Biography: Jane McKenzie

[Jane McKenzie]

My name is Jane McKenzie and I live in Christchurch, New Zealand, where I'm about to complete my post-grad diploma in secondary teaching. At 50 I'm somewhat older than the average 'new' teacher but I'm a qualified and experienced ESOL teacher and have taught journalism (specialising in subbing) at post-graduate level. These teaching experiences follow a long career in journalism, where I started in newspapers but spent 10 years on magazines in Sydney. I won a Churchill Fellowship in 2001 and completed research on the teaching of journalism in the UK, and I have had a couple of short stories published.

Why do I want to join the forum? Because I'd appreciate all the help I can get in a secondary school classroom! My areas are English, classics, ESOL and media studies and I seem to be spending a lot of energy on lesson plans, energy I'd rather save for the classroom. The ESOL environment has set an incredibly good example for sharing lessons and ideas and I'm delighted to find a place such as the forum where similar genuinely helpful exchanges take place. I'm more than willing to share any/all of my material as appropriate.