Video creation for educators

Alumni Success Stories

Find out what participants think about the VoiCE programme what they've done with it!

Testimonials

Don't take it from me....

The proof of any programme is in what previous participants say about it:
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  • I've learnt soo much and worked with such fantastic colleagues.
  • It's given me confidence and the motivation to actually MAKE video.
  • Constant support 
  • Life-changing stuff!
  • Why are you waiting to enrol?!
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Watch this video to see what some of the participants have said about the course...
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       WHAT DO THEY SAY?

VIDEO TESTIMONIALS

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WHAT PARTICIPANTS SAY ABOUT VoiCE

Use the arrows below or swipe left or right for examples of the engaging, professional video participants have made by the end of the programme and to hear their opinions of the course.

even if you're busy with other things

THREE REASONS

Naoko Kiyan had a lot of other things on her plate when she decided to do VoiCE but she decided that ACTION is the way forward!

Although she had only recently completed her CELTA course, she had a lot of life experience working in international companies and for the United Nations. Her ideas for how she could exploit this to help others developed through the course.

Watch her video to see why she recommends VoiCE
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Naoko Kiyan - Japan    

WHATEVER YOUR LEVEL OF EXPERIENCE IS

TEACHER EDUCATION

Julie Lehner came to the programme with a lot of expereince as a teacher, teacher educator and CELTA and Delta tutor.
Although she'd already dabbled in video making, she wanted the motivation and the accountability that a group programme would provide to help her in her existing work and kickstartnew business.

Watch her video to see why she recommends VoiCE
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julie lehner - romania    

FROM A MATERIAL WRITER'S PERSPECTIVE

IT'S WORTH IT!

Jane Turner works as an EAP tutor at Anglia Ruskin University but is also a materials writer  and wanted to expand this part of her professional life to create a video based self-access course for students to help them develop their academic  vocabulary.  She says 'It's worth it!'

Watch her video to see why she recommends VoiCE
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JANE TURNER - CAMBRIDGE, UK    

limited teaching experience- extensive life experience

ARE YOU TOO OLD?

Hadrian Harris has had an interesting life. After working as an audiologist for a number of years, at 67 he retired but decided that it wasn't time to stop doing something useful and fulfilling. He did CELTA and then learnt how to make engaging video and is setting up his own online teaching business that he plans to run from the sun in Spain.

Watch his video to see why he recommends VoiCE
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hadrian harris - kent, UK    

using video to publicise other businesses

ONLY FOR ELT?

Genevieve White has had a long career as a teacher and a materials writer, but as she branched into teaching copywriting, she realised she would need video making skills to increase her business' visibility.
This one you HAVE to see - it's a testimonial in rap form! 

Watch her video to see why she recommends VoiCE
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genevieve white - shetland, UK    

taking your experience into new areas

NEW HORIZONS

Dita Phillips is a  teacher, teacher trainer, CELTA tutor with a wide range of experience over a number of years but family commitments and a move to Luxumbourg made her rethink her teaching focus. Being a woman whose first language isn't English and having overcome the barriers that this threw up, she is planning to work with women in business to help them grow the confidence that she has developed herself.

Watch her video to see why she recommends VoiCE
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dita phillips - czechia (based in luxumbourg)   

BUILDING ON WHAT YOU ALREADY HAVE

PODCASTS TO VIDEO

Craig Branch started his teaching life in South Korea but ended up settling in Dortmund in Germany teaching a wide range of different students. He came to the VoiCE programme with a background in podcasting, his first love, and a desire to take this further, using video to make online courses to sell and earn more of a passive income as well as attract new learners. 

Watch his video to see why he recommends VoiCE
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CRAIG BRANCH -sCOTLAND (baseD IN GERMANY)   

seeing a need and filling it

A PARTICULAR NICHE

Elham was the recipient of the scholarship place that I offer on every course to increase the reach of the programme. She is from the Kurdish part of Iran, and teaches in a middle school as well as offering teacher development to other teachers in her area. Her objective was to increase the reach of her ideas but also to create an English exam revision programme aimed at students in the Iranian school system. 

Watch her video to see why she recommends VoiCE
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Elham zamaani -IRAN  

aha! now i see how they do it!

SPREAD THE WORD

Linda was the recipient of the first scholarship place that I offered in 2021. She is from the Mexico and during the covid lockdowns began to develop a programme to help Indiginous Mexicans to develop skills for them to teach Spanish as a Second Language. Video making has enabled that to expand and she found the course really enlightening as background knowledge of how the YouTubers she'd been watching achieved such professional results.

