I began working as an English Teacher back when Blur versus Oasis was still a thing. This included a few early stints employed as a TESOL Teacher/Tutor, most notably in Lille, France, which I somehow managed to give up to return to work in Scotland… three weeks before the Scottish National Football Team took part in France ’98, the last World Cup finals we’ve managed to reach! From 2010 to 2022, I provided ESOL and EAL support as a Support for Learning Teacher. After 23 years employed in various roles within the same school, I am now a member of an Local Authority Specialist Support Service EAL Team. I am still hopeful that Scotland will reach another World Cup before I retire.
The blog will focus on Language, Linguistics and providing English as an Additional Language (EAL) support. It may stray into discussion of Systemic Functional Linguistics, my original passion as a student, though is just as likely to explore the mother tongue of Chewbacca the wookie, or sing the praises of the lyrical genius that is ‘Baby Shark’.
