I majored in English and Psychology in South Africa and then
did my Post Grad studies to become a teacher. I ventured to London where I did
relief teaching (and met my hubby), and after surviving some pretty tough
schools and experiences, my passion was not lost. Upon returning to South
Africa, I secured my first ‘real’ teaching job as an English and Technology
teacher. Sadly this ‘technology’ sounds far more exciting than reality. It was
a subject forced upon students in grade 8 and 9 relating to wiring plugs,
bridge design, 3-d drawings and so forth. With a budget of about $15 a year I
somehow pulled it off, but this was not my passion and I was thrilled when the
school scrapped it. I absolutely loved my grade 8-10 English classes and also
taught Life Orientation to grade 11’s which involved discussing issues such as relationships, healthy eating
and personal well-being, physical well-being, citizenship education, career
guidance, sexual education and the like. Both English and Life Orientation led
to vibrant discussions, sharing ideas and opinions and making sense of information.
After four years at the school, we decided to make the move
to Australia and since my brother was in Brisbane, we headed for Brisbane as
well. I secured a contract for term 2 of 2009 at Grace Lutheran College while a
teacher was on long service leave. I taught grade 9 English, grade 10 Christian
Studies and Grade 11 and 12 Religion and Ethics. I returned to the relief
teaching scene and even risked primary school. I take my hat off to primary
school teachers! I learnt a lot. I was exhausted by the end of the day and I
acquired a new respect for primary teachers, especially prep and year one
teachers. At this point, I was privileged to get another contract as an ESL
(English as a Second Language) teacher at The Gap State High School in
Brisbane. I loved it! I worked with grade 10 – 12 students mostly from China. A
few students were from South Korea and Japan too. These students left their
families and came over to Australia to finish their schooling here. They often
came over with very little English, attended an intensive ‘course’ of one to
two terms before being placed into mainstream schools. My job was to help them
build on their English and get through OP English. It was often a case of
repeating what they had done in class, reading set books or poems with them,
breaking down assignments, checking drafts etc. I also had a grade 10 English
class and we explored Romeo and Juliet, short stories, poetry and music videos.
Sadly, after 18 months at the Gap, I left. I was pregnant and hubby had just
completed his post-grad studies to become a teacher. He was offered a job at
Riverside and I was going on maternity leave. Although we were nervous, we were
thrilled that he had a job and that his teaching career was about to begin.
After my year off with my baby girl in 2011, I have worked
part-time. I worked in Distance Ed, did some teacher aiding, relief teaching
and am now currently doing part-time work as a chaplain. I have enrolled in my
Masters of Education: Guidance and Counselling. I am on the third of eight
units. I am loving the knowledge I am acquiring as it can be used as a Guidance
officer, but also in a classroom setting in understanding students better and
meeting their needs in a changing world, daunting and sometimes empty world. On
that note I leave you, as I ponder what to explore next J
