Christine started her teaching career teaching English at a small rural school in Australia and was there for seven years. After taking a one-year break to travel and enhance her life experiences gaining insights into different cultures, she returned to Australia and continued her teaching career in a city school for another eight years. She became a NET teacher living and loving life in Hong Kong. Whilst in Hong Kong, Christine gained her TESOL Diploma and worked for ITS as an English tutor. After sixteen successful years in Hong Kong, she returned to Australia. She continues to teach online for ITS.

On becoming a teacher:

I became a teacher due to my love of reading. I wanted to share my passion for the beauty of literature with teenagers. I wanted my students to learn to appreciate the written word and open their eyes to the wonder of new worlds learnt about in books. Literature opens the door to new knowledge, new experiences, new vocabulary, and new ideas. I enjoyed reading books about travellers’ experiences in far flung places and this ignited my own curiosity to start to travel as an adult. Books, whether they are fiction, non-fiction, drama, or a collection of poetry, are like life-long friends, and they can be returned to time and time again with new insights and appreciation gained on each new visitation. I hope to inspire my students to read and write and enhance their lives.

I most enjoy making a difference in a student’s life. I enjoy the spark that comes with interacting with teenagers. I enjoy the fact that we can teach each other new things. I enjoy building up a rapport with a student. I enjoy imparting my knowledge and helping students to better themselves.

My other interests:

I have a love of nature and of travel. Both interests help me to embrace new places, cultures, and ideas. As you travel, you soak in new vistas, whether they be natural or man-made. You are exposed to new languages and communication becomes vitally important. You must be a lateral thinker so when plans go awry, you must adapt to your surroundings and find solutions.

Some people I find admirable and inspirational:

Leonardo Da Vinci, whilst not renowned as a writer did in fact compile notebooks. In these notebooks, he detailed his ideas, inventions, and observations. To me he is inspirational as he embodies the period of enlightenment of the Renaissance. He was a sculptor, artist, inventor, anatomist, scientist, and engineer. I admire his vision and his intellect. He truly was a remarkable man.