I have a Bachelor of Social Work from Massey University, Palmerston North, Aotearoa/New Zealand, a Royal Society of Arts Certificate in Teaching English as a Foreign Language from the Volkshochschule, Zurich, Switzerland, a postgraduate Diploma in Teaching English as a Second or Other Language from Victoria University, Wellington, Aotearoa/New Zealand and a Diploma in Editing and Proofreading from the New Zealand Institute of Business Studies.

I lived in Europe for nearly 10 years and have continued to travel widely since returning to Aotearoa/New Zealand. While living in Europe I taught at language schools,  for businesses, proofed and edited conference papers and coached in their delivery, learned several languages, one of them an oral dialect and had two children, both of whom are bi-lingual.

Back in Aotearoa/New Zealand I was a founding teacher for a new English language provider in the tertiary sector focusing on the needs of adult refugees and their resettlement.

I worked closely with the members of CLANZ, Community Languages Association of New Zealand and supported and advocated for mother tongue maintenance in schools and families, supported community languages and advocated for their inclusion in the professional conference CLESOL.

I worked in the delivery of legal education in plain English and wrote and edited my employer’s monthly newsletter.

During Aotearoa/New Zealand’s  lockdown I was fortunate to add to my portfolio of writing experience by writing the script for a short film based on the director/producer’s ideas, plot and characterisations . Adding to my writing debut in film I was also able to receive a credit as musical director.