About Me

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Victoria (Tori) Wilson completed her PhD in trauma-informed English language teaching to adults at the University of Queensland (UQ) in 2022. 

 After living and teaching in the disaster zone of Fukushima, Japan in 2011, Victoria developed post-traumatic stress responses which she later recognised in her students in Australia.  Working with both international students from Iraq and former refugees from Afghanistan, Iran, DR Congo and South Sudan, she sought ways to minimise their classroom stress, which ultimately led to her PhD. Victoria is passionate about evidence-based, humanizing teaching environments which are informed by trauma research, culturally responsive pedagogies, and genuine attunement to the needs of students.  

Victoria has taught ESL and EFL to students from more than 50 countries since 2004. She also holds a Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics from the University of New England and Cambridge CELTA from International House CLIC Seville.

"Victoria Wilson (Tori), my teacher in ELICOS, is my best English teacher ever. She interacted with us in a professional and friendly way that make each student feel confident and loved, which created a very positive atmosphere in the classroom. Positive atmosphere is the main key in learning English or any other language, and Tori always kept that atmosphere in the classroom by her lovely presence and friendly spirit. She is a wonderful person and one of a kind. She stands for those who have no voice. She is a friend and family member for the lonely students."

"I want to thank you for all your help and support. I really appreciated your helping and I just want to say you are a great teacher and teachers like you change lives like mine."

"I was absent [last week] but I'm so confident to see you here today. Because of your teaching style, I did not feel left out. Thank you so much."

 "Thank you for your interest and thank you for all your help to me. I have benefitted greatly from your teaching. You are a wonderful teacher."

"Thanks for all your support during my English course. I can't forget you helped with my personal issues being not just a teacher but a friend."

"Thanks so much for your help, support, and teaching...I'm very grateful for your support throughout this course."

"You have a really great attention to students, which I really appreciate!"

"Now I am not afraid about English."

"You always give positive energy and strength with your beautiful words to your students."

"A good teacher is the second mother of her students and you are one of them. That's why I must proudly say that you are a second mother to your students."

"I felt that Victoria presented with head, heart and hand. It was very insightful, informative and helpful. Very knowledgeable and inspiring, the best presentation I've attended in some time."

 "The session by Victoria Wilson on ‘Trauma informed tuition for adult EAL language learners’ was the best I have ever attended! Her presentation was so clear, authentic and practical. Her own experience in the EAL classroom as well as the findings from her research were very valuable."

 "Brilliant! There should be a session on this every year!!"

 "Thank you for your wonderful work, Tori. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with other professionals and thank you for being such a backbone for these students when they, I have no doubt, came up against some confusingly tough times in the classroom."

"Thank you for reminding us that PTSD can indeed appear in such different ways across cultures and it can affect learning in so many ways. THANK YOU."

"Viewed your presentation. Beautifully constructed and well thought out. Quite a few new learnings for me. Began to think about how to get your research out to teachers in my area."

"I did not hear a single word about the impacts of trauma on EAL learners during my post-graduate TESOL training, but it has been THE most important factor to consider as I've ventured into teaching refugees. Everything else is useless if teachers don't understand and accommodate for these impacts. [..] As you mention, you would expect to find trauma-impacted learners in almost every classroom and it is shocking to me that it is not often addressed. Uni TESOL departments take note!"

"Just wanted to share that this was a brilliant event. Informative and interactive. Thanks for keeping this up and keeping our spirits up."

[A colleague] said that you managed to make them feel engaged, valued, and even inspired!"

"Victoria, that was a truly inspirational and eye-opening presentation."

"I got so much to think about from your keynote, Victoria."

"Really insightful, Victoria."

"I just wanted to say that this was really interesting, You've given me a lot to think about."

"Thank you  Victoria - insightful delivery."

"Great focus for us to be more aware in our everyday interactions with others. This is a world and life view. Thank you Victoria."

"Thanks Victoria, very informative and insightful."

"Very inspiring Victoria, and happy to see this issue is being discussed and addressed. That's hope for the future."

"This is excellent, thank you for sharing. We sometimes take a lot of these things for granted. Thanks so much Tori"

"Great, inclusive strategies to apply to all classes and students. They also focus on solutions rather than teachers 'diagnosing' students - fabulous."

"This is brilliant and so relevant! Thank you, Tori."

"Wow Tori, it is so important for all of us who work with students to have an awareness around trauma. Thank you for this."

"Thank you, Tori! It's been a wonderful presentation!"

"Fabulous insights, thank you" 

"You and your session have hit the bullseye! Kudos!"

"Most informative and thought provoking."

