Catherine Wills

 Catherine Wills 13 Jellicoe Street, Werribee Australia 3181- Education Graduate Diploma in Teaching (Primary) Deakin University November 2012 – June 2013 Bachelor of Arts (History) The University of Melbourne March 2010 – November 2012 Employment Experience GnB English Academy, South Korea March 2017 – September 2017 Teacher of English as a Second Language - Teaching English as a second language to students at an after-school private English academy - Running classes for student group sizes between 3-10, aged from 6-13 years old - Focusing on grammar, pronunciation, articulation, and phonological awareness of different levels - Completing a daily report on each class and student progress - Placing phone calls to each student after classes to maintain conversational practice - Being immersed in a new cultural experience of teaching and living in Korea Amberley Emerald Hill Mission, South Melbourne October 2016 – March 2017 Food Van Coordinator - Responsible for coordinating a food van for the homeless community in St Kilda every week - Organising a team of volunteers to assist on the food van each week - Placing a food order of groceries and collecting it - Running a safety briefing and emotional support de-brief after each food van session - Engaging with the homeless community in a respectful and empathy manner of conversations American Village, France April 2014 – June 2016 Language Camp Director (2016) - Responsible for day-to-day management of a language camp, where school groups of French children learn English - Bilingual role in French and English - Managing relations with site staff - Managing a team of 6-10 language counsellors - Managing relations with teachers who accompany the school group - Responsible for a budget to buy camp supplies - Responsible to arranging counsellor transfers to other sites - Ensuring counsellors respect the site and equipment - Providing a comfortable, happy, and fulfilling workplace for counsellors - Running meetings twice a day, one for planning logistics, the other for emotional debrief - Organising counsellor transfers between sites around France, contacting other directors Assistant Director (2015) - Head Language Counsellor in a team of 6-10 people - Head of activities team - Supporting the director with planning and running meetings - Being the point of reference for counsellors when director unavailable - Planning engaging activities for children as part of a team - Communicating regularly with the director - Helping the director make decisions about the team Language Immersion Camp Counsellor (2014) - Teaching English to French children through immersion principles - Planning ESL classes - Organising and planning activities as part of a team of 6-10 people - Being respectful of the site - Taking instructions from and respecting the director - Having fun with the children in a safe and secure environment - Communicating through body language and signals - Transferring to different site locations around France Camp California, Croatia June 2015 – August 2015 Camp Counsellor - Providing a fun and engaging summer program for children - Working with children from a range of different nations and backgrounds - Main roles included dance instructor and gymnastics coach - Managing a group of children to choreograph and perform a routine each week - Supporting a group of girls in my cabin - Eating meals with my cabin group - Providing emotional understanding and empathy to the girls in my cabin - Helping my girls get ready for each day and night - Working as part of team Freelance Writing, self-employed, abroad March 2014 – October 2016 Freelance Writer - Lived in Ireland for 2 months (November/December 2014) - Lived in Morocco for 2 months (June/July 2016) - Contacting different employees via an online agency to find writing work - Writing in a range of styles such as travel blogs, educational articles, informative pieces - Communicating in a precise manner over email - Meeting expectations and deadlines - Being punctual and reliable with work responses - Managing my time and self-motivation to deliver good quality articles Cerebral Palsy Support Network February 2011 – March 2016 Personal Care Worker - Supporting the care needs of a severely disabled girl with cerebral palsy, non-verbal and wheelchair bound - Integrating client into public activities - Working within the home to provide care - Assisting with meal times, originally oral fed food before jejunal peg tube in 2015 - Administering medications, via oral dosages or through the peg tube - Having creative games and activities prepared to do with client - Engaging client in communication via creative means - Learning to interact with client and understand non-verbal signals - Forming close relationships with the parents to provide the best care possible for client Gateways Support Services June 2013 – December 2013 Inclusion Support Worker - Working in a kindergarten setting to provide inclusion support for an autistic child, high functioning Aspergers with symptoms of OCD - Communicating with the other staff members about his behaviours - Recognising his behaviours and providing support for them - Developing strategies with other staff members to manage his behaviour - Helping him to communicate and interact with other children - Providing fun and creative solutions to keep him engaged with his interests Private Tuition February 2011 – March 2014 Primary School Tutor - Worked with a range of students over time, including: 8 year old boy; 12 year old girl; 16 year old boy in English; 11 year old boy; 12 year old boy - Providing support to individualised learning needs of each student - Creating fun, engaging, and interactive hour long sessions on a weekly basis - Communicating regularly with parents about students’ progress at school - Helping students develop learning strategies and understand their strengths and how to apply them - Finding elements of interest for each student and tailoring activities to these Voluntary Experience Edmund Rice Camps Victoria, Melbourne March 2012 – January 2016 Camp Leader - Being part of a team to deliver a retreat programs for people in need - Following the Catholic principles of the Edmund Rice network - Supporting