Meet your Trainers

Meet your Trainers

St Giles has an in-house team of experienced teacher trainers and this ensures consistency of approach.

 All the trainers are also practising teachers and some are also assessors for Cambridge English or Trinity College London. The trainers work on St Giles’ courses in the UK and overseas.

Brighton

Erica

Erica began her teaching career as a way to travel and enjoyed working in Spain, China and London before completing her Delta at UCL, London.

Since settling at St Giles Brighton in 2012, she’s become an approved CELTA and Delta trainer, and trained both new and experienced teachers in the UK, Uzbekistan, Cuba, Peru and the USA. She's published online learning materials and coordinated materials creation projects.

She is now Head of Teacher Training at St Giles Brighton and has a special interest in inclusion and teacher development. She is also an Access Arrangements Assessor and qualified dyslexia tutor. When she's not training teachers, she enjoys going for walks with her little dog!

Emily

Emily's career in ELT began in the 90's, working in Turkey, France and Ireland before joining St Giles.

Since the 2000's: she has worked regularly as a CELTA tutor; been involved in DELTA courses and delivered courses for experienced overseas' teachers and trainers in the UK or abroad, ( including preparation for the Teaching Knowledge Test, assignments in Senegal and Ghana and participation in the development of resources for Angola as part of English UK's Prelim 3 project).

Emily continues to; teach EFL, EAP and ESP at all levels; deliver teacher development sessions and be a mentor on our in-house mentoring scheme.

One of her other passions is contemporary dance!

Fran

Fran began her ELT career in the 1990s, gaining teaching experience in the UK and abroad (Australia, South Korea and the Czech Republic) with adults and children before becoming a teacher trainer at St Giles Brighton in 2003. She is an approved Cambridge CELTA and Delta tutor and works as a CELTA Assessor.

Fran has undertaken overseas teacher training assignments with St Giles in Bangladesh, Russia, Uzbekistan, Senegal and Ghana, working to support teachers of English in their own countries.

She has a special interest in SEN (Special Educational Needs) and is a Learning Support Officer for St Giles’ students providing one-to-one support for their specific learning needs.


London

Jo

After completing a degree in English Literature, Jo acquired her CELTA (CTEFLA as it was then known) at St Giles in 1991. She taught in the Czech Republic and Poland and then returned to work at St Giles where she obtained her Delta. 

Jo spent 10 years as Assistant Director of Studies, she joined the teacher training team in 2001 and she is now Head of Teacher Training for St Giles London. 

She particularly enjoys creating materials and has worked for MacMillan on their 'Graded Readers' series. Jo is also an external assessor of Cambridge CELTA courses in the UK and abroad.

Neil

Neil’s early career was in arts and entertainment journalism. After a decade of film screenings and hanging out with rock stars he switched to teaching and has since worked in both the state and private sectors. 

Neil joined St Giles in 2005 and he has been a trainer on both Cambridge CELTA and Trinity CertTESOL courses. 

Neil has a particular interest in specialised courses for university students and overseas teachers of English. 

He is a published author of fiction and he enjoys reading, his gym membership and travelling the world.

Darren

With a BA in English Literature, Darren has been a teacher for twenty years and a teacher trainer for fifteen. 

He has experience of training on both CELTA and Trinity CertTESOL courses. Darren began his teaching career in Japan where he lived and worked for three years. He then returned to the UK to further develop his skills by taking the RSA Dip TEFL. 

Darren has a PGCE in Educational Technology and Distance Learning and he has a keen interest in using technology to enhance the learner experience.

Phil

Phil has been teaching English since 1995. After working in the Czech Republic for six years, he joined St Giles and he obtained his Delta at St Giles Highgate in 2004. 

He became a teacher trainer in 2006 and has trained on both Trinity CertTESOL and CELTA courses.

 In 2014 Phil undertook a teacher training assignment in Havana, Cuba for the St Giles Educational Trust. He has also presented at conferences in Havana and Luxembourg. 

Phil’s main professional interests are team teaching, using pictures and teaching beginners.