Meet Your Colleagues- Tom Le Seelleur

Here at SERC we are keen to promote internal colleagues to allow staff the opportunity to get to know each other and put a face to the name, particularly due to the size and scope of SERC.  With this in mind, “Meet your Colleagues” is a fun Q and A exercise to help raise awareness of people’s roles within SERC and allows you to get to know more about your fellow colleagues.  

This week’s, “Meet Your Colleague” is Tom Le Seelleur. Tom is an ESOL Lecturer and IELTS Examiner within the School of Hospitality, Management, Tourism and Languages at SERC.

1. What does your role at SERC involve?  

Our job as ESOL lecturers is so special; we teach adult learners how to develop their English language skills for people who have the best interests for themselves and their families.  

These students want to improve their English and we help them through role play, interaction, energy, projects, pair/group work, presentations, games and  repetition. Basically, anyway that gets them communicating as quickly and correctly as possible.  

Our ESOL students are mature, respectful and enthusiastic even though they may have just finished a 12-hour shift and now have to do 4 hours with us. Once they have the English language skills they need for work, further learning and everyday life, our students have gone on to become nurses, engineers, bakers, dentists, teachers or even start their own businesses.    

Our students are from across the globe, from areas such as Syria, East and West Europe, Asia, Africa and South America.  Some have lost everything, have no English and have to start from zero while others have left their country to help us out.  

They are my students and my friends, and I hope they feel the same. 

2. Tell us a bit about your background?

When I was a teenager my parents lived in Istanbul. Since then I have lived and taught in Beirut during the civil war, Saudi Arabia twice, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah in the UAE, Libya in the Sahara Desert, England and Madrid.

Before teaching, I was a nanny, an onion inspector, a delivery person, a chef, a clerical officer, a recruiter, backstage staff for a theatre, in a hospital theatre, cashier, a porter, a cleaner for the household cavalry, kitchen porter, a boxer, researcher, event manager but I still love teaching.

There is so much more I want to do. My mother was from Belfast and my father was from Jersey.  I am married with 5 kids and I am the youngest of 7.  My brothers live in France, Moldova, UAE and England and my sisters in USA and Switzerland.  I have been in Lisburn since January 2014.

3. What 3 words best describe you?    

Father, friend and teacher

4. What do you like to do outside of work? 

I assisted in starting up a not for profit social enterprise two years ago to promote extensive reading for pleasure and put Lisburn on the literary global map. I also like to do CPD and take care of the kids and make sure I do my fair share at home.

5. If you could swap jobs for a day who would it be and why?

I would like to be the leader at Stormont for the day. I would cut down waiting lists on the NHS by recruiting 1,000 nurses and doctors. I would also prioritise spending for education and ensure that homelessness is reduced to near zero.

I would put measures in place so that every child has access to at least two meals a day. I would try to recruit more community police officers and have a zero-tolerance policy for drug dealers. 

6. List 3 items you would want with you if you were stranded on a deserted island?

A machete, a mirror and a fishing net.

7. What is your favourite film and why?

My favourite film is the 1940s classic, Casablanca. I love this film because of the chemistry, characters, dialogue, the setting, the drama and the darkness.  It is set during the second world war and yet through all the hate there is love, heartbreak, music, passion and humour. 

8. Where do you most want to travel, but have never been?

There are still so many places I want to go to! I would like to one day see China, India, Nepal, Mongolia, Russia, Iran, Botswana, Ghana, Peru, Chile and Cuba.  

But if I absolutely had to narrow it down to only one then I would pick China as there is so much diversity, language, culture, history and students to teach.

If you would like to partake in “Meet Your Colleagues” please contact Roisin Morgan (Marketing and Engagement Intern) at rmorgan@serc.ac.uk for more details.