I'm Kathryn Thorne, the Director of Studies here at Alpha Educational Institute, and I am passionate about working alongside people to help them succeed and reach their full potential! This means I have the great pleasure of working with international students from all around the world and teaching them English. I also have the privilege of leading an enthusiastic team of teachers here at Alpha, and heading up teacher training programmes for English language teaching.

I grew up in Papua New Guinea, speaking three languages, and I love working in a multi-cultural environment! I think we have a lot to offer here in New Zealand, and I believe that other cultures have a lot to offer us as well. We can learn so much from each other!

I am very happily married to Wayne and have four adult children. My hobbies are reading, gardening, painting and playing a little bit of guitar!

I'm Russell Pizzey, Manager at Alpha.  My main responsibilities are to process all the enquiries, enrolments, general administrative tasks that take place in our language school and occasionally doing some relief teaching.  Having been in educational workplaces for more than 17 years I really enjoy interacting with the students, especially those who come to NZ for  their study.  When I am not at Alpha you will catch me reading, cycling or messing about with model trains.

I'm Jan D'Ath. I began my working life as a high school teacher but later trained to teach English to International students. I have been teaching ESOL for the last 8 - 9 years, mainly part-time.

My home is a busy place with three teenagers and my patient husband.  In my free-time I enjoy reading, tennis and walking - or chatting over nice coffee in a cafe!