Meet the Team

Colin Paton

Hi! I’m Head of E-learning at IH London and I’m responsible for all IH London's online and blended programmes. I have an MA in Online Education as well as the Dip TEFLA. I joined IH London in 2011. Before this I managed and designed national e-learning programmes for the health and social care sectors in the UK. I’ve worked with e-learning since the mid-1990s and founded one of the first online language schools in 1997. But I started my career as a language teacher and teacher trainer and have worked across most of Latin America as well as Egypt, Russia and Portugal.

Paulette Milego

Hi. I've been working as a teacher and trainer at IH London since 1992. I worked on the original Diploma Distance Training Programme and have worked on the IH Educational Management Programme as well as the Distance Delta. I also work for Cambridge ESOL as a Delta Module One Exam writer and Team leader for Exam markers and Module 2 Assessor and Moderator. Before coming to London I worked in Turkey, Spain and Brazil and during my time here I've done a couple of stints abroad in Kenya and Moscow.

Natalie Gunn

I'm from New Zealand but I have recently moved to London from Sydney, where I was working in Distance Education for an education provider, so I am used helping distance students with the kind of issues they face. I like History and enjoy travelling. Apart from living in the UK earlier, I have also lived in Brazil and travelled in Europe.

Alastair Douglas

I'm a teacher and trainer at International House, London. I worked in Japan and Indonesia for a number of years, before returning to IH where I had done my CELTA and DELTA courses. I have an MA in ELT and Applied Linguistics from King's College London. My teaching interests include using memory techniques to help with language recall and the cultural effects on learner styles. I train on CELTA and Delta courses and a Cambridge examiner for Delta Module 3. 

Cathy Ellis

I've been a teacher trainer for about the last 20 years and have taught and trained in Spain Poland, Brazil, the Republic of Georgia, the UK and most recently Canada, where I worked for three years in Vancouver. I came back about six years ago and since then I've been living in London, teaching and training, working on CELTA and Delta courses, carrying out assessments for both courses. I also work for Cambridge ESOL as a Team leader for Delta Module One exam markers, and a moderator and assessor for Delta Module Two.

Duncan Mackenzie

Enjoying my third stint at IH London, I have been teaching and training permanently here since 2006. I was also a trainer in Prague and worked in Spain and Argentina before that, managing the switch between variations of Spanish with relative success. As well as CELTA and Delta, I have been a tutor on TKT, Business 1-1 and Training the Trainer courses. I also work for Cambridge ESOL as Module 1 exam marker.

Jan Madakbas

I have been at IH London since 2001 but before that worked in Moscow and Istanbul. I am a CELTA and Delta trainer but also work on the Diploma in Educational Management, do examining work and have been involved in designing online teacher training courses particularly for China. I am a Cambridge ESOL marker for Delta Module 3 and a Delta Module 2 assessor.

Nick Witherick

I have worked at International House London for the last three years but have been involved in CELTA and Delta training for over ten years. I do a number of ELT related things including writing coursebook materials and language consultancy work in the field of recruitment. I've been a Trinity College London examiner for ten years and mark Delta Module 1 exams for Cambridge ESOL.

Amanda Bailey

Hi. I’ve been teaching EFL for just over 15 years now and have been a trainer for the last 8 of those, starting with CELTA and, more recently, working on face-to-face and distance Delta courses. I’ve taught and trained in Barcelona, London and Sydney but am now happily based in Cambridge. In addition to teaching and training, I have written several Teacher’s Books.

Anna Edgar

I have been a teacher and trainer for a number of years, in Britain and in other countries including China, Australia and Oman. I am a CELTA and Delta trainer. I am now enjoying freelance training in the Middle East and North Africa. And I am really looking forward to working with everyone on the Distance Delta.

Brigid Nugent

I'm originally from Ireland, I still have my Irish brogue and am based in Istanbul. I do face to face Deltas, ICELTs and CELTAs and am an Assessor/Moderator for all. I am also the Professional Support Leader for the Cambridge ESOL exams in Turkey, Central Asia and Costa Rica (I folded the map when they were giving out countries and they still haven't noticed anything) with 14 wonderful Team Leaders, who train up all the ESOL speaking examiners in the region. I was an IELTS trainer for a minute but ticking boxes is not really my style so I just examine these days. And the best thing about it all is that I love what I do and know that I am incredibly lucky to be able to say that.

Charles Napier

I've worked in EFL for nearly thirty years, and have been training on DELTA courses for fifteen. Most of my posts have been in Europe, North Africa or the Middle East, and for the last eight years I've been in Istanbul, running my own school and writing a series of course-books for Turkish students.

