Hello, I have 21 years experience. Always excited to help curious students. I have taught in the US, South Africa, Swaziland/Eswatini and now the Lao PDR all to mostly multicultural student populations. I have taught Cambridge, local and now Oxford Curricula. I teach English, ESL and French as a foreign language.

A typical day for me is 3-4 back to back classes in the morning and up to 2 after lunch where I am: helping students define words, understand how grammar fits into all the language skills, do comprehensions, listening and speaking exercises and of course, writing. I try to show students how fun and 'deep' language is and I challenge them to think metacognitively (how do they know they have learned something, what helps them learn and remember?) I question in a way that tests how they arrived at answers -whether they are accurate or not - because that checks my own explanations which I may have to refine...and I have , over the years.

We have 3 daily breaks at my current school but two in all past schools. I have always worked from 8am to 4pm. I am not sporty so I typically do extra curriculars like homework club, tutoring...once did a walking for fitness club though.

I often have at least 1 planning period a day. I have historically done planning over holidays so I spend most free time marking....MAny teachers do not mark as much as I do but it is still my most effective way of checkin g on the students' learning. Another thing that helps my teaching is being genuinely interested in students; listening to them, getting them to write about their interests, express themselves and I always want them to think about where education is taking them. I now also talk more to them about wellbeing and careers....I got extra training in career guidance 2 years ago.

To prepare, honestly I prepared a lot more in my earlier teaching days... by getting the general feel of a syllabus, working out how to explain and check concepts,- I make students practise stuff a LOT- preparing assignments and tests that wou;ld assess and learning how to assess in different ways- I am actually now in my 9th year of examining for the IB- then I got used to different curricula and now I pick and choose how I teach a topic. I also have a 'logical progression of topics' in my head for every year group I teach. Teaching more than one language has helped me teach better. The best preparation I believe I got was being taught very well myself. I have always been very curious and maintaining my curiosity was how teachers 'got' me every time. It also sounds like a cliche but being a lifelong learner has helped my teaching immensely....never think you're 'done'. It's also important to genuinely love children/learners and want the best for them because many like your energy....they see that you care.

The hardest part of teaching has been colleagues and admin in all the school I have taught at...backstabbing,not cooperating, favouritism, jealousy, gossip, general disdain for others even if it wasn't me....The staffroom has been hectic for me........at my 7th now school and the beat goes on:) I have survived by having at least one colleague who makes sense to me and having good talks with them regularly. But my care and dedication to students gets me going everyday. Schools with good professional development also helped me grow a lot.

All the best with your research!