Watch her video to see why she recommends VoiCE
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linda osuna -mexico  

it's all about confidence

FAIRY GODMOTHER

Nicola is a teacher, trainer, materials writer, writer of fiction and an amazing person.... but she has always hated being on camera.
VoiCE gave her the nudge and the confidence she needed to make great video that she's used to develop her online programmes at her website 'The Chilled Investor'. 

Watch her video to see why she recommends VoiCE
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nICOLA PRENTIS -uk (bASED IN SPAIN)  

THIS DOESN'T HAVE TO BE A PERSONAL INVESTMENT

EMPLOYERS-LISTEN!

Abby works in the Lewis School of English and she was already creating online courses for teachers using video before the course.... but she wasn't very happy with the way they looked.
Her boss agreed (and funded her) to do the programme and she's now making amazing looking material that the school can be proud to sell.

Watch her video to see why she recommends VoiCE
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ABBY CROUCHER -southampton, uk   

when video making can support a really worthwhile charity

A GREAT CAUSE

Sneh Gupter was the recipient of one of the scholarship places that I offer every time the course runs and I wanted to help her because I was so impressed by her amazing work with children with physical challenges in a school in rural Rajastan.  Little did I know what an incredibly talented video maker she would become -see her video for the impressive results.

Watch her video to see why she recommends VoiCE
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SNEH GUPTER -INDIA  

helping to take an existing business forward

AND NOW -A SONG!

Michelle came to the VoiCE programme with her business 'Inspiring Inquiries' already up and running but she wanted to take it further forward both in creating material to sell but also for publicity.
She made this testimonial as a song (it's worth watching!) and got Chat GPT to help her with the lyrics. See what you think!

Watch her video to see why she recommends VoiCE
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MICHELLE WORGAN -uk  

Empty space, drag to resize

MAKE MONEY!

Swipe right to see some of the businesses that have grown out of the video skills participants have developed during the VoiCE programme.

Case Studies

Case Study 1

Daryna is a CELTA and Delta trainer and wanted to start her own Module 1 Preparation course. A year on, not only has she done that, but she's built a successful YouTube channel and is also running a course to help teachers to use Zoom effectively.
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She says
Thank you so much, Jo! You are just such a wonderful person! The Delta Module 1 prep course has been available for just about a year now. I've got 10 teachers currently preparing for the exam. I couldn't have done it without you 🩷  
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Case Study 2

Sally is an experienced teacher and CELTA tutor and came to the course wanting to expand on her existing online business. At the beginning, she wasn't sure about the direction that she wanted to take, but with support in our one to one tutorials, she developed a course curriculum and videos that she's going to be launching later this year - go Sally! Here's an example of what she's produced.
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She says
I would recommend anyone who wants to know how to create good quality, engaging and professional videos to do the course with Jo.  It is very empowering to learn a new skill and this course has done that for me.  Jo is fantastic.  She has made the course accessible to everyone so you can do it with some knowledge or no knowledge of making videos.  Don't hesitate - book it now.  Really, it could change your life. 
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An example from Sally's '30 day motivator' course
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Case Study 3

Nicola had already started developing an online teaching business when she joined the VoiCE programme. She had realised that there are many English teachers whose first language isn't English who have a great level (C1+) but who want to continue improving their own vocabulary and so she developed a WhatsApp based course to help them.  VoiCE allowed her to take that existing idea and give it wings to make it fly with engaging video content! 
Check out her new website and the fabulous video material she has developed.

She says
Can't rave enough about this course with the wonderful Jo Gakonga. It was inspiring, enriching and great fun. Thank you to my great peers for sharing the experience and providing really helpful feedback. Highly recommend it! 😍
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Check out 'Lexicalship' (Nicola's website) here

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Case Study 4

Does your business have to be related to English language teaching? Definitely not!

Here's another Nicola - Nicola Prentis who  runs an online business giving investment advice. She wanted to make it more scaleable by having input on her group programmes in video format and that's exactly what she's achieved.

Watch her fabulous video about her thoughts on the course and how her confidence on camera grew. Then check out her website to see another example of what video can do.

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Check out 'the Chilled Investor' (Nicola's website) here

Case Study 4

Nathan came to the course with IELTS teaching experience that he wanted to be able to capitalise on. He'd started playing around with video but hadn't got very far on his own. After a few weeks on the course, his ideas crystallised for the kind of online courses he wanted to make and he started making videos  for the first one. He also made this fabulous promo video - check it out.

He says
Find Your VoiCE' has been amazing. I think I'll look back to this time and realise that doing this course was life changing. It's been fun, manageable, challenging and rewarding. We're actually making real videos that we can send out into the real world and use whatever way we wish.  The best thing about doing this course is that you stop thinking about 'doing things' and instead actually do them! I highly recommend it.
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Instagram promo video for Nathan's IELTS prep course
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