Who Are We ?
Cambridge English Language Assessment maintains very strict criteria for the selection of its CELTA trainers and The ELT Hub is no exception (see our personal biographies below). Your tutors have a considerable experience in teaching CELTA and DipTESOL courses and they are there to help you every step of the way.
For DipTESOL candidates, thanks to our strategic location and our links with local institutions, you have the opportunity of developing research projects which go to the heart of the questions posed by professionals wishing to improve the teaching of English in Europe today.
Jane Ryder did a MA in Applied Linguistics with Leicester University after 10 years working for the Continuing Education sector of ‘Education Nationale’, the French Dept. Of Education. She started her career as an ethologist, then ran a film company, worked extensively in Latin America and finally settled in Europe in the late 90’s. She has specialised in Teacher Development, and is dedicated to the goal of improving the status of ELT trainers in France through training and qualifications. She set up The ELT Hub in October 2010 (then known as ESOL Strasbourg).
Neil McCutcheon, has worked on over 100 CELTA courses around the world and has been a DELTA trainer for 6 years. Neil started life as a Primary teacher, has worked as a volunteer teacher in Ghana, as well as teaching EFL and ESOL in London and Hungary. Neil holds the Trinity College Diploma in TESOL. He specialises in Task Based Learning.
Christina Phelps is a CELTA tutor and a Trinity TYLEC tutor. She started as a secondary school teacher in the UK and then worked for many years as a programme director for the British Council in the Middle East as well as heading up their Young Learners teacher training programme. She holds a PGCE, DELTA and is finishing an MA in Professional Development for Language Education with NILE in Norwich.
Alina Brooks came into teaching in 2001, has taught at three universities, in-company, including at Russia’s biggest Stock Exchange, and at IH Moscow. Alina has designed many courses both for learners and teachers and has been a CELTA trainer since 2013 and a DELTA trainer since 2016. Her interests lie in teacher development, academic English and exams. Alina holds a MSc in Educational Management in TESOL from Aston University, UK.
Simon Brooks Head of Teacher Training at The ELT Hub has been teaching for 20 years and a teacher trainer since 2008. As well as being a CELTA trainer, he has also run courses on teaching methodology such as TKT, IH CAM and IH Language Awareness. Before moving to Strasbourg, Simon regularly delivered seminars and lectures on teaching methodology and ran exam preparation workshops at a number of Russian universities. He holds the Trinity Diploma in TESOL and an MSC with Aston University in Birmingham in Educational Management in TESOL.
Vera Fernandes has worked in EFL for 35 years and has been a CELTA tutor for 20 of these. In recent years she has worked on various British Council projects around the globe, designing and implementing curriculum and materials in Teacher Development projects. She holds a DELTA and her interests include EMI (English as a Medium of Instruction)
Peter Strutt completed an MA in English at Birmingham University and studied at London University Institute of Education for a PGCE in TEFL. He was also DELTA tutor at the British Institute, Paris for many years and presently heads up the Trinity Diploma in TESOL programme at The ELT Hub. He has published a large number of coursebooks and teaching materials and is a well-known speaker at TESOL events. His research interests include ESP , translation and evaluation.
Jon de Ath is a Trinity TYLEC and Cambridge CELTA tutor. He has worked extensively for the British Council in the Middle East and Asia as Academic and Project Manager and regularly works on their teacher training projects in countries such as Afghanistan, Libya and India. He holds a DELTA as well as a MA in Professional Development for Language Education from NILE, Norwich.
Claire Barnes has been teaching English for over 30 years. She has run her own language school in Germany, was for many years assistant Director of Studies at IH Moscow and continues to work as Team leader for several Cambridge exam centres in the Moscow region from her new home in Germany. Claire has been training teachers for decades and is a CELTA tutor who has been working for The ELT Hub for several years. She specialises in online training and exams management.