{"id":9760,"date":"2021-11-29T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-29T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bridge.edu\/tefl\/blog\/?p=9760"},"modified":"2025-12-05T05:06:55","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T12:06:55","slug":"bridge-grad-vera-from-russia-taking-english-teaching-to-social-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bridge.edu\/tefl\/blog\/bridge-grad-vera-from-russia-taking-english-teaching-to-social-media\/","title":{"rendered":"Bridge Grad Vera, From Russia, Taking English Teaching to Social Media"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In addition to teaching Business English in Chile, and teaching private students online, Bridge graduate Vera Baranovskaya (a former BridgeUniverse Summit<\/a> presenter) also uses social media to help people improve their English skills. She started her own Speaking Club, a weekly live English-focused event on Instagram. In this interview, Vera shares how this social initiative engages potential students and helps her thrive as an online ESL teacher. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hi Vera! Can you tell us a bit about yourself?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Hi there! I’m an English teacher from Nalchik, Russia, which is located between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. I have six years of teaching experience and Bridge TEFL certification<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started teaching back in Russia while working for Pullman Hotel in Sochi, which brought me to an amazing adventure of teaching kids in Bogot\u00e1 along with the AIESEC Shape Colombia project<\/a>. After the project was over, I went to Chile in 2016 and I was hired by Bridge as a Business English teacher, which gave me more teaching experience and an opportunity to teach in various international companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How has your teaching experience in Chile been?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It has been very interesting because I have had lots of opportunities. I still think that Chile is a country of opportunity. There are lots of things to do and many cheap flights to nearby countries. I really enjoy my stay here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Vera
Vera during a hiking trip with her students in Chile<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I taught a couple of courses in a different institute for a couple of months and then I started having private classes. As a result, I was hired by an insurance company as a full-time, in-company teacher. I had at least 20 students there. Actually, it\u2019s been my best job so far. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Vera
Vera with her business English students in Chile<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You returned to Russia temporarily when the pandemic hit, and taught English online. How did you adapt to the online classroom?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I was scared at first because I hadn\u2019t experienced teaching English online. I found out about Zoom and researched how it works. I started learning about the buttons on the platform, and I figured out they have the same functions as the tools I use for teaching in a real classroom. I can have a whiteboard and I can share my screen and sounds from my computer, which is pretty amazing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was very nervous about my first class but it was just fine. It was just like a normal class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Russia
Russia in Nalchik<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Your current job allows you time to travel and work remotely as a digital nomad part of the year. Where did you go in 2021?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

From March to July I visited five countries!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m fascinated by Colombia so in March I got cheap tickets to Bogot\u00e1, booked a nice Airbnb and left Chile with an idea of visiting Central America and Mexico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About one and a half months I spent in Colombia, working from home and meeting new people, that’s how I met a girl from the Cambridge University who later joined me for my trip to Guatemala where my improvised desk had an incredible lake view and then Mexico where I tried diving for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Costa Rica, I was lucky enough to be visited by my friend from the US so we rented a car and went across the country in 5 days! Girls are powerful \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Were there challenges? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Yeah, plenty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Panama airport, they took my passport and brought me to a hotel in the middle of nowhere to do a 3-days quarantine but it got better when I figured out that the WiFi signal was strong enough to teach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n