I’m an ELT professional with over 20 years of experience turning classroom reality and pedagogical research into practical English language products, coursebooks, and teacher training and support resources.
And the other way round as well of course….
- Practical Course Design: I translate language acquisition theory and classroom insights into straightforward, effective learning materials and training courses that are easy for the people using them to work with.
- The Action Research Course: Designed and authored a global Action Research training programme for the International House World Organisation, giving teachers a practical framework for inquiry, data collection, and classroom reflection.
- Syllabus & Assessment Design: I use research-based assessment criteria to build reliable courses and tests, ensuring everything maps cleanly to the CEFR levels.
- Needs Analysis: I design and adapt courses based on real learner data, diagnostic testing, and direct interviews, focusing on practical outcomes rather than abstract theory.
- Course Evaluation & Testing: I manage the piloting and evaluation of new materials, using feedback from real classrooms to tweak, refine, and improve the final product.
- Global Publish Collaboration: proven track record of developing print and digital elt products for Cambridge University Press, Pearson ELT, and Kaplan.
- Series Authoring: co-authored the Shining Lights secondary coursebook series for Cambridge University Press, balancing language development needs with skills development, exam training and practice, oracy, and mapped to CEFR levels.
- Scripting & Media Production: experienced in writing scripts for video and audio content. This has been mostly for language presentations, skills development work and life competencies development.
- Technical Writing: authored teacher’s books, grammar reference sections, practice exercises, language banks, and supplementary resources for various CEFR levels.
- Editorial Review: acted as coursebook reporter and reviewer for major titles including Proficiency Expert, Cutting Edge, and Speak Out.
- 25,000+ hours at the chalkface: To paraphrase Harold Bottrell: “25,000 hours of teaching means 25,000 different hours, not one hour 25,000 times.” I mean it’s possible some of those hours might have shared some similarities… but I am lucky enough to have worked with some great students across Europe and China that have helped me adapt and innovate and experiment in my professional practice. It’s this experience that underpins everything I write and design.
- High-Stakes Exam Specialism: I really like working with students on exam classes and I have extensive expertise in the Cambridge upper main suite and IELTS. I’m also a current Speaking Examiner (A2-C2). I enjoy helping learners build better skills in exam strategy, (as well as all the other skills they need to be successful) and one of my proudest moments was spotting my blog being mentioned in Roger Hawkey & Michael Milanovic’s “Cambridge English Exams – the first hundred years”. I’m on page 325.
- Targeted Corporate Solutions: I also specialise in professional communication and bespoke language coaching for global sectors including Engineering, Finance, Supply Chain, Banking, IT, and Pharmaceuticals. Working with clients and students directly to ascertain needs, I design short high-impact courses tailored to what professionals actually need to do their jobs.
- Assessment and Quality Assurance: applying research-informed criteria to ensure validity and reliability in both classroom testing and international standardised exams.
- One-to-One Executive Coaching: providing targeted training for professionals and small groups that focus on clear communication and measuable progress.
- Academic Strategy: led academic strategy and pedagogical systems as Director of Studies for International House.
- Teacher development: designed teacher development frameworks, mentoring schemes, and observation cycles. Tutored on IH teacher development courses.
- Thought Leadership & Industry Contribution:
- Educational Platform: author of sector-recognised ELT knowledge platform teflgeek.net, reaching 80,000+ annual readers and winning multiple British Council Teaching English Awards.
- Conference speaker: regular speaker and webinar presenter for major international organisations, including IATEFL, APPI, BELTA, IH World, and IATEFL BESIG.
- Published columnist: contributed regular articles to the IH Journal, the British Council Voices magazine, and the British Council Teaching English website.
- Qualifications:
- MA Applied Linguistics & TESOL: University of Portsmouth
- DELTA: University of Cambridge / IH Wroclaw
- CELTA: University of Cambridge / IH London
- Specialised Certification: IH Director of Studies Course (IHDOS), IH Certificate in Online Tutoring (IHCOLT), IH Certificate in Teaching Young Learners and Teenagers (IHCYLT), IH Certifiacte in Business English Teaching (IHBET).
