Arts & Business College London

Final year undergraduate, BA History of Art, mixture of remote and inperson working

Work Projects

One major project I helped with during my internship was revamping the college's website - I created content myself, as well as editing and adapting existing content. I also helped research and market new courses to be delivered by the college, which gave me an insight into how small education businesses can adapt to their potential markets. I received useful constructive criticism about my first attempts at marketing and ultimately produced materials that the college will use to advertise their courses.

I also began teaching regularly for the first time - I was proud to be given the responsibility of managing two English students' conversation practice classes. This was a completely new experience for me and my employers were very reassuring about the experience - after a few sessions I got to grips with the syllabus and had a lot of fun!

Daily Life

I spent some of my internship in the office - a beautiful Georgian townhouse in Bloomsbury - and the rest of it working from home. Once I had met my colleagues once or twice in person, it was very easy to arrange among the few of us when we were going in, our Whatsapp groupchat really helped! My employers were relaxed and flexible about when I came into the office.

I was provided with an entire room to work in, because it was only the central staff who were going in, and everyone was very attentive to my needs. I was told the office is usually very adventurous at lunchtimes, and I did try a few exciting places with my colleagues, but coronavirus unfortunately largely limited us to Pret! Working from home seemed ideal because it let me avoid the cycle in to work, but in fact I missed the commute, and had to take walks after work hours to stretch my legs.

Lasting Impressions

One thing this internship has really given me is a greater interest in teaching. I was honestly quite nervous to be thrown in the deep end, teaching English as a foreign language one on one. I was worried that I was underprepared, but I did quickly learn what my students responded to well and how to help them do their best as individuals. It felt amazing to help them improve their language and I learnt so much about their cultures too - I genuinely miss all of them and am hoping to carry on the teaching aspect of my role with the college moving forwards.

In the meantime, the experience has confirmed to me that I would like teaching - previously I was aware it could be an element of the kinds of outreach roles I want to take on the future, but I am now confident it will be rewarding in the way I had hoped. Because of coronavirus, much of the internship wasn't as advertised, which I understand - but so much of the value of a job comes down to your own attitude, and I learnt lots of different unexpected skills which I'm sure will be useful in the future.