Meet Laura – The Touring Teacher!

Hello! My name is Laura Alice and I am a Primary School Teacher from Auckland, NZ. I have been teaching in London for over two years now, and it has been an incredible experience. I have done a mixture of supply and full-time teaching, have met some fantastic teachers along the way and been to some amazing schools.

I am now going on a new adventure.  I’ll still be teaching, but in a different way… I’ll be working on ‘The Touring Teacher’ – an online teaching resource!

The Touring Teacher

The Touring Teacher is an educational web series for teachers and educators to use in their classrooms. With a range of videos, resources and activities for a variety of year levels, covering a range of curriculum areas, The Touring Teacher is the perfect classroom companion. Nearly every place that I visit, I film a lesson video that links that place with school curriculum.

We have schools in NZ and Aus that are using these lessons, and we have recently had UK schools jumping on board. My husband and I have bought a van, and we will be travelling around Europe, continuing to produce more teaching resources!  (This is fulfilling our dream of becoming The Wild Thornberries ?) The feedback we have received from teachers has been super positive, and they have told us that the students love the videos as well. You can check them out at thetouringteacher.com/

Teaching In London

Teaching in London is very different to teaching back in Auckland. The students’ behaviour is very different to home.  Not better or worse, just different. They have a whole different perspective to the children I taught back home. I absolutely love that my background is so different to the students!  I quite often get excited about things that are so normal to them, like squirrels and foxes, and they love to hear about wetas (think of a massive, grasshopper-cross-cricket on steroids) and how Kiwis often go barefoot.

What I love about the school system here, is how they have themes across the year groups. They learn about a historical event, and then base other curriculum areas on that theme; this leads to lots of creative teaching and learning experiences. Also, (I’m not going to lie) one of my favourite things about teaching in London is the half-term breaks! I don’t know how I handled a term at home without them and they’re a great opportunity to travel!

The main reason that I moved to teach in London, was to play in Europe, and I have made sure that I have done plenty of this. I use every long weekend and holiday break to hop on a plane and fly somewhere new. There have been a few times that I have arrived back in London at 3am on a Monday morning, and gone into school after three hours sleep!  This is not recommended, but you have to make the most out of an adventure, right?

London Life

I didn’t love London at first! We arrived in winter and everything was so grey and dull. But as time went on and I was able to experience more of the city I fell in love with this inspiring place.

I love that there is always something happening. One day, walking along the Thames I saw a group of around 100 people, dressed up as mascots, on a charity walk. 20 minutes after this, I saw nearly 200 kids on bikes, trying to cross the road and ride the wrong way down the street. Then 10 minutes after that, I saw a woman dressed in a Union Jack bikini, holding a flag above her head, having her photo taken in front of Tower Bridge! This is just a normal Thursday in London!

I take great delight in getting the Timeout magazine on a Tuesday morning, and folding down the pages to all the events that I would love to do that week. I don’t ever get to them all, but I have been to some incredible places that I would never have known about.

Keep In Touch

We’d love your feedback on ‘The Touring Teacher’ and if you are using the resources in your class.  If you are Teaching in London, or have any ideas for a Lesson Video in Europe, get in touch.

Please come and say hello at:

Instagram: instagram.com/touring_teacher/

Facebook: facebook.com/thetouringteacher/

And remember to like, subscribe, and sign up to our exclusive mail list at thetouringteacher.com/