Why I Started Language & Literacy Solutions
I was once an EAL/D learner myself, and that experience has shaped the way I think about students, learning and teaching.
When I became a teacher, I discovered how much teachers genuinely care about their students — how much time they spent thinking about the child who wasn't quite getting it, wondering what was getting in the way, and trying to work out what could actually help. I also saw how difficult that can be.
University gives us an important foundation, but so much of what we need to know is learned once we're actually in the classroom. By then, teachers are juggling so much: planning, assessment, reporting, playground duty, parent meetings, documentation, meetings with psychologists and other professionals, school events and everything else that comes with supporting a class of individual children.
Then there are the students themselves — each with their own experiences, strengths, language, needs and ways of learning. Student work can tell us so much. Interpreting what we're seeing isn't always straightforward. There can be many possibilities behind the same struggle, and knowing what to do next can sometimes feel surprisingly ambiguous.
Over the years, I've collected knowledge, strategies and ways of thinking that I wish I'd had access to when I first started teaching — and even many of the things I wished I had while supporting teachers and students later in my career. That's why I started Language & Literacy Solutions.
I'm passionate about reaching as many educators as I can with practical, research-informed knowledge that can make some of those difficult decisions clearer. If I can help lighten teachers' workload while also equipping and uplifting them in areas that take up so much of their time and can feel uncertain, then that is my contribution to the profession. Because teachers care deeply about their students. They think about them long after the school day has finished — sometimes when they're having dinner with their own families or lying awake at night wondering how they can help. I want to help teachers feel more confident about those decisions, so they can support their students well without having to carry the whole problem home with them.
My Journey
I’ve worked with children since 2007 and in schools since 2010, specialising in literacy and EAL/D intervention across public and independent schools. What I share is grounded in real classrooms, students, teachers and time pressures, not theory alone.
Qualifications
Bachelor of Arts
Master of Teaching
Graduate Certificate in TESOL
The LLS Approach
I built Language and Literacy Solutions on a simple principle:
Identify the problem before prescribing the strategy.
Rather than beginning with a list of strategies, LLS helps educators understand what is happening first — then select and implement an appropriate response.
Identify → Understand → Respond → Implement