Meet the TEFL Tutors

INTESOL's TEFL Tutors

INTESOL staff are dedicated to providing the highest level of tuition, be it onsite or online. All trainers are well qualified in TESOL at all levels, with a wealth of experience in teaching ESOL, ESP and EAP at all levels from primary to university, plus examining for the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate and materials writing.

Lynda Hazelwood - Director of Studies

Lynda Hazelwood has been teaching languages since 1971. Since then she has taught in England and overseas, in both the public and private sectors, in primary, senior and adult education. She also has experience of English for Academic Purposes and materials writing at university level. Lynda has been employed by the British Council for whom she taught all levels including Cambridge exam classes and English for Specific Purposes. She has been an examiner for the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate and for the Pan-Hellenic Association of Language School Owners. Lynda founded INTESOL in 1993 in Bristol, England. A variety of courses and services were provided including one-to-one language tuition; adult language classes; French clubs for 5 – 11 year olds; English home stays for foreign learners and weekend introductory courses in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. The most successful of these became the weekend introductory courses in TESOL. 80% of the participants wanted to take a course, which would qualify them to teach ESOL, but most could not give up four weeks of their time to study. Lynda decided to develop course materials for home study which soon developed into the world renowned INTESOL Certificate of Educational Studies in TESOL by distance learning. A short time later the course achieved accreditation from the College of Teachers and is now one of the most respected courses worldwide.

Jean Binns - Tutor and Course Director, Nantwich

Jean Binns is a Qualified Teacher with a MEd TESOL (Manchester, 1996). She has 15 years teaching experience in UK state primary, secondary and further education, 9 years in IAPS education, 10 years in state education overseas at secondary and university level. Jean is an experienced Teacher Trainer and trainer of Teacher Trainers. In January 2001 she took up post as Director at Regents English Language Centre in Nantwich, UK. Jean is also a specialist in Appraisal and Materials Design, and specialises in teaching writing skills.

Norma Coles - Tutor

BA (Hons) German (Nottingham, 1969), PGCE (St Mark & St John, Chelsea, 1971) RSA TEFL Diploma 1992. Norma has been involved in supply teaching for adults (German & French) and has taught at Regents English Language Centre for 16 years. She specialises in Grammar teaching, and preparing upper classes for international English examinations. She is brilliant at badminton and takes charge of Friday afternoon sports. Norma is also a great singer and musician.

Timothy Silk - Tutor

BA (Hons) Spanish with IT, 1998. Cert TESOL (Trinity), 1999 Tim has taught at Regents English Language Centre since 2000. Currently he is busy completing an MA (TESOL) by distance learning with Birmingham University. Tim specialises in teaching pronunciation. He's also the language centres IT and audio visual aids expert. Tim is interested in British history, and regularly organises school trips.

Heather Oxley - Senior Tutor

Heather has been working in the TEFL industry for over 20 years and has 2 Diplomas, a degree in English Literature, an MSc in TESOL and a PGCE in Secondary English. Between 1984 and 1999 Heather worked mainly abroad in Singapore, Japan, Australia, Portugal and Italy first a teacher, then as a trainer and materials writer for the British Council. From 1999-2001 she was in Ankara, Turkey working as a distance and in-house teacher. In addition to being a Senior Tutor with INTESOL, Heather is also a trainer of INTESOL tutors.

After a 3 and a half year stint in Cheshire, UK where Heather took a PGCE and taught English Language and Literature to A level in the Secondary State Sector, the Oxley family got itchy feet again.
Heather has been living in Heliopolis, Cairo since September working freelance on projects for the British Council, Cairo, as well as for INTESOL. Oh, and learning Arabic from scratch.....

Christopher Creed - Tutor

Chris has taught English in Poland in France over the past 15 years before moving into coaching learners in French and multinational businesses in management, intercultural awareness, learning skills and language learning skills.

He has first-hand knowledge of distance learning as he has successfully completed graduate and undergraduate study with the Open University which led to a Master's degree in education science 2003 (M.A.(ed). He trained in EFL with a CTEFL and a Dip TEFL combined with a solid experience teaching in business contexts.

Chris lives in the South of France and lists rugby and sailing among his hobbies, which included building a wooden boat from scratch (and which he still sails).