"Thank you Victoria for your insight, knowledge, and experience. I got a lot from the session."

"Fantastic presentation - very useful and informative."

 "Thank you for your wonderful work, Tori. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with other professionals and thank you for being such a backbone for these students when they, I have no doubt, came up against some confusingly tough times in the classroom."

"Thank you for reminding us that PTSD can indeed appear in such different ways across cultures and it can affect learning in so many ways. THANK YOU.

"Viewed your presentation. Beautifully constructed and well thought out. Quite a few new learnings for me. Began to think about how to get your research out to teachers in my area."

"I did not hear a single word about the impacts of trauma on EAL learners during my post-graduate TESOL training, but it has been THE most important factor to consider as I've ventured into teaching refugees. Everything else is useless if teachers don't understand and accommodate for these impacts. [..] As you mention, you would expect to find trauma-impacted learners in almost every classroom and it is shocking to me that it is not often addressed. Uni TESOL departments take note!"

"Just wanted to share that this was a brilliant event. Informative and interactive. Thanks for keeping this up and keeping our spirits up."

[A colleague] said that you managed to make them feel engaged, valued, and even inspired!"

"Victoria, that was a truly inspirational and eye-opening presentation."

"I got so much to think about from your keynote, Victoria."

"Really insightful, Victoria."

"I just wanted to say that this was really interesting, You've given me a lot to think about."

"Thank you  Victoria - insightful delivery."

"Great focus for us to be more aware in our everyday interactions with others. This is a world and life view. Thank you Victoria."

"Thanks Victoria, very informative and insightful."

"Very inspiring Victoria, and happy to see this issue is being discussed and addressed. That's hope for the future."

"This is excellent, thank you for sharing. We sometimes take a lot of these things for granted. Thanks so much Tori"

"Great, inclusive strategies to apply to all classes and students. They also focus on solutions rather than teachers 'diagnosing' students - fabulous.

"This is brilliant and so relevant! Thank you, Tori."

"Wow Tori, it is so important for all of us who work with students to have an awareness around trauma. Thank you for this."

"Thank you, Tori! It's been a wonderful presentation!

"Fabulous insights, thank you" 

"You and your session have hit the bullseye! Kudos!"

"Most informative and thought provoking."

"Thank you Victoria for your insight, knowledge, and experience. I got a lot from the session."

"Fantastic presentation - very useful and informative."

 "Thank you for your wonderful work, Tori. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with other professionals and thank you for being such a backbone for these students when they, I have no doubt, came up against some confusingly tough times in the classroom."

"Thank you for reminding us that PTSD can indeed appear in such different ways across cultures and it can affect learning in so many ways. THANK YOU.

"Viewed your presentation. Beautifully constructed and well thought out. Quite a few new learnings for me. Began to think about how to get your research out to teachers in my area."

"I did not hear a single word about the impacts of trauma on EAL learners during my post-graduate TESOL training, but it has been THE most important factor to consider as I've ventured into teaching refugees. Everything else is useless if teachers don't understand and accommodate for these impacts. [..] As you mention, you would expect to find trauma-impacted learners in almost every classroom and it is shocking to me that it is not often addressed. Uni TESOL departments take note!"

"Just wanted to share that this was a brilliant event. Informative and interactive. Thanks for keeping this up and keeping our spirits up."

[A colleague] said that you managed to make them feel engaged, valued, and even inspired!"

"Victoria, that was a truly inspirational and eye-opening presentation."

"I got so much to think about from your keynote, Victoria."

"Really insightful, Victoria."

"I just wanted to say that this was really interesting, You've given me a lot to think about."

"Thank you  Victoria - insightful delivery."

"Great focus for us to be more aware in our everyday interactions with others. This is a world and life view. Thank you Victoria."

"Thanks Victoria, very informative and insightful."

"Very inspiring Victoria, and happy to see this issue is being discussed and addressed. That's hope for the future."

"This is excellent, thank you for sharing. We sometimes take a lot of these things for granted. Thanks so much Tori"

"Great, inclusive strategies to apply to all classes and students. They also focus on solutions rather than teachers 'diagnosing' students - fabulous.

"This is brilliant and so relevant! Thank you, Tori."

"Wow Tori, it is so important for all of us who work with students to have an awareness around trauma. Thank you for this."

"Thank you, Tori! It's been a wonderful presentation!

"Fabulous insights, thank you" 

"You and your session have hit the bullseye! Kudos!"

"Most informative and thought provoking."

"Thank you Victoria for your insight, knowledge, and experience. I got a lot from the session."

"Fantastic presentation - very useful and informative."