Updated on January 3, 2025
Breaking barriers in healthcare: An interview with Shanti van der Shoot, Interim Teacher Team Lead – Health Education
Language plays a critical role in the healthcare sector, especially for international professionals navigating new systems and cultures. Lingoda Health is at the forefront of this challenge, offering specialized language training to empower healthcare workers, including nurses, midwives, and doctors, to communicate effectively and integrate seamlessly into workplaces like those in Germany.
Today, we sit down with Shanti, who recently stepped into the role of Teacher Team Lead – Health Education at Lingoda. Shanti brings a wealth of experience and passion to her role, leading medical educators, doctors, and language teachers who deliver life-changing language lessons to international nurses and healthcare professionals. In our conversation, she shares insights about her new role, her vision for the future, and what excites her most about this rewarding work.
Interested in joining our team? Check out our open positions on our career page!
My role is to bring our diverse group of teachers and educators together, each bringing unique perspectives. Over 1,200 medical educators, doctors, and language teachers deliver our health lessons to our students. They are the heart of the Lingoda product, and I am proud to lead them into a constantly improving learning and teaching experience. We offer our international nurses and other healthcare professionals a seamless, life-changing language-learning experience.
When I first joined Lingoda, the healthcare courses were just beginning to grow. I’ve been passionate about providing our teachers with the resources and tools to help our international nurses change their careers and lives. It’s been incredibly rewarding to see how much the project has expanded, and I’m excited to continue supporting our educators and teachers to allow them to focus on what they do best: Educating our students and creating cutting-edge course material.
In 2025, I am eager to continue engaging with our teachers and collaborating with the entire Lingoda team to implement further innovations that will empower teachers and educators.
In my new leadership role, I’d like to develop my skills in change management. As we continue to innovate and implement new strategies, it’s essential to effectively lead the team through transitions. I’m particularly interested in learning how to facilitate smoother adaptations to change and ensure that all team members feel confident and engaged throughout the process.
I’m also looking forward to refining my ability to delegate and prioritize, ensuring that I focus on the most impactful initiatives while empowering my team to take ownership of their work. By continuing to grow in these areas, I aim to foster an efficient, motivated, and resilient team that thrives in an ever-changing educational landscape.
Finally, I’m eager to enhance my team-building skills. As a leader, it’s essential to cultivate a positive and cohesive environment where everyone feels valued and supported, especially as our team continues to grow. I want to focus on improving my ability to navigate challenges in a way that strengthens relationships and maintains the team’s motivation.
What I find most fulfilling about working with our educators and teachers is the opportunity to have a direct and tangible impact on our students’ learning experiences. They are incredibly passionate about education and dedicated to changing their students’ lives, which is something I genuinely admire. Through supporting our educators, I have the opportunity to contribute to the success and growth of our students, particularly those in healthcare courses, who are working towards a life-changing recognition process.
The most rewarding part of my job at Lingoda is the variety of tasks and the collaborative nature of my work. I have the opportunity to work closely with different teams, including the product team, strategy team, business development team, and HR team. Through these cross-functional collaborations, we can have a real, tangible impact on the overall direction of our healthcare courses and the teaching and learning experience.
Additionally, it’s fulfilling being part of the process that helps bring talented individuals into the team, watching them grow and supporting them as they integrate into our culture and contribute to our shared goals.
I speak German, English, Spanish, and a bit Catalan. I would love to learn French as well.
