Hello, I’m Sapna!

Teacher, Blogger, Linguist

Welcome, friends! The Teaching Cove is your resource for expert teaching resources, motivational tips and organizational life hacks. I’m an English teacher, an applied linguist and a huge advocate of goal-setting.  I love languages, writing, travelling, blogging and teaching. Ready to connect with me? I can’t wait! You can follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest and read my story below.

My Story

How I Caught The Travel (& Teaching) Bug

I’m Canadian! Yes, I’m from that huge land mass of only 35 million people. I absolutely love to travel, learn languages and teach English.  I caught the “travel bug” over ten years ago when I spent a summer between university semesters as an au pair, living and working as a nanny so that I could speak French all day. Actually, I haven’t stopped travelling since! When I first started blogging back in 2006, I was in my last year of university doing an internship in Singapore for part of my business degree. I’ve been hooked since!

Travelling also fueled my interest in hobby photography. So, that’s why all the photos you see on this site and all over my Instagram account are my own creations. Now, I’m excited to blog about my passions and provide teaching, organizational and motivational resources for readers like you.

That Time I Found My Passion

In 2011, I left the corporate world after five long years in marketing back in Canada. For years, I had tutored English and ESL to students of all ages and to new Canadians. Also, I edited countless university essays, masters and PhD theses and realized an academic life may be my idea of fun (geek alert!). Since I loved teaching more than my day job, a tutoring business was the perfect mix! So, I enrolled in a Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching ESL at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec to follow my passion full time. After the course, I tutored kids, teenagers and adults full-time for a year before going on the adventure of a lifetime…

Well, halfway through my course, I discovered the field of Applied Linguistics. Of course, a mix of languages, education and psychology fascinated me. Then, six months later, I was accepted into the University of Oxford’s MSc in Applied Linguistics & Second Language Acquisition degree program. I couldn’t believe my luck! I moved myself (and my beautiful and loyal Labrador) to England, where I planned to live forever…

What? We’re Moving to Spain? 

I would have never guessed that one! Now, four years after following my dream to move to Europe, I’m in Barcelona. working on my PhD, teaching and blogging away. Kiara, my seven year old labrador, is by my side, of course, and she’s huge part of my life. So, you may see her pop up a few times on Instagram, too! I love goal setting and am a firm believer that you can reach your goals, no matter how challenging they may seem at the beginning. I’ve dedicated part of this blog to helping you reach your goals, too.

Five Random Fun Facts

One of the best parts about following bloggers is finding out random facts that really let you connect to the person behind the blog. After all, that’s part of the fun, right? So, here’s my contribution to the pile:

• I love red wine, authentic Italian pizza, dark chocolate and tiramisu  (a weekly treat is half the reason I’m always training at the gym 😉 )
• As far back as I can remember, I’ve wanted a puppy – but I was 24 before I got to have my own!
• Writing a novel has always been a dream of mine
• I LOVE the sea.  It’s one of the best parts about living in Spain. I just can’t get over how beautiful it is! (I bet you couldn’t tell with the ocean related theme all over my blog…  😉 ). Also, I LOVE taking photos of boats.
• Visitors are the best!  Nothing makes me happier than having friends from all over the world visit me wherever I am in the world (you count, too, my lovely readers!)

What Now?

Thanks so much for stopping by!  You can check out the Teach, Motivate and Organize pages to start browsing blog posts.

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