Sophie

Travel information

I am currently

Activities i am interested in:

Friends to meet to explore Prague :)

Description

My name is Sophie and I’m from the middle of England - a place called Birmingham where we say ‘Alright bab’ instead of ‘Hello’ and ‘Tarra a bit!’ instead of ‘Goodbye!’. It’s not the most beautiful of places (maybe that’s why I like to travel) but the people are great and I was very lucky to grow up there.

As a young adult moved to Nottingham (the land of Robin Hood) and after university I worked for a contemporary dance company where I studied digital marketing and live events production. After that I stayed in Nottingham and went on to university to study film production.

I have always spent my free time volunteering. I have volunteered at music festivals, ran free events for young people and helped to make costumes for Nottingham Carnival (hours and hours and hours!) I have also been abroad to South Africa and taught in schools and helped refugees in France and Greece through various NGOs.

Before the pandemic I trained as an English teacher and worked full time at PGL for a couple of years instructing outdoor activities to children like rock climbing and zip lining . I’m very good at knots - you should see my shoe laces!

When COVID 19 happened I lost my job but I made the best of a a bad situation and moved to Greece where I taught English and coordinated the teaching programme at an NGO called Northern Lights Aid (NLA).

During my time at NLA I took a night bus to Istanbul for a short weekend adventure and I completely fell in love with the beauty and chaos of the city. After Brexit went through I had to leave my volunteer position in Greece and so I went back to Istanbul and swiftly began my journey with Workaway.

I have had two Workaway adventures so far...
For the first I worked with a textiles artist and helped him to make psychedelic felt hats for his Etsy business and for the second I worked as an au pair for a Turkish family, did house keeping duties and helped with their Airbnb business. I had a great experience with both! I have also spent the last 3 Summers doing house sits through the website 'TrustedHousesitters' where I care for people's animals while they travel themselves. I will link my profile here: https://www.trustedhousesitters.com/house-and-pet-sitters/united-kingdom/scotland/glasgow/l/2048079/?

I enjoyed Istanbul so much that I decided to stay and I spent two and a half years in the city working as a preschool / English teacher. It was a wonderful adventure and I loved living in a place that felt like the centre of the world.

In Summer 2024 I moved home to the UK to be with family who moved to Scotland while I was living away. I am not located in the beautiful region of Galloway - close to the border with England. Living in the middle of the countryside has taken some adjusting to after being in a big city for so long but it's great for my new hobby of trail running!

So to take us up to the present day...

I have a house sit planned for Prague 2nd - 25th April 2025 and then I will travel to Cyprus for another house sit from 1st to 24th May 2025. After this my plans are very flexible and I am looking for fresh Workaway opportunities!

Interests

Dancing

Cooking & food

Events & social

Gardening

History

Music

Outdoor activities

Self development

Videography

Sustainability

Sailing / Boating

Water sports

Writing

Yoga / Wellness

Winter sports

Photography

Performing arts

Movies & TV

Languages

Hiking

Fitness

Drawing & painting

DIY & crafts

Culture

Charity work

Camping

Adventure sports

Animals

Books

Art & design

Languages

Languages spoken
English: Fluent
German: Beginner
French: Beginner

More details about my language interests
I am a qualified English teacher and would like to exchange my knowledge with the native speaker of another language. I am interested in learning German, Turkish and French.

Find a language buddy

Skills and knowledge I'd like to share or learn

I'm interested in:  

Eco Projects

Animal Care

DIY and building projects

Being an elderly companion

---

Some knowledge of:  

Gardening

Creating/ Cooking family meals

Helping around the house

Helping with Computers/ Internet

Hospitality/Tourism

---

Able to teach about:  

Babysitting and creative play

Charity Work

Languages

Art Projects

Teaching

More details about your skills

Teaching:
I am a CELTA qualified (LAL Torquay) English teacher with over a year of experience. I have taught various levels from beginner to advanced. I am able to plan my own lessons, monitor student progression, choose / follow a curriculum and coordinate other teachers. I have tutored individuals and taught both small and large groups. I taught ESL at an NGO in Greece for 1 year to refugees from Afghanistan. I have worked as a freelance tutor in Istanbul helping adult students refine their grammar and pronunciation skills. I have been working as a kindergarten teacher in for 2 and a half years.

Child Care:
I have several years experience of working with children. I worked as an activity instructor at a UK adventure company (PGL) instructing children age 7-17 in outdoor sports such as rock climbing and archery. My role also involved managing the children’s time, taking them to dinner, entertaining them with songs and games between activities and monitoring their welfare. I worked as an live in nanny for a 4 year old girl in Istanbul and taught her English, played with her, cooked her meals and took her on outings. My role as a kindergarten teacher for 2 and a half years has involved a huge amount of child care and I have been managing large classes of 3-5 year old mixed gender kids.

Creative:
I have artistic skills such as painting and drawing. I have attached some example pictures onto my Workaway profile. I also have experience with photography and video editing as a hobby. I previously ran art workshops at my local community arts centre (City Arts) in Nottingham, UK and spent two years making costumes for the carnival we held. During my time as a kindergarten teacher I was frequently given the main responsibility to decorate the school with my displays and paintings. I spend some of my free time producing artwork and at the moment my focus is collage art.

Performance:
I was in a samba band for several years performing at events in the UK with my troupe Can Samba. I have had training as a puppeteer and have performed at Nottingham Puppet Festival and at carnivals around the country.
I used to work as a mascot for children’s events where I performed as Mickey Mouse and Peppa Pig amongst others.

Social Media and Administration:
I worked for a contemporary dance company in Nottingham, UK (Dance4) as their apprentice and spent my time doing social media marketing and producing events. I have lots of experience with using computers for office administration.

Events management:
I ran events for young people in Nottingham, UK for 3 years. These events were mostly held at Nottingham Contemporary art gallery where we frequently put on film screenings and workshops. I also ran dance events during my time at Dance4.

Customer service:
I have lots of customer service experience and I am comfortable working behind a bar, in a restaurant environment or in retail / sales. I am used to operating tills, restocking, working in a team, selling products, keeping the environment presentable and the customer’s needs attended to.

Animal Care

I have extensive experience caring for friend's pets and have spent the last 3 summers pet sitting in Europe through the website Trusted Housesitters. I have cared for elderly animals, young, sick and anxious rescues and I am very confident in my capabilities to care.

Cleaning:
I have experience of cleaning rooms from my time working at PGL where the outdoor instructors (like myself) would often help out the cleaning team when we were understaffed. During my time as an au pair I would also clean the family's house from top to bottom and also tidy and clean their two Airbnb properties before welcoming new guests. During my various house sits I have also been responsible for keeping their houses fresh and clean for when the owners arrived home.

Cooking:
As of this year cooking has become a hobby of mine and although I have never cooked professionally I would feel happy to make someone a nice meal as I do for myself. I love sharing my food with friends and I have never had any complaints!

Age

30

Some more information

• 

  Smoker

• 

  Driver's licence

• 

  Allergies

• 

  Special dietary requirements
  No