This is what I'd look like if I was a character in a comic book!
Hi there! My name’s Mark and I live in Parramatta, in the western suburbs of beautiful Sydney. Actually, the hospital that I was born in is just around the corner from where I live now, but it’s not a regular hospital anymore. Instead, it’s a mental hospital. I like telling that to people for some reason.
But I haven’t always lived in Sydney. I spent three and a half years living in London, and also one year living in the Czech Republic. It was in London that I trained to be an English Language teacher. Before that in London I had been working in bars. I learned how to drink quite well, but it wasn’t a very stimulating jobs in other respects.
I’d always had an interest in English, having studied Literature at a high level in High School and also majored in Drama and Cultural Studies in my undergraduate degree at Macquarie University. I’ve also loved writing for as long as I can remember, and edited the Macquarie University student’s magazine with a couple of my friends.
My final class of high school students in London
In London I had the fortune to be able to teach at an after school training college. The students were mainly Korean teenagers, and they were all having difficulty studying at school. The problem was that the teachers thought they were stupid, just because they couldn’t speak English as well as the native students. This meant that I was responsible for teaching these students the complete GCSE English Literature syllabus, two nights a week. It was very satisfying, especially because there were a couple of students who were able to get A’s when their school teacher had predicted they would fail.
This school was my first experience of the difficulties that people face when they are trying to learn a foreign language, or live in a foreign country. It’s an appreciation that I have continued to develop upon returning to Sydney and teaching English here.
I got back to Sydney, in 2004, and started teaching at a language school near central station. Because of my interest in writing, and my experience teaching GCSE students in London, I began teaching Academic English, IELTS Preparation and Writing Skills.
I love these subjects. To me they’re infinitely more interesting than General English. I think partly it’s because we talk about interesting topics in class, like politics and the environment. I know that the topics in General English, like food, shopping, family and travel, are very important and useful when learning a foreign language. It’s just that I find them extremely boring. Also, the students in Academic classes are generally more motivated to work hard, which creates a good environment to teach in.
Final Academic English class - a great bunch!
These days I’m not teaching as much as I used to. I do a little bit here and there, mainly IELTS preparation classes. I also do some IELTS examining, tutoring and writing of practice materials. Recently I’ve been exploring other fields of employment in which I can use my writing and teaching skills to benefit more people, and have enrolled back at university to study a Masters in Applied Linguistics.
I started this blog partly because I’m interested in the English language and wanted to share some of my thoughts and experiences with it. I also realised that there is a large body of people out there who also have an interest in English – learners, teachers and in-between – and I wanted to create a space which was accessible and informative to all of them.
Suggestions, questions and criticisms are always more than welcome.
