Eaquals Online 2022

Ania Kolbuszewska

Ania Kolbuszewska works internationally as a teacher trainer, management trainer, inspector and educational consultant at all levels of education. Ania is also a licensed mediator and conflict management specialist.

Anna Bennett

Anna Bennett is an experienced teacher and teacher trainer working in Italy and the UK for over 25 years.  She is currently Head of Product Support (English Language) for Trinity College London, Italy. Her main interests are integrating technology into language teaching to enhance learning outcomes and communicative assessment.

Wioleta Anna Wenclawek Öztem

Wioleta Wenclawek Öztem has been working as an English instructor at Özyeğin University since 2006. She graduated from Teachers Training College- Department of Foreign Languages in Poland (Adam Mickiewicz University). Wioleta holds a DELTA from the University of Cambridge. She is currently pursuing her MA degree in ELT. Her current areas of interest are

teacher motivation and well-being as well as teacher and student development.

Arum Perwitasari

Arum Perwitasari, Ph.D. works as an Institutional Relations Specialist EMEA at ETS Global Amsterdam. She is an experienced educator, linguist, and researcher. Her research interest includes speech recognition, second language acquisition and bilingualism.  She has been actively involved in ELT and Higher Education organizations. Recently, she cofounded and started off as a content creator @Teaching Online with AJ, a YouTube channel to teach and learn English.

Athina Vrettou

Athina Vrettou is an education coordinator for EFL teachers in Central Macedonia, Northern Greece. She holds a BA in English language and literature, a BA in philosophy, pedagogy and psychology, an MA in theoretical and applied linguistics and a PhD in applied linguistics. She has had extensive teaching experience as an EFL teacher at all levels of education. Her research interests revolve around language learning strategies, multilingualism, motivation, and gender.

Brigette Hughes

Brigette Hughes works at Pearson as Assessment Manager Italy.

Chloe Pakeman-Schiavone

Chloé did her CELTA in 2006 and has never looked back.  She has mostly taught in the private language school sector in the UK and Italy. Following her DELTA, she worked in the EAL department of a UK state school. Her time in the UK was challenging, but formative and changed her perspective and attitude to teaching. She is currently DoS at IH Pescara and is also a tutor on the IHWO OTTI Director of Studies course. 

Chris Brandwood

Chris Brandwood is the British Council’s Director for Teaching Excellence, responsible for teaching quality in our global network of teaching centres in 44 countries.
Chris has worked in ELT for over 30 years, as British Council Director English Europe, Director English South Asia, and in numerous teaching and management roles in Portugal, Italy, Bulgaria, UK and Spain.

Chris Farrell

Chris Farrell is Head of Training and Development at Centre of English Studies. He is a member of the Eaquals Board of Trustees and Chairs the EUK PD Advisory Group. Chris has collaborated with organizations such as NILE, OUP, Cengage, Trinity College London, and UCD. Chris has a particular interest in the field of Organisational Learning and Development.

Cristina Manea Gultekin

Cristina Manea Gultekin is a teacher, teacher trainer, and lifelong learner. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in English and French, as well as a Master’s degree  in TESOL. She currently oversees the Professional Development Unit (PDU) at the School of Foreign Languages, Gaziantep University, and she teaches General English courses. Additionally, she trains in-service teachers and helps organizing teacher trainer development events run by IATEFL TTEd SIG as the events coordinator.

Dalia Fakash

Holder of an MA in Cross Categorical Special Education from University of Phoenix and a BA in English Language Literature, TESOL, CELTA and currently DELTA.

I have been working as an ESL/TEFL teacher and a special education trainer and consultant since 2004 in the USA, Syria and Turkey. Currently working as an English Language instructor and head of the Professional Development Unit at Bursa Uludağ University School of Foreign Languages.

Deniz Kılavuz

Deniz Kılavuz has been working as an EAP instructor and a teacher mentor at Özyeğin University with 15 years of experience in teaching. She believes in the connecting power of speaking a language and its role in developing a strong sense of belonging. Etymology, adult literacy, and migrant integration are among her fields of interest.

Desiree McCall

Desirée McCall has worked in the EFL industry for 20 years. She is currently an Academic Manger and Centre director at Good Hope Studies’ City Centre Campus. As Academic Development Manager for GHS, she is part of a team which develops courses that integrate current language-learning methods, technology, and the South African context.

Dimitris Primalis

Dimitris Primalis (M.A. in Education: Leadership and Management) EFL teacher and Microsoft IE Fellow. Primary school and Kindergarten EFL coordinator, project manager for the “Innovation and Best Practices Days” .

Donatella Fitzgerald

Donatella Fitzgerald works at Pearson as ELT Sales Manager Italy. She is  trained to teach Mindfulness in Schools Project programs from pre primary  to upper secondary and  the 6 week Pearson Academy Mindfulness course for teachers. 

Duncan Foord

Duncan Foord is lead trainer on the OxfordTEFL Leadership in ELT course. He is the Director of OxfordTEFL and Oxford House, Barcelona and has 35 years’ experience in language teaching, teacher training and school leadership and management. His publications include: “From English Teacher to Learner Coach” with Dan Barber (The Round, 2014) and The Developing Teacher (Delta, 2009).

Ebru Weston

Ebru Weston has been working in ELT for over 11 years as a teacher, teacher trainer, Director of Studies, Corporate Programmes Manager and Project Manager. She has worked in Spain, Tanzania, Sudan and England and is now based in London, working as a Global Project Manager for Teaching Excellence at the British Council. One of the main focus areas of her work has been Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.