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Louise Magnus - Course Director, London

Louise has been involved in teaching English since 1975 and Linguacentre, INTESOL's teaching practice centre in London, was founded in 1992. Since then the centre has been providing high quality English language tuition to thousands of international students. Louise believes that students really benefit from the warm and friendly environment they offer, and the family feeling generated in the school.
Because Linguacentre is a founder member of ABLS (The Association of British Language Schools) you can be sure that they are a professional school.

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Matt Forrest - Onsite Trainer

Matt has been an ESOL teacher for almost 8 years now - exclusively in the U.K. as his best laid plans to travel didn’t materialize. He has extensive experience across the spectrum of student ability, including the Cambridge Main Suite Examinations, for which he is the exams co-ordinator at the school.

More recently he has become involved with the administrative side of the school in his capacity as School Manager – a role which has led to increased interaction with the wider world of ESOL and has given him a much broader depth of knowledge with regard to the current thinking in the industry and the direction in which English language teaching is heading.

Ben Woods - Tutor

Ben Woods has been living and teaching EFL at a university in Göteborg, Sweden for the past three years. He was educated at the University of Wales in Lampeter, the third oldest University in Britain, majoring in English and Philosophy. After leaving university he gained experience in several industries, including management of busy London venues, before becoming an EFL teacher, which has been his profession for five years now. Outside of work he enjoys music and literature.

Matthew Jones - Tutor

Mathew first taught English in Indonesia when he was just 18, having joined a gap year volunteer programme before university. Matthew never settled back into the UK and raced to get his TEFL qualification in the hope of seeing South America. However, a friend secured a job in Bangkok and twisted his arm to join him there. Over the next 4 years he divided his time between a Thai high school & The British Council. With experience, a fiancée and international adventure under his belt he returned to the UK to do a PGCE in Secondary English. Matthew currently lives a wonderful life in Thailand with his wife, working at an international school and tutoring online for INTESOL.

Graham Willis - Tutor

Graham has been teaching since 1968 after qualifying from King Alfred's College, Winchester, then under the auspices of Southampton University. His experience has ranged from teaching EFL and technical subjects in Saudi Arabia, to the setting up and running of EFL business courses in multi-national companies in Germany, to developing and teaching ESP material in language schools in the U.K. Graham also prepares teachers for the Certificate for Teaching English for Business, awarded by the London Chamber of Commerce.

Graham is fully versed with examination preparation having extensively run courses for all the University of Cambridge Local Syndicate examinations as well as those for IELTS and the London Chamber of Commerce. He is also an examiner for the UCLES and Trinity College oral English examinations.

Recently he has returned to the U.K. after completing a contract with a Hotel School in Switzerland and is now based in Bournemouth, working for INTESOL as an ESP tutor and an onsite teacher trainer.

Jane Fairbairn - Tutor

Jane is a natural linguist and is able to speak French, Russian, German and Spanish, some Italian and is currently learning Japanese.

Jane is a degree qualified teacher in French and Russian. She also holds the Institute of Linguists translation Diploma in Russian and French to English; she is a member of the Institute of Linguists and is qualified in TEFL to Diploma level.

Jane has a wealth of experience,gained mainly in England, as an examiner for Cambridge (FCE) and for the London Chamber of Commerce (SEFIC speaking exams). Jane still also does French and Russian Translation work, teaches onsite at college and tutors INTESOL distance trainees.

Vivienne Phillips - Tutor

Vivienne qualified at the Universities of Cardiff and Swansea, gaining a BA in English, Diploma in Education, and TEFL qualifications. She also taught for some time at Swansea University.

She has extensive teaching experience in English schools and was formerly a Head of English. Vivienne has also tutored many home stay students that have travel to the UK for far a field. She has experience of teaching all age groups from beginners to advanced level.

Vivienne has many friends abroad and enjoys traveling widely throughout Europe every year. Vivienne has plans to move to Italy and continue teaching and training whilst there.

Reg Burgin - Tutor

Reg was born in Lancaster and has spent most of his professional life in Bath, where he now teaches foreign groups and individuals at various levels. He has worked for INTESOL since 1993.

