About Me

Hi, my name is Peter but everyone calls me PJ as I share the same name as my Dad. Thank you very much for visiting my blog. Do write a comment down below so I can get to know you. Here is a little bit about me:

I was born in London and lived there until 1999. Then, after working in London for forty-odd years, my parents took me, my brother, and two sisters back to our Irish roots to a lovely, little town called Thurles in Co. Tipperary in Ireland. I completed my secondary education there and went to college in Dundalk and later returned to London to complete my masters. I got into English language teaching with the idea of using it as a platform to get to grips with working in post-primary education. However, I preferred the ELT world and decided to make a career out of it and haven’t looked back since. 

I completed my CELTA in June 2015 in Dublin and was scooped up by Kaplan the week after completing my studies. I cut my teeth there for over a year and then took a break to travel around South America after a summer burnout of teaching. When I returned to Ireland, I settled in my second school in the now closed English Academy and returned to Kaplan for a short stint in the summer. The time I spent working in my third school, The English Studio, is where I really flourished and honed my craft as a practitioner. I had some truly wonderful years there, but, unfortunately, they had to close due to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. I am currently with the Dublin Cultural Institute which is a lovely little school right beside O’Connell bridge.

I completed my Delta in January 2021 with Distance Delta and I found it to be a fantastic experience. I am very excited to see what the future will bring after putting my teaching practices and beliefs through the wringer. I am constantly trying to develop as a teacher. With this in mind, I have started to branch out online connecting with other teachers on social media, presenting at conferences, reading blogs, books and articles, and doing a bit of reflection on my teaching. I’ve done and continue to do some short courses as well:

• Future Learn Certificate in Teaching English Online – May 2019
• Future Learn Certificate in Language Assessment in the Classroom – June 2020
• IH Certificate in Online Tutoring (COLT) – Jan – Feb 2021
• IH Certificate in Teacher Training (TTC) – Feb – June 2021

Outside of teaching, I have a lot of hobbies and interests. I enjoy watching and playing sports: football (Arsenal), hurling (Tipperary, of course!), rugby (Munster), American football (New Orleans Saints), snooker, swimming and the Olympics. I also enjoy reading, travelling, watching films and TV shows, playing video games (mostly JRPGs and Rocket League), a spot of gardening in the summer, and walking my dog, Yuki. A guilty pleasure I developed during the pandemic was watching people make coffee in cafes while I was studying (insert facepalm here)! Languages wise, I am currently learning German (A2) and was learning Spanish for a while but I have to pick that back up again soon. I would love to learn Japanese and Irish one day.

* Please note that all views and opinions seen on this site are my own.