Bilal Halim was born in Lahore, Pakistan and grew up in international schools around the world due to his father’s work as a chemical engineer. He was schooled in Japan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
He didn’t speak a word of English until kindergarten; he now speaks fluent English, Urdu / Hindi, reads Arabic and understands Punjabi.
At the age of 23, and with no university qualifications, he taught at a primary school in a village in Southern Punjab for two years. This experience was Bilal’s first indicator that teaching was his vocation.
Without any formal training, his students’ marks improved and he instinctively knew how to differentiate and make lessons accessible to different skill levels.
Attracted by Perth’s physical isolation (and low rent!), he relocated here in 2004 and completed a Bachelor of Arts in History and English at UWA. After working at John Willcock College and Nagle Catholic College in Geraldton, he started at PLC in 2016.
Bilal infuses his classes with the skills he has acquired through his international background, engagement with other cultures and facility with languages.
He gets his students to care about their learning and the world around them. He is able to transport their minds beyond the classroom walls, deep into the humanity of the past and into the lives of others. The breadth of his subject knowledge means he makes connections across contexts and disciplines to demonstrate the interconnectedness of past, present, local, and international. He is known for his strong rapport with his students and his subject naturally exposes his personality and values.
From his students:
“What I love about Mr Halim’s History class is his ability to intertwine a plethora of historical knowledge with humour, making all our classes enjoyable.”
“What I enjoy most about Mr Halim’s class is that he encourages us to be worldly thinkers and challenge our own comfortable understandings of the world.”
“Mr Halim’s class never fails to teach you something new and interesting, whilst also including funny anecdotes which help us engage throughout the lesson.”
“Mr Halim is always considerate of his students, he encourages all his students to have faith in themselves and inspires us all to reach our potential.”
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