Reg is a fully qualified languages and EFL teacher. A graduate of Sheffield University, he spent the seventies teaching English in Madrid. A one-year PGCE course at Manchester University helped him to prepare for the rigors of the English classroom, which he experienced in both Bath and the Midlands.

His hobbies include travel and ornithology.

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Wayne Trotman - Tutor

Wayne has been involved in language teaching overseas since 1981, when he graduated from Leicester University in the UK with a Bachelor of Education. Apart from a one-year stint in northern Portugal in 1985-86 he has spent his whole career in an immense variety of language classrooms in Turkey, beginning in the central Anatolian city of Kayseri. Now happily settled on the west coast of Turkey in the large port of Izmir, he is a university level instructor at the Institute of Technology where he is responsible for coordinating the academic writing programme. When not doing that Wayne is an occasional teacher-trainer for British Council Turkey on courses leading to the CELTA as well as tutoring on the British Council distance-learning programme. He has been a Cambridge ESOL oral examiner for the past 15 years and an examiner for IELTS level since 1999. He completed his MSc in TESOL with Aston University in 1994 and will soon begin doctoral research in his main area of interest, which is second-language writing. When time away from all the above and his Turkish wife and two bilingual daughters permits, he is a keen writer of ELT book reviews and editor of the ELT Materials Reviews section in ‘Voices’ the bi-monthly journal of IATEFL.

Stephen Halden - Course Director, Spain

Stephen has developed and coordinated onsite and online training courses and has trained teachers for over ten years. He holds a Licentiate Diploma, Post-Graduate Diploma, and an MA in TEFL.

Stephen has worked as a senior teacher, lead teacher-trainer and Director of Studies and training in Spain, Britain and Mexico. During this time, he has held senior academic positions in the British Council, and has worked as an Academic Consultant developing teaching training programmes for other prestigious training organizations.

Stephen loves music and used to play bass guitar in a popular band, his passion for new experience has encouraged him to travel and trek through out the world.

Vincent Ferrer - Course Director, Prague

Vincent has an impressive professional and academic background holding a MA in Education and English Language Teaching and The Trinity London College Licentiate Diploma in TESOL.

Of American and Spanish descent, Vincent has had a long career in TEFL / TESOL. He has had a number of teaching and managerial positions over the years: from teaching young learners to Director of Studies on EFL Summer Camps to Course Director and Academic Consultant on a number of TEFL training courses.

Vincent is the author of a number of articles on various aspects of TEFL and has been a guest speaker in international conferences and symposiums. Currently he is utterly committed to training English Language teachers and his main motivation is, in his own words, to 'better our courses constantly so that our teachers not only satisfy the demands of the market but actually make a difference when they teach'. In his free time Vincent enjoys cinema and playing old pop and rock songs on his acoustic guitar.

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Victor Habib - Centre Director, Greece

Victor is the key person at INTESOL Greece. He is responsible for coordinating all aspects of your stay.

Victor is of Egyptian origin but lived most of his life in Canada . He graduated from the University of Montreal and has a degree in teaching French. Also, he has a licentiate diploma in Hotel Management and has extensive experience in administrating hotels and restaurants.

He strongly believes that laughter and positive attitude will get you through the course successfully and he will do anything to ensure that you are satisfied whilst studying at INTESOL Greece.

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Mihaela Dascalu - Course Director, Greece

Mihaela is responsible for delivering the courses for INTESOL Greece . She has run many pre-service and in-service training courses both face-to-face and distance courses in Romania and Greece; and delivered workshops at many international conferences.

She has worked for a number of British Council projects on developing teacher training and training of trainers programmes. Mihaela has developed and coordinated onsite and distance training courses and has trained teachers for over thirteen years. She is the co-author of In-service Distance Training Course for Teachers of English, British Council. She holds a Licentiate Diploma in English Language and Literature and French Language and Literature and an MA in Teaching at the School for International Training, Vermont, USA.

Being a non-native speaker of English, she has experience of being a learner of English that is invaluable for developing the native speakers' awareness of teaching their own language.

Mihaela loves music from all over the world (she used to play the violin in an orchestra) travelling and dancing.

