Meet our Expert Team of Trinity DipTESOL Tutors!

Our team of Trinity DipTESOL tutors is growing! As we look forward to the upcoming blended and 100% online courses, we are proud to introduce you to the expert trainers who will guide and support our trainees. You will see that our team has a wealth of experience working in a variety of contexts. This means that they are very well-placed to help you make the most of everything the course has to offer. From teachers to trainers, leaders to materials writers – we have TEFL professionals from across the board.

Already signed up for one of our Trinity DipTESOL courses? Still making up your mind? Either way, read on to find out more about the best in the business!

Guest tutors

Adrian Underhill:

Adrian is series editor of the Macmillan Books for Teachers and author of Sound Foundations: Learning and Teaching Pronunciation. He is also an advisor in the development of the new Macmillan English Dictionary. Adrian has been a teacher and trainer for many years and was director of the International Teacher Training Institute at International House in Hastings until 1999. Now, he works as an international ELT consultant and trainer, running training courses in various countries, writing articles, working with Macmillan Books for Teachers, speaking at conferences and also school consultancy.

Scott Thornbury:

Scott is a teacher and teacher educator, with over 30 years’ experience in English language teaching, and an MA from the University of Reading. His previous experience includes teaching and teacher training in Egypt, UK, Spain, and in his native New Zealand. His writing credits include several award-winning books for teachers on language and methodology, as well as authoring a number of papers and book chapters on language and language teaching. He is series editor for the Cambridge Handbooks for Teachers (CUP) and is the co-founder of the dogme ELT group.

Sheila Thorn

A new guest tutor on our DipTESOL course, Sheila is an extremely experienced teacher, teacher trainer, materials writer and examination writer. Sheila has a particular interest in authentic listening and language acquisition.  She founded The Listening Business in 1998 and is the author of the Real Lives, Real Listening series (Collins), a series of books featuring authentic recordings and listening training materials for students from elementary to advanced level.  Her most recent methodology book, Integrating Authentic Listening into the Language Classroom (Pavilion) is coming out in 2021.  

Full-time Tutors

David Young

David is your Course Director and has been working in teacher training since 2001 on Trinity CertTESOL, CELTA, and Trinity DipTESOL courses. He will be there to support you throughout the online and face to face parts of the course. He is always on-hand to answer questions, help with problems and discuss your development on the course. To be as flexible as possible, David offers support via email, Slack and phone calls. He also leads several of the modules including Lexis, Assessment, and Teachers, running forums, live events and providing feedback on assignments.

Duncan Foord

Director of OxfordTEFL, Duncan has over 35 years experience in language teaching, teacher training and school leadership and management. He is the author of “From English Teacher to Learner Coach” (with Dan Barber, The Round 2014) The Developing Teacher (Delta Publishing, 2009) and The Language Teachers Survival Handbook with Lindsay Clandfield (Its Magazines, 2008). He is the tutor of the Oxford TEFL Leadership in ELT course. Duncan will be providing tutorials to help you manage your learning and develop self-leadership.

Lindsay Clandfield

Lindsay is a well-known coursebook author, writer, teacher, conference speaker and teacher trainer. He is a tutor on our Grammar modules and also runs dynamic live grammar revision sessions which are fondly known as Grammar Slammers! These are among the most popular events on the course. Grammar Slammers provide plenty of useful input in a rapid, punchy format. Lindsay is also involved in the online modules. He moderates forum discussions, gives live video lessons and marks and gives feedback on course assignments.

Mark McKinnon

Having worked with Oxford TEFL for many years, Mark’s main interests are phonology and teaching senior learners, which he has spoken about at several recent conferences. He is the tutor on the Phonology modules of our DipTESOL course. In addition, Mark is a main tutor on our face-to-face session in Barcelona. In this role, he provides lesson planning support for trainees undertaking their Teaching Practice. A highly experienced TEFL teacher and trainer, Mark has also co-written a dictionary of Spanish slang with his wife Almudena.

Barney Griffiths

Barney has extensive experience as a teacher, teacher trainer and language coach. In fact, he was involved in setting up the first Oxford TEFL Trinity DipTESOL course in 1998. Since then, Barney has accompanied numerous successful candidates on their journey to becoming TEFL experts. Among other roles, Barney is a tutor on the Teaching Practice module. Here he specialises in providing trainees with workshops on lesson planning and improving the effectiveness of their teaching.

Chris Roland

Well-known among teachers of Young Learners in the industry, Chris is a writer, teacher, teacher trainer and conference speaker. Chris runs the Young Learners module. Here he looks at how we can manage, motivate and effectively teach younger language learners. As well as moderating forum discussions, Chris gives live video lessons, marks course assignments and is adept at providing assignment feedback.

Anthony Gaughan

A highly experienced teacher trainer, writer and teacher teacher, Anthony is also an occasional conference presenter. He is the tutor on the first module of the course, which focuses on Learners and the Methods. In this module, Anthony moderates discussions about learning strategies, motivation, learners’ needs and lesson planning. Anthony also gives live video lessons and provides support and feedback on various module assignments.

Tyson Seburn

Tyson is an EAP instructor and Assistant Academic Director of International Programs at New College, University of Toronto. He holds an MA Educational Technology & TESOL from the University of Manchester. His main interest focuses on identity and its various impacts on teacher development. He is currently also exploring inclusive and critical pedagogy and their applications to language teaching contexts. He writes about these interests in an EAP discussion group, #tleap; his blog, 4CinELT  and through his role as Coordinator of the IATEFL Teacher Development Special Interest Group committee. He is the author of Academic Reading Circles (The Round, 2015).

