Staff Profile: Denise Kelly, French Teacher

Staff Profile: Denise Kelly, French Teacher Our profile this week is Denise Kelly, a French Teacher from the Modern Foreign Languages Department. Each week we will feature a member of staff across all areas of the school including teachers, admin staff, support staff and more, to get to know members of our school family a little better. Our profile this week is Denise Kelly, who recently joined BIS Abu Dhabi as a French Teacher in the Modern Foreign Languages Department.

I am from a small village in Galway in the west of Ireland. Galway is rich in Irish traditions and culture and it’s no surprise that I spent most of my childhood taking part in Irish dancing and playing hurling which is one of our national sports. I was interested in languages from an early age as I went to a primary school that placed a big emphasis on speaking and learning about the Irish language.  I completed my BA in languages in National University of Ireland Galway and I studied for one year as part of the Erasmus programme in Université de Franche Comté in Besançon in France. After my degree, I worked as an English Language Assistant in Aix-en-Provence in the south of France before returning home to complete my PGDE in languages at the University College Cork.

I spent nine years working in both Ireland and the U.K. before I decided to make my move to Abu Dhabi.  This is my first year in BIS Abu Dhabi and I am impressed with the opportunities that are available to me as a teacher. I have felt right at home from the very beginning and this is due to the care and support that I have been given by everyone within the school community. I look forward to teaching French across the primary and secondary setting and I hope to instill my love for languages in all my students.

In my spare time, I enjoy the great outdoors with families and friends-cycling, walking, running and hiking. I am keen to get involved in sport in Abu Dhabi and I have already been recruited by other BIS Abu Dhabi colleagues to play gaelic football with Al Reem Shamrocks.

Denise Kelly