Greg Byrne
Creator of Gramatica
Greg Byrne has loved words, languages, stories and the smell of books ever since he was a young boy, and he is grateful that he can combine this passion with his other great love, teaching.
1980s After qualifying with his teaching qualification, Greg began as a primary teacher in 1984 before realising that, while he enjoyed primary teaching, it was not his main passion. After marrying in 1987, he then resigned from the Education Department and joined his father's educational travel business, where he organised and led primary and high school cultural and educational trips to Japan and Indonesia, and also organised similar programs for visiting school groups from Japan, Africa and Indonesia. During this time, he taught English to Japanese school groups. 1990s Greg continued with the family business, and also spent a happy term as a relieving primary principal. (He has taught in the State, private and Catholic systems.) 2000s In 2003, Greg decided to become an ESL teacher, so he did his CELTA, a qualification necessary to teach English as a Second Language. Later that year, he started work at a Perth ESL college, where he discovered that teaching the beautiful English language to overseas adults was what he enjoyed most professionally. He also began to put his thoughts about teaching grammar on paper, gradually adding lesson ideas, snippets of grammar, principles and structures, and classroom successes, many of which he still uses today. 2010s In 2011, he started work teaching in the Bachelor of Education degree at Edith Cowan University, teaching primary and secondary teachers how to become good teachers. He taught English, History, Geography and Education units mainly, as well as Physical Education and Diversity. He still teaches there. In 2014, he went to the University of Western Australia and began a Masters of Medieval and Early Modern Studies, an historical period that deeply fascinates him, particularly the linguistic development of English. He enjoyed every minute of the course, and graduated in June 2016. His dissertation was on the Old English classic poem Beowulf and how the 8th century poet apparently used techniques still used by modern scriptwriters. In 2014, his novel Nine Planets was published by Dragonwell Press. It was his first published novel although he has written three novels and is planning another four! He loves telling stories as well as teaching and learning. In 2015, Greg was approached to develop a 20 week IELTS curriculum for a Perth college in order for students not proficient in English to do the course, gain IELTS 5.5 and then enter the college’s regular courses. This course was approved by CRICOS and ASQA, the federal government regulatory bodies, and is now part of the college’s curriculum. In 2019, Greg began a Master of Education at Edith Cowan University, and has just received his final marks for the course as he writes these words in 2020. 2020s Early in 2020, Greg started to turn all the lessons he has taught since 2003 into online lessons on the Gramatica Academy. What does the future hold? Greg wants to take Gramatica to the world, and tell people that English is much easier than they think!
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Following is a list of his qualifications and other achievements.
Qualifications 1983: Bachelor of Education (Edith Cowan University) 2002: CELTA (Phoenix College) 2016: Master of Medieval and Early Modern Studies (University of Western Australia) 2020: Master of Education (Edith Cowan University) Conference presentations 2012: CSA conference (Perth, for primary teachers) November 2014: WATESOL PD Fest (Perth, ESL) March 2015: Queensland ESL PD Fest (Brisbane, ESL) October 2015: SETESOL Regional Conference (New Orleans, ESL) November, 2015: Melbourne PD Fest (ESL) September 2016: LATESOL Conference (New Orleans, ESL) January 2017: TESOL Seminar (Philippines, ESL) October 2017: CIEC workshop (Cambridge, UK) September 2018: North Metro TAFE Symposium (Perth, Australia) Greg has also done numerous Gramatica Professional Development sessions for primary schools and ESL teachers around Western Australia and in the USA. ESL Teaching 2003-2008: Eurocentres Perth 2008-2009: Central Institute of Technology, Perth 2010-2016: Kaplan International College, Perth. 2018-2020: Kingston International College, Perth * students of all ages, from five years old to 70. * from more than 50 different countries, from Albania to Zambia. * in all General levels, from Elementary to Advanced, * in IELTS, Cambridge and FCE courses. Curriculum Development Greg was approached in October 2015 to develop a 20 week ESL curriculum for a Perth college in order for students not proficient in English to do the course, gain IELTS 5.5 and then enter the college's regular courses. This course was approved by CRICOS and ASQA, the federal government regulatory bodies, and is now part of the college's curriculum. Personal Greg is married to a teacher, with three adult children, one of whom just graduated with her teaching degree, and he is enormously proud of all of them. Two of his children are married, but he is not a grandfather yet! In his spare time, he loves travelling, reading, history, languages, his family, writing novels, learning and sport. He speaks and understands a little Italian, Japanese and German, and can count to 10 in many different languages! Travel Greg has been to these places (in alphabetical order): England (once) India (once) Indonesia (4 times) Japan (18 times) Papua New Guinea (once) the Philippines (once) USA (4 times) |