David Palfreyman

Hello. I've taught EFL in Italy and Spain, and ESL in the UK, and I've been a Delta Tutor and Assessor for about thirteen years in Turkey and the Middle East. I enjoy working on the Distance Delta as it involves vicarious contact with a lot of different teaching situations around the world. I'm especially interested in lexis, learner autonomy and the use of technology.

Deidre Conway

I've been involved in ELT since the mid-80s and was with IH in Egypt, Spain and Singapore. I went home to Australia in 1991 and spent the next 15 years teaching/training (CELTA/DELTA) at various language colleges in Perth. I worked at the BC in Kuala Lumpur for 4.5 years, running CELTA, YL Extension and Orientation Courses for the Distance DELTA, as well as running the first ICELT course at the BC there. I arrived here in Abu Dhabi in May 2011. I am also a CELTA/YL Extension Tutor/Delta Assessor and an ICELT Tutor.  Most importantly, I still enjoy teaching students and try to ensure that my workload includes General English classes.

Damian Williams

I like to keep myself busy and as a freelance teacher trainer have my fingers in lots of pies, both sweet and savoury. I've been teacher training for eight years both in the UK and Brazil. I'm an Assessor for CELTA courses, as well as Delta Module 2. I've also done writing for UK and Brazilian publishers, do consultancy work for local schools, translating, and of course, teaching. I've been based in Rio for the last five years, though my work often takes me all round Brazil and Argentina.

Dominic Walters

My name is Dominic and I work out of Recife. I´m involved in doing consultancy work on professional development for various schools in the north-east of Brazil which means I get to travel around a fair bit and see all the beaches.

Fran Barnard

I've been working at IH for 10 years as a teacher and teacher trainer. Before that I worked in various countries including Sweden, Turkey and Hungary. My most recent stint abroad was 2 years in New Zealand from 1996-8 which was a fantastic experience. Originally I was state school trained and spent three years teaching in secondary education (English and Religious studies). I still have a strong interest in teaching and training teachers of younger learners at both primary and secondary levels. 

Jane Richbell

Hi, I’m a CELTA tutor and assessor and Delta tutor. I have been teaching for many years and have worked for IH in Sydney and the British Council. I have just returned to England after living overseas for about 15 years in Thailand, Brazil and Australia and am now a freelance trainer. I’m still getting used to the weather here!

Jon Goodliffe

I've been a TEFLER since 1987. I've worked in Paris, Tokyo, Bahrain, Riyadh and now Oman. On the teaching front I've been a trainer since about 1990 and I have a particular fondness for phonology.

Jonathan Stoddart

I'm Jonathan, and I'm the Pre-master's Co-ordinator at the English Language Centre, King's College, University of London. Previously I worked at International House London. I began teaching in 1994, and have been training since 1999. I am a CELTA and Delta Assessor and am an examiner for Module Three of the Delta. Prior to working here in London, I worked in the beautiful city of Lisbon for ten years, initially in a secondary school, and then for International House (where I took my Diploma in 1998). I completed my Master's in ELT at the University of London Institute of Education.

Kate Evans

I live in Leeds, Yorkshire, and work free-lance. Much of what I do now is on-line, but I work on a face-to-face Delta course at Leeds Metropolitan University, as well as on local CELTA courses. I was a teacher and teacher trainer at IH Hastings (later Embassy CES) for many years, where I taught and trained on a range of different courses, both multi- and mono-lingual. Before that I worked at IH Mataro in Spain, and did summers at the Bell School in Norwich. I've done teacher training courses all over Europe, and have been Course Director of semi-intensive Delta courses in Vietnam and Malta. I'm a Delta Assessor, and a Module 1 writer and marker.

Marie Morgan

I'm Marie, based in Vancouver but born in Liverpool. Been in ESL since 1988 though was a meditation teacher first then a group facilitator/trainer. Worked in the UK teaching ESL/training teachers then freelance in Australia, US, Canada and Italy. Worked on lots of CELTA courses, am a CELTA/Delta/TKT Assessor, have trained trainers and work with Cambridge ESOL on many projects. With a colleague, introduced DELTA to Canada in 2004. Completed my MA in 2007, and still vividly remember what it's like to write drafts! I'm an examiner for a number of international ESL exams, and for the last few years have been working with a large international school writing and editing materials for their course books - a real passion of mine.

Mavis Radley

I started my teaching career as a teacher of Spanish in the UK in the leafy London suburb of Cheam, Surrey, a far cry from where I live now, in Rio de Janeiro. Then I moved to Spain where I became a teacher of English, including two years at the British Council in Madrid, and a teacher trainer. Since then, I have been teaching and training (inservice, CELTA, COTE, Delta and, before that RSA/UCLES  DTEFLA!), mostly in Brazil.