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Dina Habib Kerdela - Student Coordinator, Greece

Dina is your contact person at INTESOL Greece. She is the person in charge of everything that concerns the financial aspect of the course: payments, receipts, banking, etc.

Also, she is in charge of arranging for students to be met at the airport, welcoming and orientating students, … and in general liaising with students before, during and after the course. During the course she does a continual follow-up of students to ensure everyone is comfortably satisfied with the day-to-day routines both inside and outside the classroom. Dina will also provide you with detailed information on safety, where the best shops are, names of doctors, etc.

Dina is Canadian but has been living in Crete for eight years. She studied Social sciences in Montreal. She is married and has two children. She is fluent in Greek, French and has good knowledge of Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic.

Dina loves dancing, travelling, foreign languages and cultures.

Jonathan Davies - Onsite Trainer

Jonathan Davies is an experienced TESOL trainer. He qualified as a UK secondary school teacher of French, Spanish and TEFL in 1994 from Bristol University, and has worked in EFL in Spain and France ever since. He taught at the British Council from 1995 to 1997 where he gave seminars around Spain on the subject of teaching Young Learners, a growing field in the EFL world.

Jonathan now divides his time between teaching EFL at the University of Barcelona, and training at INTESOL Spain. He believes in continuing a teaching timetable whilst training teachers, so that the trainees receive the best possible input.

En ex tour guide for Spain, Jon is also a great source of information of places to visit in and around Barcelona; this enables trainees to have a truly enriching experience.

When not working or dining in one of Barcelona's wonderful restaurants, he can be found racing his bicycle around the surrounding towns and villages.

Aida Gavrilova - Onsite Trainer

Aida is a bilingual Bosnian and English speaker, who has been living in Barcelona and working as an "Unknown Foreign Language" teacher for five years. Past experience included working as a music lecturer and piano teacher

Aida's objective at INTESOL is not so much to enable our trainee teachers to speak fluent Bosnian, but to give them an idea of how it feels for absolute beginner at learning a foreign language. The parallel aim is for trainees to realise the challenges of getting students to learn and speak a foreign language without making them feel ridiculous and de-motivated.

Back in the 1980's Aida arrived in London barely able to utter a sentence in English, back then she could hardly of imagined that one day she would be living in Spain teaching Bosnian to native English speakers! Aida adds "it really makes my day when I bump into past-trainees in Barcelona, who are now teaching, and they greet me in Bosnian!"

Hana Hejlova - Student Co-ordinator and Onsite Trainer

Hana is your contact person at INTESOL Prague. She is in charge of, amongst other things, arranging for students to be met at the airport, welcoming and orientating students, standard and non-standard accommodation ... and in general liaising with students before, during and after the course. During the course she does a continual follow-up of students to ensure everyone is comfortably satisfied with the day-to-day routines both inside and outside the classroom. Hana will also provide you with detailed information on safety, where the best shops are, names of doctors, etc.

Hana has a MA in Czech Language Teaching and Literature from the Faculty of Arts at Charles University and studied linguistics at the University of Sheffield in Great Britain in 2000. She has taught English and Czech for Foreigners for various language schools for ten years. During the academic year 2002-2003 she worked as a lecturer of Czech in the Department of Slavic Studies at the University of Sheffield. In the last four years she has been demonstrating teaching methods to TEFL students and monitoring their lessons for two TEFL schools in Prague.

Hana spends a lot of her free time in the gym. Her number one hobby is aerobics, which she is also licensed to teach. Hana also loves traveling and reading - her favorite author is John Irving.

Jitka Blazkova - Job Guidance Officer

Jitka has had over 15 years' experience in teaching English and Czech as a foreign language. She's also an interpreter. She has an MA in English and Czech languages and literature with Charles University in Prague, and specialized in Canadian literature and culture at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver.

Jitka has been running her own language school since 1995. The school, Threshold Training Associates, is INTESOL Prague's affiliate language school and currently employs 90 teachers and 11 administrative staff. Her main job at INTESOL Prague is to use her extensive experience in language teaching and school management to help you to prepare successfully for your job interviews and a demo lessons.

Jitka will also be offering you constant job guidance. She has an incredible local knowledge and she makes it her job to 'help you feel safe and at home in Prague'. Jitka loves to travel.