Šárka Císařová

Šárka is a specialist in English for Academic Purposes and has co-authored courses and seminars on EAP at the Writing Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Holding an MA in Swedish and English philology as well as the DipTESOL, Sarka specializes in teaching writing at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, preparing learners for the writing part of the Cambridge exams or editing their academic texts aimed at international journals. She has done research into teaching writing and giving feedback on a wide range of genres including essays, CVs, journal articles, grant projects or dissertations. 

Sandy Millin

Sandy joins our team from a very diverse professional background. She is a freelance ELT consultant, CELTA and independent teacher trainer, materials writer and teacher. Having six years’ experience as a Director of Studies and the Cambridge Delta, Sandy was already very focused on Professional Development. For this reason, she embarked upon an MA in Professional Development in Language Education with NILE. Sandy also writes a blog and tweets @sandymillin. She has self-published books focussed on teacher development (ELT Playbook 1 and ELT Playbook Teacher Training), and worked with The Round to publish a book of ways to adapt speaking activities (Richer Speaking). 

Daniel Barber

Dan is a highly experienced teacher, trainer and writer who will make a great addition to our DipTESOL tutor team. Based in Cádiz, Spain, he has taught for 27 years, in Mexico, the UK and Spain. Daniel has written courses and other materials for various publishers.  Titles include Voices, Perspectives and Look! (National Geographic Learning), The Big Picture (Richmond) and ETpedia Grammar (Pavilion). In 2019 he helped found ELT Footprint, a grassroots group of professionals working to reduce the profession’s contribution to climate breakdown and address the emergency in teaching methodology and materials. 

Teresa Bestwick

Teresa is another new addition to our Diploma tutor team! She started teaching in Spain in 2004 and took her Diploma with OxfordTEFL in 2013. She is based in southern Spain, working from home as a materials writer and teacher trainer. Although teaching less nowadays, she has experience working with learners of all ages and levels and previously prepared candidates for the Cambridge and Trinity exams. Focused on Professional Development, Theresa set up a local teachers’ organisation called TEFL del Sur in 2010. Ten years later, she co-founded an online community for ELT professionals, the TEFL Development Hub. 

Billie Haase

Billie is a teacher trainer based at Oxford TEFL in Barcelona. She has an MA in Communication Research and Phonology, a PGCE in Education and a Trinity DipTESOL. Billie has been teaching for over fifteen years. She has worked as a tutor on the CELTA course and various teacher development courses for years. We are delighted to have Billie join us as a tutor during the teaching practice phase of the DipTESOL course. She also has a special interest in teaching pronunciation and publishes weekly videos on her YouTube channel ‘Billie English’.

Andréia Zakime

Andréia Zakime has worked in the field of language teaching for more than 15 years. She has taught young learners and adults, and worked with course design and teacher training. She is currently a Cambridge CELTA tutor based in Barcelona, and we are delighted to welcome her as one of the Unit 4 tutors on our DipTESOL course. Andréiais also the co-founder of What is ELT?, a a blog dedicated to teacher development and education.

Kim Beadle

Kim joined the Oxford TEFL team as a part-time Diploma tutor in 2019. She first moved into teacher training and academic management in 2013 working in Mexico, Hong Kong and now in Spain. She holds the Cambridge Delta, Trinity TYLEC, a Certificate and Diploma in Academic ELT Management and an MA in Professional Development for Language Education. Kim has plenty of experience running and tutoring on the Cambridge Delta, Trinity TYLEC and the Trinity DipTESOL. She has also presented annually at national and international conferences since 2011 in places such as Mexico, India, and Macao.

Feeling Inspired?

Does this seem like a team you’d like to work with? Are you looking for a way to transform your teaching, move into other areas of ELT, and apply for some of the most sought after positions? The Trinity DipTESOL is an advanced qualification in ELT (equivalent to the Cambridge DELTA) and is recognised worldwide.

Here is a summary of our the Trinity DipTESOL course at Oxford TEFL can help you:

• Blended or 100% Online: choose between studying 7 months online followed by 4 weeks face to face (in Barcelona, Prague, Cádiz or Hong Kong) or studying fully online.
• Practical: emphasis throughout the course on developing teaching skills and applying insights to your own classroom context.
• Focus on phonology: the strong emphasis on teaching pronunciation is unique to the Trinity course and highly valued by our graduates.
• Convenient: option to submit video observations with young learners or adults
• Flexible: work at times to fit in around your other responsibilities (10-15 hours per week). Take up to 3 years to complete the course if necessary.
• Professional: learn from world-class full time and guest tutors, including Lindsay Clandfield, Sandy Millin, Scott Thornbury and Adrian Underhill.
• Supportive: receive unlimited support via email and Zoom from our Course Director.
• Transformational: develop your teaching skills and improve your chances of finding some of the best positions in ELT via our Careers Service.
• Recognised: gain a prestigious, internationally-recognized advanced qualification in ELT.

For more information about how Oxford TEFL’s Trinity DipTESOL course can help take your teaching to the next level, click here.

To apply for our Trinity DipTESOL course, click here.

If you’re still making up your mind about whether the DipTESOL is right for you, check out another recent blog post here.