Academic Manager
Warwick Thorn
In my mid 20s I found myself in London taking a Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults. In preparation for that, I had been able to observe and participate in an ESOL class at a polytechnic (equivalent to TAFE) in Auckland. After completing the course I travelled to Egypt, where I worked for a year for a local language school. I loved it! I taught children and young adult classes and after a while took on some private lessons for some hotel managers. One memorable event of that time was being invited by an Egyptian friend to spend a weekend at a remote Egyptian village. I also loved the driving in Cairo! Because of my moustache and a suntan I could be taken for an Egyptian in the evenings - it was an interesting cultural experience being treated as a foreigner sometimes and as a local on other occasions.
After returning to New Zealand two years later, I got married and began building a quiver of children; I was relatively settled. In those days the private English schools were few with very small numbers. I found work with the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) initially teaching English to Pacific Islanders and also to Asian migrant groups. That employment didn’t include the summer breaks, when I picked up work with some of the English Schools.
One summer I ran my own school in a historic house that I was able to rent. During that time I was introduced to someone wanting to start an English school and for the next 7 years I combined part time work at AUT with Director of Studies work at the English School which was called Edenz Colleges. Because of this arrangement I had the opportunity to gain experience in teaching, course coordination, curriculum design, academic management - including government approval processes and quality assurance. As well as General English I was able to teach ESP classes including English for Communication in the workplace, English for Production Engineering and English for Starting a Small Business. After the point where I couldn’t manage both jobs I worked full time for a period with AUT as a coordinator for an ESOL work-based training programme. Later, I returned to Edenz full-time in a management capacity – but not to be confined, I was able to maintain some teaching, along with piloting of new programmes. One of the things I treasure about this experience is having been able to work with different kinds of ESOL learners – international students, ex-refugees, and migrants. Each of these groups had their own learning needs as they travelled their respective paths in life.
At Edenz, I helped establish and coordinate a Certificate in TESOL programme. I was also involved in TESOL curriculum development and some TESOL training and at AUT was a mentor trainer for TESOL trainees doing their TESOL Certificate. I also built professional development material based on TESOL diploma content and a manual for certificate in TESOL course.
I have always been interested in educational technology. Initially, I developed some videos for teaching ESOL for workplace instruction. I then got enthusiastic about Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) and began a 5-year out-of-work project to develop a series of CD-ROMS. At one point I put my suit on and showcased my software at a Tokyo computer show, thanks to government sponsorship. I sold the software directly and through my website, but after a while I pulled the plug on it to avoid spending the rest of my life being immersed in technology. That was how I was feeling at the time. However, I kept up with my interest through developing an intranet at Edenz as part of my MA in Communication Studies thesis. That was a real challenge because during that project period there was a boom of Chinese international students in New Zealand, with the student numbers in the school increasing from 300 to 1500 in just a year and a half and then the numbers dropped, just as significantly – whew!
Not to forget the urge for overseas involvement, apart from a few overseas marketing trips, I lead an initiative to start an English language school in Varna, Bulgaria. I can vividly remember the animated and protracted leasing debates with the three building owners who didn’t get on with each other due to a history of 50% communist ownership transfer. On asking a Bulgarian friend to describe the Bulgarian cultural personality, they were described as a people with such a mix of different cultures that individuals vary greatly – this makes for a very animated culture, in my experience. I loved it. Varna is on the Black Sea coast, a bus ride up from Turkey, a trip which I took on a number of occasions, and it’s a summer resort town for European and Russian holiday makers.
After a stint working for a college in the resort town of Queenstown, New Zealand, where in my free time I was able to practise the newly developing niche sport of flying parachutes down mountains, I find myself now in sunny Brisbane with my gorgeous wife and young son. I could say that either Cairo or Varna are my favourite cities, but each is really special. Right now I’m in Brisbane, so Brisbane’s my favourite city now!
TESOL has opened doors to a fascinating variety of work interests, to working with people who have a great sense of adventure and travel and to meet and teach many students from different cultures and situations in life. It’s turned out to be an incredible career for me.
