As Cactus Director of Studies, Shirley is responsible for making sure that both the content and delivery of the Cactus courses are as good as they can possibly be.

:: Achieving Learning Aims

Shirley believes that language teaching should be tailored to the needs and interests of the Cactus clients. In the class, the teacher should encourage each student to really engage with the language, and to turn theory into practice as often and as soon as possible. Learning aims should be clear for everyone, and teacher and student should work together towards achieving those aims not only effectively, but also with great enjoyment.

:: Creation of Course Syllabuses

With regard to content, she has, together with some of the Cactus teachers, created syllabuses & outlines for the wide range of courses offered by Cactus. These include courses in English, French, Italian, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, and Mandarin Chinese, from beginner level all the way to advanced in some cases. The syllabuses cover key themes and topics, grammar, vocabulary and skills work. And there are more syllabuses in the pipeline, including Russian, Japanese, Swedish, Turkish, Hebrew and Serbian.

:: Teacher & Course Development Programmes

Cactus is currently developing teacher and course development programmes based on a raft of measures. These include teacher training seminars, same-language teacher focus groups run by the Cactus teachers for the teachers, ongoing classroom observations, regular feedback from clients, and plenty of access to up-to-date information on teaching techniques, materials, and new developments in language learning.

Shirley is also responsible for recruiting new teachers and working with them on the courses they deliver for Cactus. She is always available for coaching and advice, and loves nothing better than to sit down and have a good chinwag about the delights of teaching languages!

:: Language Learning

Shirley believes that learning languages is not just about the academic discipline of understanding and manipulating new grammar and vocabulary. It is about accessing cultures, taking on new perspectives, and having conversations you would never have had otherwise.