Heather Tucker

Hello!  A very happy New Year’s Eve/New Year’s Day (depending on where you are reading this from) to you!

My name is Heather Tucker and I would like to introduce myself as a new blogger for the Transparent Language – English blog.  As of today, I will be joining the team to bring you news and information on all things English related.

So, let me tell you a little bit about myself. I was born in the United States, where I lived until I was sixteen. I was then lucky enough to have the opportunity to be a Rotary Youth Ambassador taking me to Tallinn, Estonia for one year. During that time I lived with four Estonian families and learned about the country, its language and its culture. I also got to travel quite a bit in Europe. It was this experience that helped identify for me my love of Europe. After returning to the States for about one year, I moved to London, England where I lived for nine and a half years (even obtaining British citizenship). While in England I worked in primary schools supporting children with special needs and/or behavioral difficulties, until 2003 when I went to work for Victim Support Lewisham as the Children and Young Persons Officer, setting up a service for children and young people who had been victims of crime.

In 2007 I made another move, this time to Rotterdam, the Netherlands where I currently live with my two cats, Anya and Amelia, and my Dutch boyfriend. When I was in the process of preparing for my move to the Netherlands, I began a blog, Cloggie Central, which is all about life in the Netherlands as a foreigner.  Cloggie Central allowed me to identify another passion, writing, and the almost inevitable step of combining writing and travelling was next to occur, allowing me to create a career writing for online and printed publications.  I also write for Transparent Language’s Dutch blog.

Education-wise, I studied psychology at undergraduate level and in 2010 I completed my master’s degree in criminology and criminal psychology.  I also have a certificate in teaching English as a foreign/second language and have taught English in primary schools here in the Netherlands.

When I am not traveling or writing, I enjoy listening to music, reading, cooking, taking photos and starting new projects. I really look forward to getting to know all of you and sharing my experiences.  On a daily basis I write and speak using British English; however I will try my best to change everything to American English but if one or two things do slip through, please forgive me!

Until the next post…

Heather