Interview Kate Vowles

Working at the Language Centre

Kate Plenter-Vowles has been working as an English teacher at the Language Centre since April 2014. Some of the courses she has taught and continues to teach are general English skills courses ranging from CEFR levels B1 to C1; academic writing courses for students from different faculties; oral (presentation) skills and academic writing courses for law students; workshops on academic writing for visiting students; and personalised one-to-one sessions with people from inside and outside the university.

About Intercultural Competence in her classes

"My classes are often quite diverse, making the courses interesting and challenging. Having lived all over the world, I appreciate that we don’t all do things the same way, and I enjoy bringing this awareness into the classroom. I try to encourage students to better understand each other by communicating about their ideas and backgrounds. As a teacher, I try to be sensitive to the different ways of learning and grasping concepts, as well as creating a space in which the students feel they can be open and relaxed".

Passionate about language learning and teaching

"I enjoy working at the Language Centre because my fellow colleagues are from all over the world and are passionate about language learning and teaching. I feel that I ‘fit in’ because of this". I hope to continue bringing ideas and my enthusiasm for teaching to the Language Centre. I would also like to do more with course development, whether it be materials or structures so our students can enjoy language learning as much as I like teaching it"!