Hi! I’m Helen and I’m a friend of Shelly’s. From the minute she showed me My IELTS Classroom I thought it was an incredibly creative, innovative and fantastic teaching resource. I also thought that she is probably the most interesting and fun teacher I’ve ever seen! So I was delighted when she asked me to work with her in helping to look after her students and to help grow her business to reach more students who need her help.
5 Things about Me!
- Growing up I always wanted to be a lawyer so I studied Law and Business Studies at University, went to Law School and qualified as a Family Lawyer. It was only then that I realised that Law really wasn’t the right job for me! Instead, I wanted to help businesses to grow. So I left Law and worked in sales and marketing for an innovative company selling an online service (a bit like Shelly’s) whose target market was Lawyers!
- I worked as a Business Development Manager for a large international law firm for almost 15 years and loved it. Lawyers are very busy and demand high standards from everyone working for them. Never send an email or write a document for a lawyer if your English grammar and spelling are not 100% correct or they won’t trust you or see you as a professional. So I am fanatical about detail and correctly written English, which makes My IELTS Classroom a perfect fit for me!
- I’m ashamed to admit that I don’t speak any language other than English fluently, having only studied German at school. I’ve just returned from Berlin where I was so impressed by all the Germans’ perfect English. So having read Shelly’s blog about immersing yourself in local culture I listened to German radio the whole time I was there!
- I love photography so I trained as a wedding and portrait photographer in my spare time. I understand how hard it is to study something new while still doing your day job!
- I live in the countryside in England, near the sea and my favourite thing is Friday night fish and chips followed by ice cream on the beach with my husband and two children.
The Official Stuff
- LLB in Law and Business Studies (Birmingham University) and Legal Practice Course (College of Law, Chester)
- 15 years experience as a Business Development Manager in a major international law firm
- Former proofreader of Iberian Lawyer Magazine
- Currently working with My IELTS Classroom