Academia Atlantis<\/em><\/a>, provides extra lessons to students from primary and secondary education, as well as university students, helping them with various subjects including languages. \u2018People have become more aware of the importance of knowing another language, which is why centres like ours are becoming increasingly popular\u2019 says Antonio.<\/p>\nHe credits his year at Kent as being one of the best university experiences he\u2019s had. \u2018My independence grew, along with my self-confidence, and I made friends from all over the world. I still keep in touch with my old Kent friends, and follow the latest news from the University\u2019 he says.<\/p>\n
Antonio always wanted to become an English teacher, and his time at Kent made him more determined than ever to achieve his goal. \u2018I learned a lot of methodology and developed my English language skills. I took several courses, \u2018English Language in the Media\u2019 and \u2018English Language Teaching\u2019 among them, which were the boost I needed to teach English\u2019 he explains.<\/p>\n
Two years after leaving the University, Antonio was finally able to turn his teaching dream into reality, and opened Academia Atlantis<\/em>. He hopes that the business will one day become a certified examination centre. \u2018We know this takes a lot of effort, but we\u2019re on the right track. Right now we\u2019re helping university students to prepare for PET, FIRST and CAE tests, which are vital for them as they are required to have a second language certificate at the end of their degree.\u2019<\/p>\nHis advice to anyone thinking of setting up their own business is to always plan ahead. \u2018Make a realistic budget and stick to it. Try to re-use materials from closed businesses; I saved a lot of money by using equipment from former offices. Also, when dealing with banks for a loan, never settle with the first offer they give you. It\u2019s better to study several offers from as many different companies as possible.\u2019<\/p>\n
He admits that the initial stages of setting up a business can be exhausting, but believes that if you stay focused on your end goal, you will overcome any barriers that stand in your way. \u2018The best piece of advice I\u2019ve been given is to never give up on your dreams and to always be yourself, no matter what people think or say\u2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Alumnus Antonio J. Gracia Rodriguez (Darwin 2010), who pursued English studies at Kent in 2010-2011 as part of his year abroad, has opened his own … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34788,"featured_media":994,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[118124],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/993"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34788"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=993"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1001,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/993\/revisions\/1001"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}