Meet Our Trainers
Join a global community of over 200,000 TEFL teachers working throughout the world! Enrol me!

Anastasia Witts
TEFL Trainer
Based in East Sussex, UK, Ana’s qualifications include a First degree in Slavic Philology &
Linguistics with Honours, Russian as a Foreign Language Teaching Diploma, and a Cambridge
CELTA.
"I believe that successful communication is the main tool we need to be able to coexist
peacefully with other people. I cannot think of any more important subject to teach"
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.

Gina Perron
TEFL Trainer
Gina has a wide range of experience teaching online, including teaching virtually as an English Language Fellow at two universities in Vietnam.
"As an ESL teacher, I feel it is imperative to learn about your students' cultures and create lessons that incorporate them, making sure that your learners are constantly engaged and using the language in creative ways.
"
After moving from Indiana to Scotland and graduating with a master’s degree in TESOL from the University of Edinburgh, Gina moved to the island of Malta where she spent 7 years teaching English to students from all over the world, ranging from beginner to advanced level. During this time, she developed a love for creating materials that helped students to use the language in meaningful ways. After sharing these with her colleagues and seeing the benefit they had for both students and teachers, she chose to self-publish a resource book on Amazon called ‘On the Go English’

Martin Bennett
TEFL Trainer
Martin is originally from the UK. About 7 years ago, he took time out from his successful management career to pursue his interests and lifelong dreams of travel and teaching English full time.
"I find teaching, tutoring and training a rewarding and fulfilling career. Watching someone’s journey from a beginner to an advanced level and interacting with them is an opportunity that few other jobs allow."
Since then he visited and taught in countless countries. During his time in Africa, he has worked with various charity organisations including helping with the Ghana rice feeding program and working with local and international organisations in the fight against diseases like Malaria, TB and HIV/AIDS. He is now based semi-permanently in South Africa.
He has thousands of hours face to face and online classroom teaching experience. As well as TEFL, He is able to teach IELTS, Cambridge Advanced, Cambridge First, Cambridge Key, CLIL and TEYL.
He has taught a wide array of students from young learners aged 4-5 at Level 1 (no exposure to English) all the way through to successful company directors with a solid grasp and understanding of English. He finds teaching, tutoring and training a rewarding and fulfilling career and feels watching someone’s journey from a beginner to an advanced level and interacting with them is an opportunity that few other jobs allow.

Simon Doherty
TEFL Trainer
Simon first began teaching English part-time whilst studying as an exchange student in Japan in 1994
"Something that often goes unmentioned is the wonderful community of fellow English teachers you become part of overseas. I’ve got to know so many truly exceptional and interesting people with amazing life experiences"
He started out teaching children and high school students before later working full-time teaching Business English at Japanese multinational corporations and colleges. After some 20 years in Thailand, Japan and the Philippines, Simon returned to the U.K. and has been teaching Academic English at universities since

Helen Shchur
TEFL Trainer
Helen started teaching EFL in 1992 after graduating with MA in English and German.
"I have been lucky to have great teachers and tutors since primary school. That’s why I decided to become a teacher."
Helen has worked in several countries teaching young learners, teenagers and adult learners in a wide range of contexts. While doing CELTA, Helen had fantastic tutors and decided to be like them in the future. After she finished DELTA and had some experience of training teachers, Helen qualified as a Cambridge CELTA trainer and have been delivering CELTA and other teacher training courses.
As an Academic manager of a private language school, Helen was in charge of training new and experienced native and non-native teachers and helped them to progress in their careers.
Helen loves training teachers and seeing how they develop, become more confident and enjoy teaching!

Jo Carr
TEFL Trainer
Jo has ten years of TEFL experience in Italy, Spain, Colombia and England and enjoys helping her students grow and gain confidence.
""not only do we teach, but we get to analyse the mechanics of the craft we do every day""
Jo started teaching EFL in 2008 in Barcelona, spurred on by a love of language and adventure. Since then she has taught all ages and levels of student in Spain, Italy, Colombia, England and Ireland. She says that the best language teachers are language learners and so has attempted to learn Spanish, Catalan, Italian and French, to greater and lesser success. She believes the most exciting thing about being in the classroom is going on a journey with your students and helping them grow and gain confidence. Engagement and effort are also key to learners’ success. Having gained her Delta qualification, Jo has taught English for Academic Purposes to help students gain the skills needed in order to do their Master’s in an English speaking country and also tutored students for scholarships such as the Fulbright programme. She branched out into teacher training in 2017, providing training for teachers of adults and young learners alike. She loves teacher training because, not only do we teach, but we get to analyse the mechanics of the craft we do every day and that’s fun and exciting for her.

