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Sharon has a Diploma in Western Calligraphy, Certificate IV in Illuminated Calligraphy, Commercial Italic and Historical Calligraphy. She continues to study with many international calligraphers as part of her ongoing learning. She has been teaching in adult education for twenty plus years at Community Colleges. She has developed and run school holiday workshops for children introducing them to the art of calligraphy and its many benefits. Sharon has a comprehensive background in design and layout, watercolour painting, Botanical Art and Chinese Brush painting. Her love of Calligraphy and its history makes her passionate about what she teaches to all.

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Malabi believes in the power of collaborative growth and learning. Malabi, is an experienced instructor with over 27 years of teaching expertise, brings a modern and realistic approach to her classes, drawing from her deep understanding of human nature the subject that she is facilitating and her passion for teaching. Her teaching style is characterised by its conversational nature, creating an engaging and relaxed atmosphere for learning. She provides a carefully crafted curriculum for students to explore at their own pace, while emphasising group involvement to nurture individual motivations for participation.

To support student learning, Malabi provides handouts for home practice midway through the term, ensuring students have a clear understanding of the course material. She also fosters open discussions before and after sessions, offering extra support to those in need. Additionally, she organises regular end-of-term events, such as outdoor occasions, to encourage personal interactions within the community and create memorable experiences for students.

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Andrew Banks, MMus Tech BEd has been a high school music teacher for over 38 years as well as being Head Teacher of Creative and Performing Arts. He has been a tutor at WEA for nine years offering courses in ukulele, harmonica and guitar. He has also played in Bands since his teens (Rock, Blues and Country music etc.) and still continues to perform. Andrew has a keen interest in music covering a wide variety of styles and eras and delivers each lesson with great enthusiasm embellished with fascinating facts and humour. Andrew is dedicated to the notion that learning an instrument at any age inspires creativity, curiosity and social interaction.

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Kerry Barlow has an extensive background in education, having taught economics, economic history and education for many years, at high school, TAFE and university levels. Kerry also has strong skills in research, having conducted numerous funded projects and published many reports, articles and learning guides on a wide range of social and economic issues. Her passion also lies in family history research, and she brings her teaching and research expertise to the genealogy field, where she has been teaching family history courses for the WEA for the past 6 years. Kerry’s teaching style is based on Action Learning and she aims to empower students with the skills required to learn from a wide range of sources and to be able to discern more reliable sources of information.

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Geoffrey Barnard has been involved with developments in contemporary music and sound art since 1969.  Primarily a music historian, he completed a Masters thesis in 2003 on the music of John Cage, Christian Wolff and Cornelius Cardew.  During the early 1970s he was a member of the new music organisation AZ Music and the electroacoustic improvisation group Teletopa and continues to be active in improvised music, mostly as a percussionist.

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Juan Carlos has a Master of Applied Linguistics and is currently completing a PhD. He He has been a staff member of the Bureau de Coopération Linguistique of the French Embassy in Peru, and as such, he organised courses of French for Specific Purposes (medicine and hospital management). He has also taught Spanish in Stuttgart, Germany, where he completed a Master of Science with a full scholarship from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. In Australia he has been a language tutor for University of Sydney, Macquarie University and Sydney Community College. In two occasions he has participated at the finals of La Dictée des Amériques (a French orthography competition in Canada). Juan Carlos is passionate about languages. In addition to English and French, he also speaks German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish and has studied Russian, Modern Greek and Japanese. He combines his knowledge of linguistics and world culture with a good dose of sense of humour for delivering motivating and animated classes.

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Bedford College Classroom. Tutor of WEA Sydney

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Bedford College Reception. Tutor of WEA Sydney

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Inez was born and raised in Germany, obtained a degree in Economics (Diplom-Kauffrau, equivalent to Master in Business Administration) and had a successful international career in marketing and sales, at first based in Germany, later in Australia. She then decided to go back to university to complete a Graduate Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages and Teaching Foreign Language. She also holds a certificate IV in Teaching and Assessment from TAFE NSW. Inez enjoys sharing her language knowledge with learners from a variety of backgrounds and ages in different countries through face to face and online teaching.

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Lanning has over forty years experience as an entrepreneur, banker, musician, author and is a passionate global food traveller. Since the sale of his business in 2015 Lanning has pursed his passion for teaching and education, delivering courses in music and business, culture and history, both here and overseas. Lanning is an author of both fiction and non fiction in music, self help and crime fiction. Lanning has taught at WEA for several years. Lanning also consults to government and other stakeholders on issues concerning retirement and ageing policy and is the author of two books in this area.