About E-Tours

Katy, co-founder & group organizer has worked in all areas of educational tourism for many years.

"I first studied abroad aged 13. I guided my first tour aged 19. You could say it's in my blood. I guess I got the bug because of that amazing feeling you get whenever you travel that man is capable of anything.  After many years on the road as a tour guide, I came to settle in Raglan, New Zealand and helped developed E-Tours so that students could have the opportunity to visit this special part of the world, learn English and be inspired!"

 

Ian, co-founder & driver-guide is a professional"people person"!

"Can you believe it? This lake is totally pink!! It's covered in a tiny plant called Azolla that is like a natural fertilizer. This is the kind of magical place in New Zealand I love to show to our international visitors.  I was born in Gisborne and grew up in Te Awamutu.  As an adult I spent many years overseas but now that I'm back, I have fallen in love with NZ all over again.  It's such an amazing place - the culture, the bush, the wildlife - and only 4 million people to share it with!  As a driver-guide, I get to show you all the best bits and crack my worst jokes."

Mark Ormsby, tour guide and Maori cultural expert.

"The jokers in the office have put me in a gondola with this girl - don't they know I'm terrified of heights?   I'll just close my eyes and think of the All Blacks!   I'm more of a museum type myself.  I used to be the head guide at the Waikato Museum of Arts and Culture and now I work at Te Papa in the educational department.  I love sharing my knowledge of New Zealand and of Maoridom with international students who come here - just seeing the excitement on their faces as they discover new things is enough to make it all worth while - even 50m up!"

Alex Ball, Activities Coordinator.

"I'm Alex - I trained as an outdoor activities instructor and have worked with lots of  international students before joining E-Tours.  I just wake up every morning on a trip thinking I'm the luckiest guy alive - getting to show people around this amazing country.. and get paid for it!  Well, actually, we work pretty hard to make a trip work - there's always so much to think about and as much as we can teach people about New Zealand, we also learn heaps from them.  I guess that's why it's called "cultural exchange".

Madelize Bekker, Learning Design Advisor.

"Amongst the various organizations I work with, I find E-Tours to be one of the most progressive and innovative in their approach & I am delighted to be part of their development team.  I have found it particularly exciting to be part of the development of their unique New Zealand syllabus called "The World We Live In".  It introduced students to some really interesting environmental ideas by focusing in on the people, culture and natural environment that make up this very special country.

At E-Tours, relevant activities are woven into the syllabus to extend the classroom learning and challenge & motivate the students.  Students also learn best when provided with various modes of delivery, including a period of immersion in a country where the target language is used.  This is a critical point of difference of the E-Tours offering."

Deirdre Bourne, Teacher.

"Hi, I'm Deirdre.  I have a BA in French and Linguistics and a Cert TESOL.  I have worked as an English language assistant in Wallis and Futuna and speak fluent French.  I love working with international students and am delighted to be able to do this in my home town of Raglan.  The E-Tours syllabus is  exciting to teach , being based 100% on New Zealand contexts and including environmental themes.  I find the students are totally fascinated by things like worm farming, recycling etc.  Often they are learning about these for the very first time. If we can excite the students, then we're half way there."

 Elisha Walter, Teacher.

"Hi there.  My name is Elisha Walter.  I hold a Postgraduate Diploma in Second Language Teaching and am currently studying for my Masters.  I have worked with international students for most of my professional life, and am delighted to have the opportunity to teach in this beautiful west coast town of Raglan.  As well as teaching, I love developing new ESLteaching materials and have worked on the development of the E-Tours lesson plans.  In my spare time I love to play music and ride horses."