Sheila Sanjaime Weir
TEFL Trainer
Sheila comes from a bicultural, bilingual home. Some of her first memories include her reciting all the numbers from 1 to 100, in English, to her very impressed Spanish friends.
"Teaching English involves being able to put one´s self in another´s shoes in order to be able to connect English to their life and walking with them as they face their fears and gain confidence."
She began teaching English and Spanish in 1999 and was an assistant to the language professor during her university years. She got her Bachelor´s degree in Social Work but focused on School Social Work and worked with many Hispanic families in the USA. Part of her job with the Indiana Department of Education was teaching English to the parents of Hispanic children to improve their children´s education and advance their adaptation to the USA. She then returned to Spain and worked in an English Academy teaching children, teens, adults and business groups. In 2010, she got her TEFL teaching certificate and has been teaching formally and informally ever since. She is currently teaching full time in a private school as an English teacher. Teaching English involves being able to put one´s self in another´s shoes in order to be able to connect English to their life and walking with them as they face their fears and gain confidence.

Baphiwe Ncanana
TEFL Trainer
Baphiwe started teaching back in university when everyone was struggling with Financial Accounting except for her. She started tutoring friends and when they started seeing progress, they would tell their friends about her.
"Baphiwe says the key to her success as a teacher is that she just loves people and helping people understand things."
The best part was that moment when the lightbulb would come on. The glow in their eyes when something that seemed so foreign now looked slightly clearer, was pure joy.
Having never travelled further than 60km away from home, Baphiwe decided going to China to officially kickstart her teaching career would be a fantastic idea. She was right. She taught kids aged 3 to 18 at one of the biggest language schools in China. She enjoyed listening to their stories, discussing the history of culture with them, and mostly seeing them become more confident in the four major English learning areas, reading, speaking, writing and listening.
Baphiwe worked in Istanbul, Turkey after that and then settled in Kobe, Japan for two years. In Japan she worked at a language school, teaching mainly Business English. It was as challenging as it was fun. Many of the students were already fluent and were getting ready to emigrate or to attend conferences where the language would be English.
Baphiwe says the key to her success as a teacher is that she just loves people and helping people understand things.

Clare Innard
TEFL Trainer
Clare started teaching in Madrid after completing her CELTA in 2009. She
remained there for nearly two years teaching adults, teenagers and
children.
"I have found that TEFL teaching is a great way to experience other cultures"
She has found TEFL teaching a great way to experience other cultures. Clare then went on to study a modern languages degree at the University of Manchester where she taught English, while studying. She has taught on a number of intensive summer courses both in the UK and abroad. She has also spent one year teaching in Chile which she found to be an unforgettable experience. She really enjoys teaching English and especially likes the creative side of TEFL teaching. She also really enjoys teaching grammar! Her hobbies include; playing music, swimming and reading.

Alexandra Squire
TEFL Trainer
Alex holds a master’s degree in Applied Linguistics and is CELTA certified.
"Alex specializes in learner experience, learner engagement and the development of targeted learning interventions to address any deficiencies the learners might encounter in their language acquisition cycle. "
She taught English face-to-face in Romania and China and online to learners from around the world. Her teaching experience covers General English, Business English, English for Specific Purposes and IELTS preparation. She worked with a variety of student demographics ranging from K-12 students to working professionals and corporate executives.
Alex specializes in learner experience, learner engagement and the development of targeted learning interventions to address any deficiencies the learners might encounter in their language acquisition cycle. She currently works in Chicago, IL as Learning Professional designing, developing and implementing blended learning solutions that result in positive desirable change in human performance, work processes and organizational outcomes.
Accreditation & Quality Assurance
The TEFL Academy was the world’s first TEFL course provider to receive official recognition from government regulated awarding bodies in both the USA and UK. This means when you graduate you’ll hold a globally recognised Level 3 (120hr) Certificate or Level 5 (168hr) Diploma, meaning you can find work anywhere and apply for jobs immediately.