Introduce yourself. Who are you & what did you do before TEFL?

Hi, my name is Conor Flynn. I’m currently teaching English at MyEs in Vomero, Naples. I graduated from college in 2021 with a bachelor’s in Biomedical Engineering and worked for 2 years as a Quality Engineer for Johnson & Johnson. Then, I decided to make a change and applied to TEFL’s internship program in Italy.

How did you find the course? Did it prepare you for teaching abroad?

I found out about this course through my family members. My cousin completed her TEFL training and moved to France over 7/8 years ago and ever since it’s been on my mind. I think it somewhat prepared me for teaching abroad but teaching is difficult to prepare for if you haven’t done it before. It’s something you have to practice by doing, in my opinion. 

Why did you choose to teach in Italy?

I was initially looking for an internship to France and still have plans to teach there but there aren’t any internships available in France, so I had a look through the website and saw Italy. I have always had an interest in the Italian language and of course my tiktok and instagrams feeds are filled with videos of beautiful italian cities and towns, so I said “Why not?”.

Tell us about your school, how many teaching hours do you have? What age group are your students?

I love my school. My colleagues are so sweet and have welcomed me with open arms. I couldn’t have asked for a better school if I’m honest. I have anywhere from 20-30 hours a week depending on how busy the school is. We have teens and adult classes. Teens range from 11-18 (I think) and the adults range from 18-young enough to be able to get to school. 

What were three things about your experience in Italy that you did not anticipate?

These are probably specific to Naples..

1. How difficult it was to find accommodation. It has been extremely hard to find accommodation and only that I had saved quite a bit I would’ve been in a very tough situation. 

2. More people speak english than I expected but it’s still invaluable to have some Italian before you arrive. 

3. Transport is extremely unreliable. The metro can take anywhere from 1 min to 30 mins.

Can you share a favourite story or two from your time teaching English in Italy?

My favourite story from Italy would probably be the time I ordered a “Pizza Al Metro”. I was ordering food on JustEat because I was feeling lazy and didn’t feel like embarrassing myself at a restaurant with my minimal Italian. So I ordered a pizza. As I was ordering I saw “pizza al metro” for €7 and of course my Irish brain thought “oh €7, that can’t be too big, I’m sure “al Metro” is just a promotion or some sort of selling point of something”. I’m sure you can guess the rest. Had pizza for the next 3 days…

What do you do in your free time in Italy?

In my spare time, I love to explore the city. I don’t want to travel anywhere else just yet, as there is so much of Naples to explore. I have gone on food tours and pasta-making classes, and sometimes I just go for an aperol spritiz with a book. There’s so much to do here, and I’m never really bored.

Do you have plans once the placement is finished?

Right now, my plans are to stay for at least a year or two. I absolutely love Naples and couldn’t be happier here. After two or so years here, I would think about moving to France to teach English, but right now, I’m not making any plans outside of Naples—not until I learn some Neapolitan, anyway 😉.