Before moving to Switzerland in 2003 with her young family, Sarah was a class teacher and subject coordinator in a West Sussex, UK primary school. In addition to her HSK role, Sarah is the English language story animator for the ‘Give me a Story’ program at the local library in Liestal, where she works with 2-5 year olds and their native-speaking families, with story, craft, games, and rhyme. She enjoys life in a Swiss village, where her children attend the local school, and the family is active in various associations for sport, nature and music. Sarah values her English heritage and keeps up to date with the BBC, the Times of London, and Radio 4. When she is not skiing, swimming or jogging, you can find her travelling with her family. Sarah qualified as a primary school teacher at Reading University, England and her tenure at HSK English predates the current volunteer-led Verein. In addition to teaching she also contributed as subject coordinator for HSK English from January 2009 until 2014. "Teaching children, for me, is the most rewarding, interesting and all-encompassing profession," declares Sarah.

Originally from Ireland, Jenny O'Rourke has been living in Basel for six years. 

She holds a BA (Hons) in Music and Philosophy and an MA in Cognitive Science. In addition to this, she achieved her teaching qualification (PGCE) from the University of Sheffield in 2019. During her time in Basel, Jenny has been working in international schools, whilst also teaching yoga and music in her spare time. Her love of yoga and music supports the learning process in a holistic way, bringing playful curiosity to each lesson. 

Irene is half American, half Japanese, and has been living in Basel for four years. Irene completed her Bachelor’s degree in Tokyo with a concentration in linguistics, and an English teaching license. Having done an exchange year at the University of Basel during her Bachelor’s, she returned to Basel to do her Master’s in linguistics, where she focused on child language acquisition. She is currently a PhD student, investigating how people resist cultural stereotypes in interaction.

Irene values incorporating children’s innate creativity and imagination in her teaching. She is a firm advocate of bi/multilingual development, and is ecstatic to be able to help families and children with this process through HSK.