Melissa Kwok majored in both English Literature and Sociology at the National University of Singapore, and graduated in 2003 with Second Class (Upper) Honours in English Literature. Believing that there’s always more to learn, Melissa took a year off in 2008 to complete a year-long master’s degree in Colonial and Postcolonial Cultures at the University of Sussex, UK. She also pursued a Master of Arts in Shakespeare in Education with the Shakespeare Institute (University of Birmingham), which she completed in 2015. Whilst most of the course was done via correspondence and online, Melissa also got to spend a week at Stratford-upon-Avon honing her theatre and pedagogical skills with members of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Having aspired to teach since she was a teenager, she completed a Diploma in Education at the National Institute of Education and joined Nanyang Junior College in 2004, where she taught English Literature, until 2010. She then joined SOTA in 2011, where she teaches English Literature, IB Literature, and IB Literature and Performance.
Melissa believes that in studying Literature we see the very human faces of ourselves and others – in this, Literature lies at the very heart of our humanity. She hopes to inspire her students to believe the same.