At 35 years old, Kieran O'Driscoll left his 17-year-long career at Tipperary County Council and Listowel Urban District Council in the Republic of Ireland to pursue his twin passions: languages and teaching.

“I had always, from earliest childhood, been very interested in becoming a teacher," said Kieran. "At age 18, I took a job in local government administration in which I stayed for over 17 years, but the love of languages—English, Irish, and French—never left me."

A Fresh Start

Kieran went back to school to study languages and translation, got his PhD in French-English literary translation studies and Jules Verne studies, worked as a lecturer and researcher at a few Irish and UK higher education institutions, and got his TESOL qualifications.

Today he teaches intermediate-level Academic English to adult students at the University College Dublin and English Language Academy in Dublin, Republic of Ireland.

He’s been teaching for almost 19 years now.

“Teaching Academic English, as I have done for the past few years on a university campus, is an ideal job for me as I can combine my academic research and writing experience with teaching English for specific—in my case, academic—purposes," said Kieran. "I love the idea of teaching as I always loved learning.”

Kieran O'Driscoll is pictured here.

For Kieran, a typical day of teaching starts at 9:00 am. He teaches Academic English in the morning and IELTS (International English Language Testing System) exam preparation in the afternoon. He usually ends his day with an hour or two of lesson planning, marking, and responding to emails from colleagues and students.

“Since January 2022, I've been fortunate enough to be back full time in the physical classroom, which my students, colleagues, and I all prefer as there is often better teacher-student interaction and higher-quality communicative-based teaching and learning made possible by the traditional physical setting," said Kieran.

"Having said that, it does have to be acknowledged that it was really helpful to have the opportunity to continue to teach and learn online during the worst of the pandemic. I admire all students and teachers who made the best of things in a difficult situation and carried on doing education remotely.”

How Kieran Uses Ellii in His Classroom

Kieran is big fan of Ellii and has been for a long time.

Many of his favorite lessons are from the Discussion Starters and Mini-Debates sections.

“I find the Discussion Starters and Mini-Debates really useful and engaging," he said. "Always great for getting students talking, thinking critically, and working together whilst improving their reading and speaking skills.

"I also love the Group Projects, which I've used for group presentations in both General and Academic English. Students have thus given really interesting, information-rich, and visually appealing presentations on such project topics.”

One of his absolute favorite lessons is the St. Patrick’s Day lesson, which he taught this March.

“I have a soft spot for the lesson on St. Patrick's Day as it's very relevant here in Ireland," Kieran admitted. "I once again taught this lesson and students once more enjoyed it.”

Above all, Kieran loves seeing his students reach their personal, professional, and linguistic goals.

“Seeing them happy at the end of a lesson and at the end of their course and watching them go on to great things—the quiet satisfaction of a job well done,” he said.

When asked if he had any advice for aspiring teachers, Kieran said it’s important to be confident.

“Believe in yourself, enjoy the teaching, never stop learning, and have lots of fun whilst cultivating a healthy work-life balance.”

Want the chance to be featured in our Teacher Feature series? Visit our 20th Anniversary Giveaway blog post to tell us why you love Ellii and how you use it in your classroom.