individual needs of each participant - Working on a 1:1 ratio to ‘buddy up’ with a participant, changes throughout the day - Listening to the needs and desires of buddy for the day - Being empathetic and understanding - Having fun with any activity that buddy chooses - Being culturally sensitive - Being respectful of each individuals’ background Camps I have been involved with include: - March 2012 – Asylum Seeker Boys’ Camp - July 2012 – Family Camp (socio-economic disadvantage) - September 2012 – Refugee Family Camp - March 2013 – Asylum Seeker Family Camp - September 2013 – Refugee Family Camp - March 2014 – Asylum Seeker Family Camp - December 2015 – Asylum Seeker Family Camp - January 2016 – Family Camp (socio-economic disadvantage) - March 2017 – Refugee and Asylum Seeker Family Camp i-to-i Volunteering Overseas Experience, India June 2013 Volunteer program - Participated in volunteering program at a school for students with special needs - Worked with the teachers to help deliver programs in English - Taught art to students who were non-verbal - Learning to be culturally sensitive to educational practices - Respectful of religion, Catholic school - Communicating with non-verbal disabled students through body language - Working with limited resources - Finding ways to engage students through art and music Key Personal Strengths - Organisation: I consider myself a highly organised person, having balanced many jobs before. As I have spent much time working seasonal jobs abroad, it was highly important to always stay organised and know how I was going to use my time in between one contract finishing and the next starting. I used freelance writing as a means to continue sourcing an income which involved high amounts of organisation to stay focused and balance my life between work and travel. - Patience: one of my greatest strengths is the ability to remain patient. Working in the disability educational field means that there are many moments arise that bring with them frustration. Staying patient and understanding the circumstances that led to the behaviour is fundamental to resolving the problem, and ensuring that the people involved have a positive outcome. - Cultural Sensitivity: traveling and working abroad has opened my eyes to understanding new cultures and learning how to integrate myself into them. Volunteering with Edmund Rice Camps Victoria was the foundation in this for me as these camps involved working with people from a diverse range of backgrounds. I consider myself well educated and informed on different cultures and religions. - Empathy: a highly important skill, I have developed empathy in a range of different ways. From working with students with disabilities to managing a team as director for American Village, I am highly empathetic and able to relate to different scenarios and feelings presented before me. I have found it incredibly useful to be able to understand the issues of others and talk through the problems with them in order to find a positive solution. - Creativity: I am a very creative person and use colour, art, and graphics to express organisation strategies, moods, and educational practices. I have found that being creative in the disability and teaching field is highly practical in engaging students and helping them develop their own creativity. Also in terms of directing for American Village, having a creative outlook helped me to form a fun and dynamic program and instil creative practices in my team. It also came in very useful when problem solving any issues that arose, whether it was with my team or the students, to think creativity. - Reliability: in many different elements of my professional life, I have been relied on strongly. In my role as a personal care, I was often left solely in charge of the care for my client. This was a huge responsibility given her severe condition, but I proved myself reliable and trustworthy enough for the parents to leave me with her. In addition, my role as a director for American Village meant that I was being relied on to run a language camp and I was depended on to communicate with many different people, in both French and English. I was also relied on to manage a budget and my company had enough trust in me to do this to a good standard. - Determination: the fact that I have spent three years working and traveling abroad shows a sense of determination about me. There have been many logistical and financial obstacles along the way, but I have always been determined to fulfil my goals and follow my dreams. I am a creative and analytical problem solver when any issues arise and I always manage to find an outcome that is most beneficial. - Optimism: this trait is something that I work hard at achieving and maintaining. I firmly believe that a positive attitude can change a situation for the better. It is a skill that I instil in the children I work with in any capacity and a skill that I made sure my team at American Village followed as well. Staying positive takes some strength of the mind, but it is always worthwhile in any situation to see things with an optimistic light. - People Management: during my role as a director for American Village, I was responsible for managing a team. My team changed frequently due to site transfers, which meant that each week I would have new people to integrate into the team. Learning to balance different personalities and help people work to their best capacity using their strengths was a highly valuable skill. I ensured that I used tactics of positive reinforcement and morale boosting suggestions to keep my team happy and working well to provide top quality language immersion sessions for each school group that came through. Referees Name: Amanda Pardue Occupation: Assistant Program Director, American Village Relationship: Employee Contact details:- Name: Fatima Diagne Occupation: Program Director, Camp Beechwood, Maine Relationship: Former colleague Contact details:- Name: Kim Johnson Occupation: Pathology Collector Relationship: Former employee Contact details:- Name: Kathryn Sobey Occupation: Teacher Relationship: Former colleague Contact details:- Name: Janene Isam Occupation: Integration aide Relationship: Former colleague Contact details:-