How enviable are those who claim they always knew they wanted to teach, how privileged they are to have had such a clear direction in life. I, of course, wasn’t like that. 

What I always knew was that I wanted to help others, but not that teaching was the way to do it. This seems clear now, since an educator is part mentor, part coach, part parent, part therapist, part everything, really, if it suits the needs of the learners, and I feel the constant need to play each role, as long as it helps me help my students.

My route into teaching English as a second language started like many others, by acquiring my CELTA certification (level 5 on the UK RQF), followed by a full DELTA (level 7), which stood me in good stead as I taught everything from CEFR pre-A1 all the way up to C2, to all age groups. 

Because I’m all for helping others, I also decided to become a Cambridge-certified CELTA trainer, and then moved on to teaching English Language, and Literature, at iGCSE, AS and A2, because my passion above all was and still is reading. Outside of the classroom, but still in school, I am a dependable leader of the English Department, and as lead and co-lead of professional development courses.

It will be of little surprise to you to discover that my passions remain stubbornly linked to language. I am particularly drawn to debate, public speaking, and creative writing, interests I have enjoyed nurturing through the clubs I have taught, much to my students’ delight. My fascination with philosophy, philology, and palaeography, meanwhile, tends to find its way into conversations with my friends – much to their despair. 

To say that at Avenor I “hope to”, “dream to”, “aim to”, or “plan to” seems very much not in line with our ethos as a school, for all these verbs seem to convey a fear of acting now, and instead give the idea of waiting for better circumstances that the future might bring. But this is what we do here, we train our learners for the future by creating it together now, in the present. So, I am proud and happy to say at Avenor we “strive to”, and “endeavour to”, and “seek to”, and this is what I help my students do every day.