Neil Anderson

I graduated with a BA in English Literature and Language in 1996 and after a period of one-to-one teaching in Oxford, I decided to do the CELTA at IH London in 1997. Pretty soon after that, I took up a job in Budapest and have been based here ever since, though my teaching and training has taken me further afield. I work as the main course tutor on our in-house Delta courses, as a tutor on the DDOC, and as CELTA trainer. In addition, I'm a CELTA and Delta Assessor which means I get to jet off all over central and Eastern Europe. Finally, I also work as a Team Leader for Cambridge ESOL during the busy Module 3 marking periods.

Rachel Clark

I've been teaching for over twenty years and have taught/ trained/ worked as a DOS in London, Poland, Turkey, Argentina, Spain and Lebanon. I've run a fair number of face to face and Distance Delta courses and was one of the Distance Delta coordinators here in London until recently. I'm a Cambridge mainsuite oral examiner, an IELTS examiner and a CELTA and DELTA assessor. I've also co-written Grammar for Business and two teacher's books for the CUP coursebook, face2face. Oh yes, and I also write the questions for and mark Delta Module 1 papers so am in a good position to help you.

Rebecca Hales

I'm currently working as the ELT Development Manager for the British Council in Vietnam. Prior to that I was involved in British Council teacher training initiatives in Jordan and Palestine as well as working as a CELTA and DELTA tutor in Cairo. I've also taught at university language centres and private language schools in Australia, Japan and Italy.

Sally Hirst

I came to Istanbul with a newly acquired CELTA in hand more than 20 years ago, loved it and have no intention of leaving. Currently I teach 8-12 hours language a week for a company called ESP. That's mostly Business English and is often bespoke courses in companies. I fill quite a few hours tutoring for Distance Delta and also spend a lot of time writing materials for and running Delta Modules for ITI here in Istanbul. Given the size of this city and the need for blended options, I've learnt rather more than I expected about logistics and web delivery in the last couple of years, but all of it is interesting and a lot of it proves useful in coming up with new ways of working with language learners. I did my Masters with Aston University in Distance mode, so I have some idea of what it feels like to be in your shoes.

Sheen Palmer

I've been a Delta OC Tutor for 11 years in London, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo and Osaka and was Head of Teacher Training at the British Council, Tokyo for many years. I ran face to face DELTA courses in Tokyo and also ran CELTA courses there - BUSY! I have also worked in South Korea and Egypt (IH), but am now back in London.

Steve Oakes

I've been working in ELT since 1988, when I left the film business and took on a group of beginners, all wives of consulate workers, at the UN. I later taught in Japan then moved to Hungary where I've been teaching and training with International House since 1992. I've worked on and run Distance Delta Orientation Courses in London and here in Budapest, and have run a dozen or so face-to-face Deltas. I have a strong preference for the Distance Delta format, in part because its extensive nature (time-wise) allows a candidate to develop more naturally and gradually, to try things out and reflect on them.

Tillat Khalid

I've have been teaching EFL for the past 31 years, mainly in the Middle East but have also done stints in the UK, Pakistan and now in Vancouver, Canada. In Kuwait I ran the DELTA, CELTA and Young Learner Extension training programmes for the British Council. I did my CELTA, a DTEFLA and then an MA in Applied Linguistics and TESOL from the University of Leicester. I am also a CELTA, YL and DELTA assessor and did a fair bit of travelling around many beautiful cities in the Middle East in that capacity. I moved to Vancouver in 2001 and am especially proud to have been involved in setting up the first DELTA centre in Canada. I am currently involved in coordinating and teaching on Delta, CELTA and YL Extension programmes here and do a great deal of work with the Distance Delta and with IELTS.

Greg Tatka

My name is Greg and I'm your IT support guy. I've been involved with The Distance Delta website for over four years now. I lived in London for half a decade or so before moving to Krakow in 2006 where I run a small web company. I love travel and unusual food. In my spare time I like walking in Scottish Highlands and cycling. When in Scotland I am on a mission to help the world fighting the annoying midges so that more people can come visit this wonderful part of our planet. Join me if you hate the midges!

Lucas Mendelowski

My name is Lucas and I live in Cracow where I'm studying Automatic Control and Robotics at AGH University. I've been providing IT support for The Distance Delta since March 2011. Besides programming, I'm interested in electronics and new technologies. In my free time, which I haven't got so much of, I watch movies, TV series, read books and play football. I'm also a big fan of the English Premier League.