Heidi Liu Banerjee

Dr. Heidi Liu Banerjee is a psychometrician on the Qualification Assessments team at PSI Services. She received her EdD in Applied Linguistics with a concentration on Second Language Assessment from Teachers College, Columbia University. Dr. Banerjee is an experienced language assessment specialist, applied linguistics researcher, and second language educator. 

Ida Grbić Ivanović

Ida Grbic Ivanovic works at Pearson as Business Development Manager

Joanna Wrzesinska

Joanna manages the ELT and Institutional Relations team at ETS EMEA. She is also a joint coordinator of IATEFL TEASIG. Joanna holds an M.A. degree in TEFL and is based in Poland and Greece. Previously, Joanna worked as an ELT teacher and academic manager in Poland.

Julie Wallis

Julie is Director of The London School, AISLi President, an Eaquals Trustee and sits on the board of International House London.

She has worked as a teacher trainer for organisations including Eaquals, AISLi, LEND, NILE, Transform ELT, Pilgrims, The British Council and Bell.

She holds a degree, is DELTA and CertIBET qualified, and is a trained inspector for AISLi and Eaquals.

Kenia Puig i Planella

Kenia Puig i Planella is Education Officer and  Teaching and Learning Manager with  PPLI.  Kenia has extensive experience in MFL teacher education at all levels, and provides expertise in language policy and pedagogy to relevant agencies. Her areas of interest include curriculum development and pluralistic approaches. Kenia holds a BA from the Universitat de Barcelona, and a MA and PhD in Applied Linguistics. Currently, Kenia is the coordinator of the ECML project “Using ECML resources to support plurilingual and intercultural education for democratic culture”.

Klaudia Bednarova

In 2009, Klaudia founded The Bridge – English Language Centre, an EAQUALS-accredited language school in Slovakia. She was a founding member of both the Slovak Chamber of English Teachers and the Slovak Association of Language Schools, serving as Chairwoman of the latter from 2011 to 2016, and of the Slovak Chamber of English Teachers from 2019 to 2023. Currently, Klaudia serves as Vice-President of the Association of Institutions of Adult Education.

Klaudia has also established and manages various CPD projects, including the Bridge Re-Boot Camp for teachers—a unique summer school that takes a holistic approach to learning and teacher well-being. She was named Entrepreneur of the Year in 2022, and The Bridge’s CPD programme was awarded Best In-Company Training Programme in Slovakia in 2023. Her passion and professional interests lie in effective learning strategies and the impact of language training on work performance.

Lou McLaughlin

Executive Director, Eaquals

Lou is the Executive Director of Eaquals. She was one of the founding members of ELT Ireland, and served on the IATEFL Board of Trustees as the Associates Representative until 2021. Lou holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics, Masters in ELT, DELTA, TESOL Cert. in Leadership & Management and Trinity TESOL Cert. Her special interests are Young Learner teacher training, teacher cognition and management in ELT and she was the co-editor of Children Learning English: From Research to Practice (2015).

Miranda Karjagdi Çolak

Miranda Karjagdi Çolak is a seasoned language educator at Bursa Technical University’s School of Foreign Languages. With a PhD in TEFL, she has extensive experience as an EFL teacher, teacher trainer, researcher, and EAQUALS inspector. Miranda is passionate about promoting sustainable and comprehensive quality assurance systems within Turkish public universities. 

Mohammad Khari

Mohammad Khari is an English lecturer at the School of Languages at Ozyegin University, Istanbul, Turkey. He holds a BA in English Literature, an MA in Philosophy of Art, and a CELTA. Mohammad is one of the editors of Mind Brain Ed Think Tank+ which is the bulletin of the JALT (Japan Association for Language Teaching) Mind, Brain, and Education SIG. His research interests encompass the integration of neuroscience into pedagogy.

Nick Gossett

I have 24 years’ experience working in a range of settings and countries, as a teacher, teacher trainer and manager. Having accidentally become a manager 18 years ago, I have often reflected on my own style and approach and worried that I may be wanting. I have met many interesting characters along the way… I currently work for CES Leeds in the UK as an Academic Manager and Teacher Trainer.

Okan Bölükbas

Okan Bölükbaş teaches at School of Languages, Sabancı University in İstanbul, Turkey. He acquired his BA degree in ELT from Hacettepe University in Ankara, Turkey. He holds LCCI certificate for teaching Business English, CELTA, DELTA and SLTTP certificate in Teacher Training. He is interested in educational technology, blogging, and research.

Selma Tamdogan Calıskan

Selma Tamdoğan Çalışkan has been working as an EAP instructor at Özyeğin University and has an experience of 15 years in language teaching. Her main areas of interest include educational technology, learner-centered teaching, and instructional design.

Serkan Aras

Serkan Aras works as the Undergraduate English Program Coordinator in the School of Languages, Özyeğin University. He received his combined BA and MA degree in English Teacher Education from Bilkent University in 2008 and his PhD in Gender Studies from Kadir Has University in 2018. He holds a DELTA from Cambridge University and he is a CELTA trainer. Serkan is also the Coordinator of IATEFL Teacher Development SIG (TDSIG).

Thom Kiddle

Thom is Director of Eaquals member Norwich Institute for Language Education (NILE) and Chair of Eaquals.

Vanessa Hartson Walker

Vanessa Hartson Walker is Director of Kids Can and a trainer in the BBC Pearson Live classes. She is trained to teach Mindfulness in Schools Project programs from pre-primary to upper secondary and the 6 week Pearson Academy Mindfulness course for teachers.