Julia Gabriel L.G.S.M., L.L.C.M.T.D., Hon. G.S.M.

I began teaching in Singapore in 1983. In one room, with 21 pupils (who were my own children, my friends and their children) I started to put into practice my belief that if we enjoy what we are doing, we have an enormous capacity and facility to learn.

Since then the number of students and the demand for communication and language classes have grown tremendously. In 1990 I became a company and the Julia Gabriel Speech And Drama Centre was formed. In 1991 we added a full Reading and Language Arts programme (now called Readers and Writers) and a PlayClub for little ones (which now reaches down to babies 6 to 18 months in PlayNest), to complement the existing Speech and Drama curriculum.

Now we have a full team of motivated, enthusiastic, specialist teachers who have been chosen for their shared belief in my teaching philosophy and aims.

I do not want to lose, or forget, the fun we shared in those early days. My original pupils, many of whom are still in touch, love coming to our centre because our subject is approached in a way that makes learning fun, the environment is welcoming and every student is valued and respected as an individual. These important ingredients will not change.

Communication is a wonderful area, both to teach and to study, because our teaching facilitates invaluable life-skills in a competitive world. Most importantly, the longer I teach, the more I see the good our classes provide and the joy they bring, now to several thousand students.

The nature of our subjects and the circumstances under which they should be taught provide all the essentials for the ideal learning situation: stimulation, motivation, individual care and attention and an atmosphere free from pressure. There is one further ingredient for ideal learning: a good model, the teacher. I am confident that our teachers are able to provide you and your children with all these essentials.