Language for Fun franchisee Lucy Martin explains her life changing decision
Lucy Martin runs a Language for Fun franchise teaching French, Spanish and Italian to more than 100 adults in Greenwich, south-east London.
“My quality of life is beyond what I thought possible five years ago.”
As one of those people instinctively attracted to teaching, I never had any doubt after graduating with a languages degree in 2000 that I would qualify as a teacher. The dynamism and ever-evolving challenge of mainstream education, the energy of working with teenagers and the deep satisfaction of sharing my beloved specialism to impact their lives made it the best job in the world… until it wasn’t. I loved being an MFL teacher for fifteen years… until I didn’t. In the final months I found myself morphing into the staffroom cliché: the bitter old cynic ranting about the good old days when children behaved and parents were supportive, enjoying my job less and less, until in 2018 I finally made the decision to get out.
A brave move, but also a terrifying one. Desperate by that point to leave, I had no idea what my future would look like but in the following weeks I allowed myself to fantasise about my ideal job. What did I want for the next chapter in my professional life? To work with my languages - obviously. To utilise my teaching skills - ideally. To make the most of my people skills honed by years of managing adolescents - definitely. I still loved teaching – still craved that buzz of a classroom when it’s going right and everyone wants to be there. But I also wanted to be free from the control, the politics, the endless new policies, and the stress. I craved peace, freedom, room for creativity, space to breathe while doing what I loved – teaching languages – which, let’s face it, was also the only thing I knew. My inner cynic told me to suppress all this wishful thinking and call round the supermarkets for checkout opportunities. I didn’t listen though. Which was just as well, because then I found Language for Fun.
As a franchisee with Language for Fun, I have all the things on my wish list and more. I teach the languages I love through a high-quality curriculum to motivated students. I’m my own boss and I control my own time. I’m part of a national peer support network. I have access to support and advice, but I’m free to run my business as I see fit and I’ve developed new skills in business development and management. For around 15 hours work a week I earn more than the equivalent of my old part time salary but with no marking or behaviour management issues, and minimal planning.
My business is growing and I am present for my children. My quality of life is beyond what I thought possible five years ago.
Language for Fun calls its franchise opportunity “Lovely, Lifelong, Livelihoods for Linguists”. Five years in, I can testify to the authenticity of this claim. For this linguist at least, there are no regrets. Thanks to becoming a franchisee in their network, I love being a language teacher again.