My decision to become a teacher stemmed from my experiences volunteering in Eastern Europe as an English language assistant during the Summer breaks at University. It was a time of great personal growth and I'll never forget the smiles on the children's faces and the smile that they put on mine. I then volunteered at a local Primary school during my time at University, assisting pupils who spoke English as a second language in their reading development. These experiences greatly shaped my view on who I wanted to be, and what I wanted to do: teach.

Upon graduation, I moved to Ulyanovsk, Russia to teach English. I faced some tremendous challenges during that time but came out emboldened in my pursuit to make this a successful career and moved to Poland. After two extremely rewarding years becoming a Cambridge qualified English teacher, and preparing over 20 pupils to pass their Cambridge exams, I took a leap of faith into the world of international schools.

I am now in my fifth year of teaching and arrive to work everyday with the same excitement to support, guide and challenge my class. It's important to me that the pupils not only succeed academically, but also grow as people throughout their time together. Their social and emotional development is intrinsically linked with their academics, and those factors are fostered by an atmosphere of safety and non-judgement. Teaching them the skills to self-reflect and emotionally regulate are just as important as their grades and it's important to me that they do not define themselves by a number or letter, but rather by their personable characteristics.
Now in Moscow, with my two cats and Russian partner, I look forward to settling down and developing my professional output. After visiting over 20 countries, I think it's time to plant some roots.