Proud self-published author Nigel M Openshaw has focused heavily on teaching English as a second language. The ‘ENGLISH DISCUSSION TOPICS’ series has grown from his time in South Korea while working in teams, co-teaching, and individual classes. Alongside that has been the successful ‘ESL CLASSROOM GRAMMAR & ACTIVITIES’, which houses some of the standard school lessons from his time there.
The teaching came about after he met his (Korean) wife to be in Australia. The book ‘AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND BACKPACKED’ follows twelve months around the giant continent, with some wonderful experiences, including a few mishaps.
His latest title is ‘GROW YOUR OWN FOOD IN THE KITCHEN GARDEN’, which covers over 40 years of experience that started with his grandfather’s passion for gardening. He has since heavily focused on organic vegetables and educated his children on the process of growing their own food.
Mental health is a major focus in Nigel’s life, and this was covered in ‘STAND TALL’, which came about from working in a multicultural office while being a teacher. He is currently authoring a new book about his battle with CFS.
You can follow him on Twitter at @NigelMOpenshaw
Teaching
Within that time, he ran his own successful home-schooling business with many happy parents as their children overcame shyness and excelled in speaking English.
His previous business was in South Korea, where he taught elementary to adult-level students in the education sector.
He knows firsthand the frustration with student-teacher connections. So he helped students and teachers come together by showing how a kind and caring nature can create harmony and a better learning experience.
None more so than when he helped a student who wholly feared foreign people. He now gets top grades and is a family friend.
Even though he no longer has physical classes, the teaching side is still there. All that came to practice again during lockdown and home-schooling helped him be closer to his kids. In addition, he now focuses on creating books, including publications, on assisting new teachers in fitting into other cultures.
It’s a lovely way to share and care for others. He would have loved to have a mentor when he first started teaching.
Software Developer
Nigel has been a developer since 1999. And with his small team of testers, he looks after customers' needs on a personal and friendly basis. He works closely with clients in his latest web design/development business, helping them be at ease and engage with their ideas to make their dream marketing platform.
Since 1999, he has had five years of professional experience and has become a web design, development, and graphics specialist.
I have a passion for UI and how people interact with devices. It has driven me to create some inspiring projects and ideas.
He can analyze and develop software, initially in a professional role but now as a hobby. Testing and finding errors is something he is enthusiastic about doing. But creating is only part of the life cycle. So again, helping others is something he feels driven to do.
Examples of successful projects include Android apps and Windows-based software, whereby the customers have a seamless interaction with a minimal design. Above are a few retro titles.
Amateur Photography
Although he loves photography, he has never taken to it professionally, with only low to mid-quality cameras. Nigel has always focused on looking into a subject rather than seeing the bigger picture. To see something that no one else has thought about in the same way triggers a quirky sense of view of the world. Macro and close-ups bring something unique and highlight things that would never be seen most times.
Most of the photos taken recently have come from his kitchen garden. He has always been around a family that has gardened and grown vegetables. And so he has used that to show children the timeline for growing vegetables. The aspect of nurturing and design in the landscape gives a fantastic sense of achievement in being fed by our own hands.
His youngest boy asked only a week or so after planting seeds together, “Are they ready yet?” Children are criminally denied a proper education in growing different vegetables. How much more criminal can you get when supermarkets cut and pack fruit in plastic containers and the people have no idea of their natural conditions?
Learning about ecology and being a naturalist is a wonderful hobby. It is a field he felt had passed him by, and he regretted not being more involved earlier. Over the past five years, he has learned about conservation, the balance of flora and fauna, and that what we do daily should not be purely focused on ourselves but its environmental effects.
If you want to see more on my professional Shutterstock page, click below.
Mental Health
Mental health is a complicated field to be in. Nigel has had his fair share of problems, and the main issue was how physical and mental boundaries cross so easily. And on top of that comes the spiritual side too.
Well-being is a helpful process that has helped me with problems in my life. Self-help and Meditation have helped in centering focus. As well as the practical exercise and produce we get, we should look more in-depth at gardening in a more critical light to keep our mental health and stress to a minimum.
He now advocates for well-being, an excellent tool that helps many others. Not knowing where there are problems only hinders us in focusing our efforts, says Nigel.
It’s hard as we are driven to succeed, but I had to take it easy and go slow. I almost had to become someone new and break all previous routines. It is a harsh thing but very rewarding in the long run as we see our true path in life.
Thank you for listening.
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