Daniel Plumridge is relatively new to Berlin, having only moved here in November 2019; he has a BA in French and Spanish and has honed his language skills through multilingual customer-service jobs. Now he’s shifting his career focus into our wonderful world of English Teaching! Let’s find out more…
How did you find working in customer service? Have you taken any important lessons from it?
I think the biggest lesson anyone can learn from customer service is patience and an ability to truly listen hard at what someone is trying to communicate. My patience has come on leaps and bounds!
Was it customer service? That sounds challenging!
It was yes! First in Spanish, French and English and now I’m currently only working in French. On the plus side, I see it as getting paid to refine my language skills!
What exactly do you love about teaching English?
The sense of achievement people get when they’ve cracked something that was really difficult, the smile on their face makes it all worth it.
Why did you decide to relocate to Berlin?
Personally I’m a big fan of underground electronic and dance music so that was definitely a pull factor. My girlfriend and I visited in 2018 and thought it would be a fantastic place to live… Turns out we were right!
With so many language skills at your command, will you be moving on across Europe, or is Berlin your home for the foreseeable future?
For now, Berlin is my base camp and I’m working on getting German to a decent level. Who knows what the future will hold…
What was it like teaching your landlord? Was it ‘business English’, or did they just want general English?
My landlord just wants to be able to speak English at B2 level so he and his wife can enjoy their holidays and meet new people, I’m very lucky to have them as landlords.
Do you have any other experience teaching English in Berlin yet? What kind of thing would you like to get into?
I haven’t been able to get into more formal teaching in Berlin yet😟. I don’t have any official ELT qualifications at the moment so I’m currently working on that.
What has it been like to get to know a new city during lockdown?
It’s been tough. The hardest thing is meeting new people and building strong friendships. It’s difficult to share great memories with other people when you’re restricted and can’t meet up.
Which events have you been to? Could you tell us a sentence or two about them?
I went to the inter-ELTA day on zoom in 2020 and it was great fun! I was pleasantly surprised at how people have built unique careers in ELT for themselves and it was inspiring! I also went to the Stammtisch in September; I loved meeting people in real life to just have a chit chat, it was refreshing after all we’ve been through.
… You said you had more dog pictures, yes?
Oh yes! Drop me a message on the Ning and I can send some!
Cute dog pictures have been requested, and Daniel will send them immediately or have his ELTABB membership rescinded*. – Ed.
*I have since been informed that ELTABB membership isn’t dependent on sending cute animal pictures, and I can’t make such threats. – Ed.
RELEASE THE HOUNDS!
