Barbara's passion for language led to her working for many years teaching and lecturing in English and Applied Linguistics. She lived for 10 years in France, and worked and studied at the University of Poitiers. In Australia, she taught Academic and Language skills at the University New South Wales, and at the University of Technology, Sydney she was a lecturer in Language and Academic Learning. She lectured in Applied Linguistics at the University of Port Harcourt in Nigeria, and has also lived in Syria and studied Arabic.