{"id":46,"date":"2017-03-02T13:30:51","date_gmt":"2017-03-02T11:30:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.hamk.fi\/yrli\/?p=46"},"modified":"2018-02-19T12:51:47","modified_gmt":"2018-02-19T10:51:47","slug":"meet-our-staff-melanie-kirwa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.hamk.fi\/yrli\/meet-our-staff-melanie-kirwa\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet our staff: Melanie Kirwa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Melanie Kirwa<\/a> works as\u00a0the English Language teacher at HAMK. But that’s not the whole case – check below what other things she does! And did you know that Melanie writes children’s books also?<\/p>\n

What are your areas of expertise?\u00a0 What do you teach at HAMK<\/strong><\/p>\n

As the English Language teacher at HAMK, I would definitely say my expertise lies in all things English!\u00a0 I teach English courses to first and second year students, as well as Organization Communication and Finnish Culture to the exchange students who come to study with us.\u00a0 I also play a substantial role in the thesis process as I teach academic writing and have thesis language seminars with the students.\u00a0 In addition, this year I am Co-Teacher Tutor for our first year students and will be the Teacher Tutor for the students who come to study with us next autumn.<\/p>\n

How did you end up at HAMK?\u00a0 What is your background in work life?<\/strong><\/p>\n

My undergraduate degree is in English Literature and Cultural Anthropology, and the anthropologist in me has always had a keen interest in learning about people, cultures and diversity.\u00a0 This of course led to me being an avid traveller, but in order to do so, I needed to make money!\u00a0 I decided to get a certificate in TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) so that I could work and travel at the same time, and realized that I felt most at home in the classroom.\u00a0 This meant more studying and I completed my Master\u2019s Degree and Licentiate Diploma in TESL.<\/p>\n

For a part of my career I worked for a language school in Finland called Linguarama and taught English to business professionals.\u00a0 When Linguarama closed I opened my own company and worked for myself, teaching in practically every business sector in Finland.\u00a0 Finally I decided that I needed some new challenges and a different perspective and moved to the educational sector, where I freelanced until I lucked out and got my job at HAMK!<\/p>\n

What is the best thing in teaching?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The relationships you form with the students.<\/p>\n

What is the best thing at HAMK IB?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Two things! The students and my kick-ass colleagues!\u00a0 For the first time in a long time I am actually part of a team, and professionally have found my home, so that feels really great!\u00a0 And there is something about our students; it is hard to put into words, but every group is so diverse and so unique\u2026I learn just as much from them as they do from me!<\/p>\n

Free time activity?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am married with two children who are eight and four, so they keep me busy!\u00a0 I still try to travel as much as I can, I write African children\u2019s books with my husband who is from Kenya (we have published five!) and I love to read.\u00a0 One thing that many don\u2019t know about me is that I love music, and I actually DJ every now and then with a group of girlfriends of mine\u2026 and we are really good!<\/p>\n

Any tips to applicants?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Be brave, be unconventional and embrace what makes you different!\u00a0 We pride ourselves on being \u201cnot your average\u201d IB program\u2026 so come be unique with us!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Melanie Kirwa works as\u00a0the English Language teacher at HAMK. But that’s not the whole case – check below what other things she does! And did you know that Melanie writes children’s books also? What are your areas of expertise?\u00a0 What do you teach at HAMK As the English Language teacher at HAMK, I would definitelyMore<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":47,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,13,11,12],"tags":[8,17,264,14,265],"class_list":{"0":"post-46","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-international-business","8":"category-meet-our-staff","9":"category-tietojenkasittely","10":"category-tutustu-henkilokuntaamme","11":"tag-international-business","12":"tag-meet-our-staff","13":"tag-meet-our-staff-international-business","14":"tag-tietojenkasittely","15":"tag-tutustu-henkilokuntaamme-tietojenkasittely"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMeet our staff: Melanie Kirwa - Yritt\u00e4jyys ja liiketoimintaosaaminen<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.hamk.fi\/yrli\/meet-our-staff-melanie-kirwa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fi_FI\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meet our staff: Melanie Kirwa - Yritt\u00e4jyys ja liiketoimintaosaaminen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Melanie Kirwa works as\u00a0the English Language teacher at HAMK. 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