Education is for improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and world better than you found it. I have always had a passion for learning and a desire to help others. I was lucky enough to be able to combine the two in my career and became a school teacher. After two years I realised the London life was not for me so I settled back in Perth, Western Australia to continue my teaching path. I have 17 years of experience teaching in primary school classrooms and I have taught in both private and public school settings in Western Australia.
In I decided to start my Masters in Education Early Childhood as my experience has taught me that the Early Years are when the most significant learning for a child occurs. I watched my own children learn and absorb knowledge in different ways. I felt developing the foundational skills of language had to happen early, otherwise gaps would occur and unless addressed with extra support, would continue throughout their school years. In , as I was running on a treadmill at the gym one afternoon an idea came to me.
I realised that I wanted to help students and families in another way. What I was doing was not enough. I decided to start an online resource for students and families to help with learning. I wanted to be able to enable parents with knowledge and students with skills. I had a plan with a purpose. In , I was talking to a friend of mine about my teaching skills. They mentioned teaching English to adults. I was terrified at the thought of teaching adults. Put me in a room with 30 children no problem, but adults…eek!
I completed it part-time whilst working as a classroom teacher. I met some amazing people and I learned how complex English as a language can be to learn. I realised that my skills as a classroom teacher were going to be of great benefit to help students learn English as an additional language.
Whilst learning to teach English and working with students in schools I realised that my passion is not only with helping young children. I want to be able to help anyone achieve success; in a Kindergarten class or as a non-native English speaker wanting to improve their skills. My passion is to help all on their language learning journey regardless of age or location. And so, My Homeroom came to be.
