Yay! It's Open House! Time to Meet the Teacher!

I'm joining in with Teaching Blog Addict's Open House Week. Monday is Meet the Teacher - so here goes...

  I was born in Merthyr Tydfil, a town with a proud industrial heritage in the South Wales Valleys. It was here that the first steam engine was built by a man called Richard Trevethick. The engine became the subject of a bet between two local ironmasters, Homfray and Crawshay. In 1804 the engine and track were ready, and Trevethick careered along at a massive speed of 5 miles per hour until he reached his destination 10 miles down the track. Steam locomotion travel was born.         I have lived here all my life, except for a two year period when I moved to Salisbury just after my wedding. It's a wonderful place, just on the edge of the beautiful Brecon Beacons. I love seeing the world but I'll always come back..   I went to school in Hogwarts.. Yes, a real castle! More about this in a future blog.  

  I have lots of relatives in the USA. In the mid 1800's many of my father's family emigrated to Utah. I have managed to track them down but I'd really love to find living relatives - I'm on a quest...   I gained my degree through the Open University, after deciding that I did not want to go away to university. After this, and long after my daughter was born, I decided that the time was right to take up teaching - something I had always wanted to do. I trained at the University of Worcester and graduated in 2006.   My first teaching post was in Hereford, a semi-rural cathedral city on the Welsh English border. The commute was difficult (100 miles each day), but it was worth it. We had a blast! I stayed for four years until the travelling became too much, then took the huge decision to resign - with no job lined up to go to..   Now I'm working in my home town in a job that I love. It won't last forever (everything comes down to funding...) but I'm making the most of it. I teach around 150 children every week. They are children who have moved to the country from places like Poland, Portugal, the Phillipines, Lithuania, Romania etc. My job is to help them to speak, read and write English to a standard where they can access the curriculum taught in the class.   I have the most beautiful daughter, Mia. She will soon be eighteen and is a constant inspiration to me - my whole purpose. 

Mia and my dad

And there you have it - a little bit about me.