Like many people, I got into teaching ELT/ESOL almost by accident. I fancied a year out abroad after university...and twenty odd years later I'm still doing it. I spent eight years abroad, first in Portugal and Brazil, with a year back in the UK to do an MA in ELT, before spending the last four years in Poland (that was a culture shock after Brazil!) In 1998 I came back to the UK permanently to work at Solihull College, where I taught ESOL students and trained teachers on CELTA, DELTA and DTTLS courses. A couple of years ago I decided to go freelance and as well as working on the Level 5 ESOL course, I also write ELT coursebooks. This all fits well with my life outside work, where I have two young children to contend with - Sam, nearly 8 and Sophie, just 5.