Global LT’s language teachers are truly the backbone of what we do. And because a lot of our teachers are expats themselves, it allows them to connect to their students on a different level. Meet Lene, a Dutch and English teacher at Global LT.
Lene currently lives in Ireland with her husband and three children. She’s been teaching for about 24 years and has been with Global LT for just over a year. Originally from Belgium, Lene and her family relocated to Ireland 10 years ago when her husband got a job opportunity there.
Lene taught at a Belgian school accredited by the European Council of International Schools for many years, before becoming a principal in a city school. When the opportunity to move to Ireland arose, she was intrigued about being an expat because many people she worked with at the International School were ex-pats. Lene and her husband embraced the opportunity, and they moved to Ireland with their children, who were six years, three years, and two months old at the time.
After settling in Ireland, Lene began teaching in her home. There were a lot of au pairs from Spain, France, and Italy in the area, and they were all looking for English lessons. Lene set up a room in her home as a classroom and started teaching English lessons in groups of 4 or 5. Through word of mouth, Lene was teaching most of the au pairs in the village before she knew it.
With strict rules once Covid hit, Lene had to put the in-person lessons on hold and re-invented herself once again. She suggested that her students try to continue the lessons online. Although none of them had ever done that before, everyone agreed to give it a go. What's more, when many of her students returned to their home countries, they kept the lessons going online.
Lene had now experienced the benefits of teaching language lessons online, and she created a LinkedIn profile to share her teaching experience and attract more students. As luck would have it, at the same time, Global LT was looking for someone to teach English lessons in Lene’s area of Ireland.
After Lene started with Global LT, she quickly gained more students and was delighted. “With my personal business and Global LT added on top of that, the students are everywhere, and I love that international aspect of it."
Lene started her career teaching children and did so for a very long time, and when she started teaching adults, she found that what she loved most about that was the personal relationship she got to build with them. Because language students can feel very vulnerable and might be nervous to speak, Lene said, “You need to build that rapport and have that personal relationship with them. And to get that, you’re going to have to expose yourself a little bit and be vulnerable yourself. You really get to know the students in a very personal way, and you get to know about their culture. They tell so many stories, and as a teacher, you learn so much about how perception can be different, how cultures are different, and that personal relationship with each of my students is what I really, really love about teaching adults.”
The relationships that Lene has built with her students have also extended to her family. Ireland experienced a massive rainfall several weeks ago, and her entire town was flooded. Lene’s house is on a hill just outside of the town center, so the house was safe, but her children were in school, and she couldn’t get to them because everything was flooded. “I didn’t know what to do. I knew one of my Global LT students lived near my girls' school, so I rang her and said, ‘I’m stuck here. I can’t get to my kids, and my kids can’t get to me. They’re in the city center – would you take them in?’ And she did. She doesn’t know my kids at all, my kids don’t know her at all, but she took them in. She made Bolognese for them, spoiled them rotten, and kept them safe until it was safe for my husband to get from his office into the city to collect them.”
Because her kids are in different schools, the girls were in one school, and her son was in another. Lene had another friend who went through the floodwaters to carry her son out on his back. “He just said, ‘I’ll do it. I’ll get your child out.’”
Being an expat, Lene didn’t have any family in the area she could call in that situation, so she had to rely on the kindness of her expat community. “You have a special connection with those students and friends because you’re all in the same boat – nobody has a parent or a grandmother to ring. You kind of create your new family with those people, and you can find a lot of support.”
In addition to teaching Dutch and English, Lene also speaks Spanish, French, and German. “I want to learn Italian as well. I love languages, and I love the process of learning languages. It’s so much fun. It’s like a whole world opens up.”
We think Lene is an incredible teacher, but don’t take our word for it! Here are some of the things her students had to say:
“I'm doing well, and the Dutch lessons are progressing well. I had to pause them for a few weeks, but now I'm back with a one-hour weekly lesson. Overall, I'm very happy with Lene and excited to keep learning.”
“I have finished my class with Lene. I feel she is a very dynamic and good teacher."
“Everything is very good, I like our classes with Lene!”
If you’re ready to start learning a new language, let us know! Our teachers are eager to help you get started.
This blog post was written by Megan Tully, Marketing Manager.
