Faculty and Staff
TEFL course trainers
John Magne-Erlandsen
John has
over 20 years of EFL teaching experience, is a state certified high school teacher and was a university teacher training
professor for 10 years.
He holds two Bachelors Degree in Languages (English, German and the Nordic languages) from the University of Tromsoe in Norway. His degrees focus on the foundations of language namely: grammar, literature and history. He has a Masters Degree in Pedagogy from the University of Oslo in Norway where he concentrated on pedagogical theories, current concepts and means of information dissemination in the media. He also has a Masters Degree in the Didactics of Teaching Languages from The Teachers Training School of Oslo where the "communicative competence" theory was analysed in detail, giving light to how different nationalities can adapt most effectively to foreign language learning.
He has been actively giving teacher training lectures and has been running UNICEF summer camps for 11 year olds from all over the world. He has traveled extensively in Western Europe, the USA, Mexico, China and Egypt giving him that all-important sense of cultural understanding, a vital asset in the world of EFL teaching.
Olga McLean
Olga
has been teaching English as a foreign language for over 16 years.
She graduated from the University of Ulster with a Degree in Fine
Arts and then completed her TEFL certificate before traveling
around Europe doing various part-time teaching jobs.
After having worked in a number of private schools in Crete, she
and her business partner Anna Tsoumeni opened a language centre in
2002.
She has accumulated a great deal of experience in teaching English
at all levels for general, business, exam preparation and
University entry . Aside from teaching English, she regularly runs
art workshops and student exchange programmes.
John Young
John is originally from England and has 20 years experience in training and teaching in: the UK, USA, Germany, France, Spain, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.
John has not only taught English in many institutions, but has also given IT systems development training courses to US and UK Government Ministries. As a qualified trainer and Master Practitioner in Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), he has delivered many courses in NLP to audiences of varying sizes in the UK, France and Germany.
John has a degree in Business Management and is TEFL certified. He has been based in Phuket, Thailand for the last two years. His professional interests are personal development and training. John has written many articles and a book on his hobby, fishing, as well as delivering presentations on his fishing experiences.
Stephen Willetts
Stephen
has been an EFL teacher for the
past 6 years. He graduated from Cardiff University with a major in
theatre production and decided to go traveling. To date he has
traveled to over 45 countries across the globe.
He has taught English in various countries including Venezuela,
Estonia, Korea and Spain. Stephen has taught students of all ages
from young children to adults and a wide range of skills from pure
conversation classes through to academic test preparation such as
IELTS and TOEFL.
As a graduate of the EBC TEFL course himself, Stephen knows what
it takes to be a good teacher and enjoys passing this on to the
new students. Madrid is now home and he is always happy to point
out the best tapas and beer bars in the city.
Eric Sandford
Eric heads up the Baku centre in Azerbaijan. He has experience working as both an EFL and ESL teacher. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a major in international studies. Directly after university, he decided to experience living outside of the United States.
For over four years, he has taught in Asia: more than three years in Seoul, South Korea and one year in Kazakhstan. His ESL experience includes working at one of the leading language schools in New York City. In addition to teaching EFL, he has also worked as a TOEIC test writer for the largest test preparatory publication in Korea and a TOEFL tutor.
Eric has taught English to students of all levels and ages. Diplomats, doctors, kindergarteners and teenagers have all sat in his classes at one point in his career. Not only has he been a teacher of language, he has also been a student of languages as well.
Eric is also a Russian speaker and loves to point out the fact that English grammar is a walk in the park compared to Russian grammar.
Louanne Piccolo
Louanne leads the Modane, France training team. She is from South Africa and has 14 years of experience in EFL teaching in private language schools, government schools and language associations in South Africa, France and the UK.
She has a Bachelor of Arts degree with majors in English, Zulu and Psychology, as well as a Higher Diploma of Education with TESOL/TEFL modules for African languages from the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal in South Africa. After university she took a TEFL certificate in Cape Town before travelling to London and working as a teacher.
She travelled around Europe and the USA before settling down in France and working as an English teacher and translator. She is the president of the association "The Language Café des Langues" which is a French and English immersion language school for children and adults in the Alps. She also does volunteer EFL community teaching for the association.
Barbara Simpson
Barbara
has been a teacher for more years than she'd like to admit, but
those years have given Barbara a wide range and depth of teaching
experience and skills.
Barbara ran an in-house English programme for Japanese exchange
students in Canada.
In addition to teaching, Barbara has also worked in the private
sector. This experience has given her a solid foundation of
knowledge for Business English training.
Barbara has excellent interpersonal skills, she is a good communicator and a good listener. She works hard
and pays attention to detail, she expects the same from her students.
Barbara also has a strong interest in other cultures and countries
and will do everything she can to help her students reach their
goals.
Gladys Sanchez
Gladys has been
in the EFL sector for
the last 10 years. She has a BA in teaching and is a state certified primary school
teacher. As well as being a TEFL trainer, Gladys is also in
charge of training English teachers for corporate management courses
run by our sister company, EBC y Asociados Idiomas.
Her main areas of specialisation are : Corporate
Training , Business English and Educating Primary School Children in
English. Gladys has been teaching corporate clients of EBC in
diverse sectors ranging from : Banking, Finance, Logistics,
Engineering, Retail, Marketing, Advertising and Education.
In
relation to her EFL career, Gladys has lived, worked and traveled in
Argentina, Spain, the United States and Europe. Gladys brings to the
EBC TEFL Certificate programme her in-depth understanding of
learning practices gained from years of EFL teaching all over the
world.
Ken Jones
Ken has dual-citizenship in Peru and the U.S. Born and raised in upstate New York and southern Louisiana, Ken has made Peru and Costa Rica his homes for more than 4 years.
He speaks English and Spanish fluently, and has more than 15 years of experience living and working in various parts of the world - including Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa.
Ken has a Masters Degree in Organizational Development, an MBA in International Business and is TESOL certified.
Mark Deming
Mark graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor's in Political Science and Latin American Studies.
He also completed a 1,000 hour post-graduate course in TESOL at Seattle Pacific University. Mark has traveled and taught in Spain, Central America, and South America.
Mark is fluent in both English and Spanish and also speaks conversational French.
Tom Kearin
Tom was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts.
Tom is an ex-corporate Vice President turned ESOL EFL teacher. He has more than 18 years of experience in technology companies and consulting.
Tom has traveled most of the world and has spent the majority of his time in South America and Europe.
Tom has a Bachelor's in Accounting, an MBA in Finance, and is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in the states of Massachusetts and Nevada, and he's also TEFL certified.
