| Hans Mol (materials developer - the tall one at the back on the right) writes about Australia. “G’day mate! How ya going?” On the East coast, in a small village close to arty Byron Bay, surrounded by The Big Scrub, this is an oft-repeated greeting between locals in The Office (the local pub). Around me nothing but green hills and, at night, a star-studded sky confirming that we are not alone. As you may have guessed, I live and work in Down Under. It only took a sea change from the murky North Sea to the bright-blue Pacific, to become a full-time materials developer, working for English teachers and learners worldwide.
I've been teaching and writing for almost 25 years now. I've published EFL/ESL/ESP/EAP materials for young learners, teenagers, young adults and adults; general and business, tertiary, international language schools and teacher training. In terms of CEFR, I've catered for all levels from Breakthrough to C2; in Cambridge Exam suite terms for all levels. I also work as an audio producer for language learning projects. (Have a look at http://www.connexxions.com.au ).
Aussies live on a Very-Big-Island-Far-Away. OK, it’s a continent. Having said that, distances are as short as cyberspace allows them to be and I could not do my work without fibre-optic cables linking me to teachers and publishers all over the planet. Despite this being The Lucky Country, I could write endlessly about refugees, taxes, aboriginal issues, red necks and yahoos, urban sprawl and lowering educational standards but every day my mind travels towards the thousands and thousands of teachers everywhere who are trying to make the world a bit smaller and better by spreading the English language. Good on ya!
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