Lucie Eiseltova - Materials Development and Onsite Trainer

Lucie is a highly experienced and accomplished teacher and trainer. She has experience of teaching all age groups from very young learners to adults. Lucie has also worked as a project manager for a corporate teambuilding company.

Lucie specializes in the development of materials and is strongly influenced by the 'experiential education approach' to language learning. Her motto is 'involve me and I will learn'.

Lucie holds a BA in Foreign Affairs and French and an M.Ed in Health Promotion and Wellness Management with a focus on Experiential Education. Lucie is passionate about travelling and is a trekking instructor and guide.

Ken Jones - Course Director, Peru

Ken is the Executive Director and founder of the Cusco office. He has two Masters Degrees - one in Organizational Development (with an emphasis in professional training) and an MBA in International Business. Ken has been teaching English for more than six years and previously worked in professional training, Human Resources, and International Business for 12 years.

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Sarah Humbleby - Onsite Trainer, Peru

Sarah is from the U.K. and has her Bachelors Degree in Education and Music. Sarah has taught both children and adults for more than eight years and was a teacher-trainer in Uganda, Africa for two years with the UK's Volunteer Services Overseas program.

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Martin Bayliss - Business English Trainer

Formally financial director of an international motor racing team and a self employed business consultant in London, Martin is responsible for collating the financial side of INTESOL Prague and Spain as well as training corporate directors in professional development. Martin also supervises and updates our business English courses and workshops.

Martin loves golf, motor racing, boxing, and is flamboyant gourmet!

Leigh Beckford - Admissions Manager

Leigh's passion for teaching and travelling began at the age of 24 when she left the UK to go travelling in the Far East, Australia and Central America. Eight months travelling around South East Asia opened her eyes to the opportunities for English teachers to integrate into society and become fully involved in local culture. With a new found freedom and lease of life Leigh travelled on to Australia. Whilst there she decided to study towards her TESOL certificate with INTESOL, and within three months she was qualified to teach English as a foreign language. After a year in Australia she returned to South East Asia where she enjoyed teaching local communities in both Thailand and Cambodia. She then moved on to spend a year teaching children at a private language institute in South Korea. Her year in South Korea taught her a great deal about adapting to life in a completely different culture and she left feeling satisfied that she had developed not only as a teacher, but also as a person. Before eventually returning to the UK Leigh spent a glorious four months living on a Caribbean island called Roatan, just off the coast of Honduras. She worked part-time teaching English in a local school whilst also learning how to scuba dive. Since returning to the UK Leigh has dedicated her time to encouraging others to do what she did, take a career break and teach English abroad.

Adam Hunt - TESOL Careers Advisor

After graduating Adam worked in the UK for 4 years, his first job was with a major coffee roaster and then for British Telecom as a global accounts manager. Whilst Adam's employment rewarded him with generous salaries he felt that there must be more to life than simply making money. At 25 Adam gained a TESOL certificate with INTESOL and set off on a career break. Adams career break enabled him to live, work and travel in all continents of the world. 30 countries and 4 years later Adams career break had turned into an adventurous and exciting life, a life he is keen to promote and encourage to others and continue for himself.

Adam Says "With hindsight it is apparent what was missing in my life. Most people in the world today suffer a sense of personal powerlessness and pointlessness. They feel a lack of direction and a desire for 'change'. When these feelings build we start to question 'why?', because, essentially, we feel there must be more to life - more meaning, more purpose. Travelling the world and teaching my native language gives me this meaning, rewards me with greater understanding and offers me the freedom to live wherever, whenever I choose".

Adam's extensive experience enables him to offer you advice and guidance on where and how to find work, who you might teach and what it will be like.

Adam has a passion for nature, is a qualified dive master and is passionate about all things fish. Adam loves nothing more than a warm tropical island and the big brother feeling he gets from teaching young students.

David Buckle - Technical Administrator, UK

David Buckle has been working for INTESOL for four years and looks after the technical aspects of the business. He has a B. Sc. in Computing and Technology, and a good knowledge of both computer hardware and software systems. David's duties cover general IT matters including website updates, maintenance of computing equipment and general technical administration tasks. He also assists in the production, printing, and sending out of prospectuses, information packs and course media.