 2 months traveling all over the country. I loved Japan so much that 3 months later I went back there and lived in Tokyo for 6 months, studying in a japanese language school and working part time.

After Japan I arrived in Thailand, and I visited this beautiful country and almost all south east asian countries, such as Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. I never get tired of traveling, discovering new amazing places, cultures and people.

Q. Do you have any forgettable stories of your traveling?

A. I’m interested in people’s stories, everyone has something special to tell. I lived in so many places and met so many interesting, funny, incredibly kind people …you know, it’s all about people! Travelling has taught me many things, it opened my mind, so now I feel like giving an advice to people who want to travel … have your own experiences, don’t waste your time looking for a lot of informations about the place you want to go. Everyone is unique and the way people live the same experience is so different. If there is anything in particular that you want to do, just go for it without thinking too much! Is that simple!

Q. You’re currently living Bangkok, Thailand. How is the life in there?

A. Bangkok is a city that I learnt to love. Incredibly busy city, life is so crazy here! The traffic is one of the worst in the world, and you may find hard at first not to get lost or getting used to public transport, but you can always rely on thai people, they are so kind and always ready to help you…or you can also get a taxi anytime, the cost of living is so cheap here, including a ride on a taxi! Food is great (not if you don’t like spicy though!), the culture is amazing and I am captured by the sparkling buddhist temples!

Q. You have a lesson, “TOEIC, TOEFL, IELTS test prep”. Could I ask the feature of your test prep lesson?

A. I worked as a IELTS examiner for a couple of years so I know students get really nervous when the day of the test comes, and that’s not helpful at all! The main purpose of my lessons is to make the student more confident, and the best way to do that is keep on practicing. In English we say “practice makes perfect”, and that’s exactly how it works, especially if you want to master a foreign language.

For practicing for these tests I use textbooks and various material I’ve been collecting since I started doing this job, I try to make the lesson interesting cause I want my students to have fun while learning english and improving their skills!

Q. Finally, is there anything you would like to share with our students?

A. Students do not need any knowledge about any of the subjects that I teach. Many of my students that want to discuss the stock market, have no knowledge about stocks or how to track them. I use easy English to teach all subjects. On any subject that I teach, I invite questions to discuss the subject, and sometimes do roll playing.

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Tina

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