About me? But it's not about me, is it? It's about you.

If you want to learn more about me, Val, the person, the teacher, the coach, the EDUpreneur, check out some of my blog posts. If you're interested in my credentials, just scroll down.

But know that this is not about me.

This is about you.

I've been through so much and I've seen so many educators struggle, that I've made it my life's mission to help you avoid unnecessary stress and anxiety, confusion and lack of confidence, and help you get to the place you deserve to be so that you can finally enjoy life on your own terms.

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Never misplace your homework

January 01, 2022โ€ข2 min read

๐—ก๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—บ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐˜„๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ธ. ๐—Ÿ๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ธ ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ด๐—ผ๐˜ ๐—บ๐—ฒ ๐Ÿ˜‚

I've been asked, many times quite frankly, how I became passionate about languages.

Well, it's because of an awful French teacher who made my life "a living hell" (just exaggerating here to add a bit more drama to the story๐Ÿ˜†)

The truth is, in year 4, I used to memorise texts (and their translations). The first teacher we had would make us stand up in front of the class, read and translate the texts. But I was so bad at French, I had to have my mum help me read, translate and memorise all the texts. ๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜œ

Then, in year 5, we had another teacher. And one day, I simply put my homework in the PE bag and completely forgot about it. This new teacher was soooo mean (people who lived in post-communist Romania in the 90s might know what I'm talking about) ๐Ÿ˜ญ

So she just gave me a 4 (out of 10).

My mum was furious. And that week, guys, I started. I started having private classes. For French. And the following year, for English.

Now, the big bad teacher found out and was quite upset I did not have classes with her. So, during every class, she would check my knowledge. I had to be one step ahead, all the time.

So I continuously had private classes until I was admitted to Uni. Yeah, my mum never got over it :))) Almost every week, even during holidays.

I was actually talking to my best friend the other day, and she told me how sorry she felt for me. She felt I did not have a proper childhood ๐Ÿ˜‚

I told her : when you don't know how it should be, your reality just seems the normal thing.

So, it was definitely not my choice. I didn't even know I "was good at languages". I just practiced so much, that it just became second nature ๐Ÿ˜Ž

Now, I love languages. I also speak a bit of Italian and Spanish, and would mostly like to learn Chinese. ๐Ÿคฉ

๐˜ฝ๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™ฌ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™„ ๐™ก๐™ค๐™ซ๐™š ๐™š๐™ซ๐™š๐™ฃ ๐™ข๐™ค๐™ง๐™š ๐™ž๐™จ ๐™๐™š๐™ก๐™ฅ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ค๐™ฅ๐™ก๐™š ๐™ก๐™š๐™–๐™ง๐™ฃ. ๐‘ณ๐’†๐’‚๐’“๐’ ๐™ก๐™–๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™ช๐™–๐™œ๐™š๐™จ. ๐‘ณ๐’†๐’‚๐’“๐’ ๐’‰๐’๐’˜ ๐’•๐’ ๐’•๐’†๐’‚๐’„๐’‰ ๐’๐’‚๐’๐’ˆ๐’–๐’‚๐’ˆ๐’†๐’”. ๐™Ž๐™š๐™š๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ข ๐™—๐™š๐™˜๐™ค๐™ข๐™š ๐™ข๐™ค๐™ง๐™š ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™›๐™ž๐™™๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ, ๐™›๐™ช๐™ก๐™›๐™ž๐™ก๐™ก๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ž๐™ง ๐™™๐™ง๐™š๐™–๐™ข๐™จ, ๐’Š๐’” ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’Ž๐’๐’”๐’• ๐’“๐’†๐’˜๐’‚๐’“๐’…๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’•๐’‰๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’‡๐’๐’“ ๐’Ž๐’†.

Funny how one thing leads to another.

Did you have enough patience to read so far?

๐Ÿ˜…

Then what about you? How did you get your passion?

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Valentina Popescu

Teacher, Mentor and Coach within Education

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PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

2018 up to present : Manger, DOS, Language Teacher & Coach - VP Empower & VP Modern Foreign Languages

2019 up to present : OET Preparation Provider

2009 - 2018 : Manger, DOS, Language Teacher & Coach - DAGMAR D.V. & Intel Training

2007 - 2009 : JOUVE International, Romania / France

2003 - 2007 : Volunteer : Interpreter & Translator for various organisations, Romania

QUALIFICATIONS

2022 : Classroom activities, interaction and motivation (refresher course), NILE, Norwich

2022 : From Teacher to Trainer, NILE, Norwich

2019 up to present : Coaching within Education, Coaching Academy, UK

2019 : OET Preparation Provider, OET, Australia

2014 : CELTA (Pass A), Kaplan, Ireland

2011 : Management in ELT, Nile, Norwich

2007 : Translation and Interpreting - English and French, Bachelor's Degree, University of Craiova, Romania

2005-2006 : ERASMUS Scholarship, Universite Lille 3, France

2003 : Intensive Mathematics and IT&C, High-school Diploma, Mid-Level Programmer

Valentina has always been passionate about languages, starting taking regular private classes for both English and French since she was 9. However, she then went on to study IT before going back to her passion, languages.

Forward to 2009, she spent two years working for a French multinational company and the European Union, when she discovered a passion for teaching and qualified as a teacher trainer. She then owned and ran her own language school in her home country for 8 years.

In 2014, her journey as an international teacher began when she succeeded in obtaining her teaching qualification for adult students in Dublin, Ireland. That same year, she worked for Kaplan International in Kent, and the next year, returned to work for them in Brighton.

In December 2017, Valentina opened her online Modern Foreign Languages School for adults in England.

At present, Valentina runs two businesses in the United Kingdom, with headquarters in Royal Leamington Spa.

VP Empower, a coaching, mentoring and training academy, and VP Languages, an online language school for adults, collaborating with a great team of OET and IELTS expert teachers.

All rights reserved @ Valentina Popescu 2018-2022