Meet Our Trainers

After landing in Madrid he got his first job in 4 days by calling around the local academies. Since then he has taught all sorts of ages, levels and interests, including business people, extensive and intensive courses. He has also taught in Great Britain and in Brazil. He ran his own academy successfully for many years, so has experience of the TEFL world from many different angles. He says with The TEFL Academy qualification under the student’s belt, the best idea is to go forth and get a job ASAP and get teaching. Aside from teaching he enjoys music, family and friends, languages and quite a few other things and says these things are always useful in class too!

From working with South African students with anxiety disorders and learning difficulties, to working in China as an ESL and kindergarten educator and volunteering as a teacher in rural areas within Malawi. Working with different students with diverse cultures, beliefs, backgrounds and physical and mental abilities enabled her to incorporate the above experiences into a holistic teaching approach. Her belief is that education is vital to bring forth positive change to the world.

Talia’s teacher training sessions provide a safe space for those who attend, to be their authentic selves.  Talia believes that when a teacher is comfortable in their own skin, this allows learners to feel at ease and promotes a healthy learning environment where students feel accepted for who they are, and are encouraged to learn, laugh and grow.

The time Talia spent abroad, teaching in Brazil, taught her a lot about teaching English as a second language to children and adults. She happily shares as much as possible of her experience abroad in her training sessions.

René loves the creativity and fun methods of learning that the EFL world encourages. Her TEFL career started in a public school in South Korea. She followed this up with a year at a private English academy in China, before bringing her experience to learners in South Africa. She has taught three to thirteen year olds as well as adults, and enjoys finding ways to address multiple learning styles in her lessons. As a trainer, she aims to turn the abstract idea of  ‘going abroad to teach English’ into a more concrete and practical reality, so that trainees can feel better prepared for their future teaching adventures. René enjoys reading and doing anything creative.

Ryan finds that helping people learn English is a rewarding and enjoyable experience. His students range from elementary to proficiency and come from a wide variety of backgrounds; young learners, teenagers, degree students, MA students, PhDs, professionals in the fields of Law, Technology, Engineering, Insurance, Medicine, HR, Pharmaceuticals and many other industries. He has received great satisfaction from helping learners of the English language improve their skills and says he has learned much from everyone he has met. He believes that learning a language is more than just studying grammar and vocabulary. His attitude to teaching is to interact with students on a personal level and give a sense of culture and enjoyment to their learning. Every student has their own unique learning style, personality and needs, which is why he employs a spectrum of teaching methodologies and approaches.

After graduating he worked in South Korea where he started his ESL career. South Africa followed and China was next. Realising that he could offer much to learners he returned to South Africa to edutain and empower learners. He enjoys sleeping, art, coffee and of course hamburgers, and he still cant eat with chopsticks without making a mess of things.

Brian has taught students of all ages and from different backgrounds in language centres, high schools, and universities, and has designed and delivered teaching programs for corporate clients. His advice for teachers beginning their ESL careers is to make your lessons fun and engaging and to get to know your students’ interests and language and cultural backgrounds

He started out by teaching English to children in Asia in 2001, and also became a speaking Examiner on Cambridge Young Learners as well as KEY/PET/FCE exams. Starting in 2003, he taught adult ESL in various countries and in different educational contexts, both public/private schools and universities mostly in Asia and Europe. Upon receiving his Ph.D. in ELT in 2012, Huss began teaching ELT methodology and linguistics courses to prospective teachers of English. In 2017, Huss completed his DELTA and ever since, he has been training teachers on various training courses in a number of countries. Currently, Huss is involved in both ESL instruction and teacher training in Montréal and Toronto, Canada. As a result of traveling and teaching English around the world, Huss has had a chance to become familiar with quite a few languages, among which he speaks French, Turkish, Armenian, and Persian fluently. It is easy to see how learning and teaching languages have become his twin passion in life.

He first worked for RMIT University, Melbourne, where he designed and delivered a range of specialist programs including English for Oil and Gas for Vietnamese engineers, and Aviation English for Chinese pilots. James became a CELTA tutor in 1998, and has taught hundreds of teacher training courses for prospective and current school teachers from Australia, China, Thailand and Vietnam. James is an IELTS examiner and has an MA in Applied Linguistics.

With 30 years of teaching experience, she’s taught both Russian and English languages at
various levels from secondary school to university, as well as to corporate clients. She has
been privileged to work with renowned organisations such as the International Committee
of the Red Cross (ICRC), Home Language International, National Opera Studio, and
Glyndebourne Opera House. She provides face-to-face and online tuition for every level of
language proficiency and specialises in IELTS preparation.
Ana is also a professional web designer and the founder of a UK-based digital
communication agency. She has taught Web Design and Digital Communication courses for
8 years.
In her spare time, Ana is involved in dog training and likes nothing better than going on a
hike or a bike ride with her beloved dog.