An interesting one – lots of change!

Leaving Malaysia

My two-year contract at St. Joseph’s International School ended in July. During those two years, our EAL team achieved a lot. Establishing an EAL department in the high school, building multi-tiered provision, embedding in-class support for EAL learners, etc. 

As EAL lead I had amazing support from leaders, great mentorship, a strong team, and awesome collaborators. I miss them!!!

More work with Adri

One of those awesome collaborators (and mentors) was Adri Szlapak. I got to work with Adri for two years, during which time we wrote an EAL resource together for Delta Teacher Development Series. This year, we continued to collaborate on EAL projects for global publishers. Our courses for Hachette Learning Academy went live back in September. Fingers crossed for more chances to work together in 2026, and a shoutout to Gemma D and Anna B who we collaborated with too! Great professionals!

Back to Thailand

It was a family decision to return to Thailand. I’ve enjoyed learning Thai again (well, failing to learn Thai). During a recent lesson, I managed to sustain a conversation about workplace culture for about 5 minutes. Later that evening, I couldn’t remember how to ask a waiter for a fork. 

New job (for a bit)

My first job back in Thailand has been as an English Teacher at an international school. It hasn’t really worked out, so I’m already job hunting.

Handing in my notice after barely three months in a new role was a bit daunting. I went through a range of emotions – inadequacy, disappointment, frustration, etc. However, from very early on it was clear to me that I didn’t fit. It was a mutual thing too – feedback on my teaching during the probation period suggested some clear areas for development.

Writing gig stop-starts

One disappointing thing about that job not working out is that I turned down a really good writing gig in order to take it. I was deep into the sample stages for a new book and had just been presented with the contract. The demands of that early project stage made me think it would be more of a full-time thing for about five months, so I turned it down in favour of a longer-term, classroom-based role. Typical.

On top of that, there have been various project possibilities which have either:

a) fallen at the bidding stage

b) turned out to be too demanding

c) come at exactly the wrong time

Grrr. But also it’s really cool to be considered for such work. Love it.

What now?

I’m working a notice for this academic year (until June 2026). I’m wondering what to do. 

I’ve put myself out there for any work available. I’d love to do writing and consultancy again next year, and I find the writing community very supportive. There are already some possibilities for the new year, which is great. However…

I’m not my best professional self when I’m not in the classroom. I would love to be teaching EAL in a school where I really buy into the model of provision. It would be great to have time in the subject classroom to help implement Tier 1 universal support, time with small groups at Tier 2 to help consolidate core curriculum content, and the chance to design content for Tier 3 provision where needed. 

The chances of finding that Goldilocks role are few and far between. I have an interview for one school that I know do implement (or have implemented) that model, but I can’t pin my hopes on one role. It’s a competitive industry these days and some great practitioners out there.

There’s a faint chance that I’ll look for leadership roles. I lucked out with the previous Head of EAL role at St Joe’s in that there was a good balance between school expectations, school constraints, trust from senior leaders, and the autonomy to make things our own as a team. Will that exist somewhere else? Maybe.

Blog

This year, I’ve focused mainly on:

• documenting the processes involved in setting up EAL provision
• QTS-related posts
• Rants about IGCSE ESL

The latter were popular on socials – good to know that some other teachers were feeling the same. The former (EAL ones) aren’t read much, but seem to be stumbled across now and then by an EAL coordinator that’s been thrown in at the deep end. I still enjoy posting about EAL at the chalkface and I think that will be the vibe for 2026. 

Have a great break!

Categories: General, reflections

Tags: author, eal, elt, materials writing, middle leadership