At the age of 10 my headmaster informed my parents he believed I would be a teacher, a suggestion I thought was just horrendous and spent the next 20 or so years avoiding. It was in 2003 adventure and warmer weather called, 4 years of life (mostly as a student of music) in Bath was feeling stagnant and the summers far too short.
However it was friendship formed in French style café in Salisbury with an EFL exchange student on work experience resulted in an invite to stay with her family in a coastal village about an hours drive from Málaga called El Morche. So in April 2004 I was 'adopted' into a spanish family and began my immersion with the language, search for work, a home, adventures and los chicos guapos.
My friends parents did not speak any English at all they lived from the land and our meals were made from their fresh vegetables and many home-grown rabbits. They were hard working family-focused and true Andaluces with a joy for life and love and respect of the natural world around them.
I found work at a very 'pijo' Bar de Copas on the Paseo Maritimo in the next town of Torrox Costa as the day I went handing out CVs one of their waitresses had broken her arm. This was an intensive school, not only for learning the spanish language, but for working 12hr days, up to 7 days a week in the hot humid month of August. My 'jefe' was so mean and I was given all the worst jobs because I was 'some stupid English girl who even didn't spanish'.
Fast forward to the end of the summer of 2004 and I can speak spanish including holding my own in an argument with my boss and am ready for the real adventures to start and I move to the beautiful city of Granada with enough euros in the bank to take a few months off work. An excursion from Granada city to a nearby village with natural hot water springs began an amazing chapter of life on the road and 'buscando la vida' with my flute.
There are so many stories to tell from this time in my life and many lesson learnt that just cannot take place in a classroom. The freedom of nothing to loose, managing uncertainty, not having my own home or a steady income. The magic of playing flamenco in the streets of Córdoba on a warm evening and dancing until dawn at the feria. But would I ever have a career and if so what would it be?
Skip on again to 2012 when as a young mum of 2 children under 5, once again living in Bath and I see an advert on a local mums website for a spanish speaker to take on some exiting kids language classes in Bath...
Teaching! Yes teaching... so I call the number and find out it is 'fun' teaching, you are your own boss (through a franchise) and teach through songs, stories, games and role play. The students would be young so the level of spanish would not be very high, apparently my accent was amazing and I was just what they were looking for.. .and so it began...
It has not just been the spanish language skills and experience of the culture that I acquired on my adventures in Spain that have made Todo el Mundo. It has been the people who I encountered and situations I found myself in...
The limitless and infectious joy and love my friend and her mother always and still unconditionally share
How to mix business and pleasure the right way from my tough 'jefes' at the bar
The friendships and community found while living on the road and teachings of those people who have lived outside of the normal conventions
Bravery to venture into the unknown and try new things and learn new skills with and of course the resilience to admit to, learn and recover from poor decisions
'Todo el mundo' means everyone in spanish, it was such an all encompassing and welcoming expression that it just had to be the name of my little 'escuela de español' and our values of joy, friendship and learning are certainly a reflection of my own time spent in education, but from my masters at the school of life in Spain.
There are of course so many rewarding and exiting careers with languages:
Diplomat
Spy
Teacher
Translation
Journalist
Hotel manager
Professional sports coaching
Airline services
Marketeer
Publishing
International commerce
International law
There is some helpful guidance on the University of Cambridge's website
Salaries and career progression vary depending on the route you take. Here are some websites reference
Videos from the British Council about different careers with languages made by real people working in those jobs including GCHQ, British Embassy and the RAF
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