Welcome to my website. I’m Rich, I’m from Stourbridge, I live in Birmingham and I’m an educational software developer. I create interactive modules and activities to help students of all ages learn in a fun and efficient way – mainly Modern Foreign Languages, but I’ve created material for many other subjects, including Maths, English and History.
I’m also a published iPhone App Developer, with several applications available from the iTunes App Store, including the Lingusacope French Vocabulary Builder.
Richard West-Soley
I graduated from Oxford University in 1999 in Modern Languages (German and Spanish). As part of my degree, I spent a year living in Klagenfurt and Salzburg in Austria. My passion for languages continues today, and I currently study Russian and Norwegian at the Brasshouse Language Centre and Scottish Gaelic in my spare time.
I work as the content developer for Linguascope.com, the fantastic site for schools teaching languages, and have developed content not only for that site, but also its sister sites Activiscope.com, and ReelFrench.com amongst others. As well as interactive content, I maintain a blog for the site full of tips for classroom resource creation and language learning in general.
I’m currently working towards my second degree, the BA in Social Sciences with a Politics specialism with the Open University. I’m also an active Labour Party member.
I was born with a cleft lip, but was lucky enough to be born in a country where repair of cleft lips and palates is a routine operation. Having that chance isn’t a certainty for many children, however, and that is why I support Smile Train, the charity that takes surgeons to some of the poorest areas of the world to offer the life-changing reparative surgery to children who would otherwise have to grow up with an unrepaired cleft. In many of these places, growing up with a facial deformity can present an unsurmountable stigma, which the simple (and relatively cheap) operation overcomes. So if you are looking for a new international cause to support, Smile Train is a very good option!
I’m also a keen musician, and cannot be kept away from any piano in the vicinity! In my youth I was trained to Grade 8 by the brilliant Gwendolyne Johnson, and music remains a very important part of my life.
