Our team members have had extensive experience in language teaching, teacher education, and delivering teacher development programs.
Richard Silburn
Richard Silburn is the Director of the Language Centre at Manchester Metropolitan University and International Lead for the Department of Languages, Information and Communications. Prior to joining Manchester Met, he was the Head of the Centre for English Language Education at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China. He has been teaching English for over 15 years and has taught in Japan, Greece, Austria, and China as well as the UK. His main areas of expertise are English for Academic Purposes, English for Specific Purposes, academic management, and teacher training. He has led on a range of teacher training projects with teachers from a wide variety of backgrounds. He has extensive experiences of working with English language teachers in China.
Anthony Picot
Anthony Picot is a Senior Lecturer in TESOL and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He holds a Trinity TESOL Cert, Diploma in ELT and an MEd in ELT and Ed Tech. He is close to submitting his Ph.D. He has worked with all levels and ages of learners and has taught English and trained teachers in Thailand, Japan, Germany and UK in a wide range of TESOL-related subjects, including Technology in Language Teaching and Task-based learning. He has taught General English, Business English, EAP and ESP. From 1997, he worked in a language school in South Thailand and became a Cambridge Examiner before becoming the Head of English at an International School there. He worked at Kanda University in Japan for two years where he led the Internet Research Project. He now works at Manchester Metropolitan University as a teacher trainer on the Trinity TESOL Certificate (undergraduate) course and as a unit leader for the MA in TESOL and Applied Linguistics. He is a committee member for the Northern Association of Teachers of English to Other Learners (NATESOL), a charity set up to provide Continuing Professional Development initially at a regional level, but now at a global one.
Caroline Collier
Caroline Collier is a course coordinator in the Language Centre at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. She is a DELTA qualified, Trinity Cert TESOL trainer with an MA in TESOL and Applied Linguistics. She has experience in training EFL teachers in areas such as task-based language teaching, teaching young learners, and curriculum development.
Mai Nguyen
Mai Nguyen is a lecturer in TESOL and Applied Linguistics at the Department of Languages, Information and Communications, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. She earned her Ph.D. in Second Language Teacher Education from Griffith University, Australia. Her research and teaching interests include second language teacher education and development and second language teaching methodologies. She has had 12 years’ experience in teaching English and training second language teachers in various contexts, including Vietnam, Australia, and the UK.
Phung Dao
Phung Dao is a lecturer in Applied Linguistics and TESOL in the Department of Languages, Information and Communication at Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom. He earned his Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics from Concordia University, Montreal, Canada. His main research interests are in the area of second language acquisition (SLA), specifically focusing on classroom second language acquisition, peer interaction, learner engagement in task-based interaction, Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT), and second language pedagogy. He has had 15 years’ experience in teaching English and training English language teachers in various contexts, including Vietnam, Australia, and the UK.
Huy Nguyen
Huy Nguyen is a Lecturer in Applied Linguistics and TESOL in the Department of English, Hue University of Foreign Languages. He is also Head of the University’s Academic Affairs Office. He earned his Ph.D. in Language Education from The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. His main research interests are in the area of language planning and policy (LPP), with a special focus on language-in-education policy, globalisation in foreign language education, and educational leadership in developing countries. He has had 17 years’ experience in teaching English and training pre- and in-service English language teachers in Vietnam.
Marijana Macis
Marijana Macis is a Lecturer in TESOL and Applied Linguistics at the Manchester Metropolitan University and an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She completed her Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics at the University of Nottingham, UK. Her main research interests include various aspects of teaching, learning, and assessing second/foreign language vocabulary as well as teacher training in these areas. Marijana has over 18 years of teaching experience and she has taught in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile, and the UK.
Phuong Tran
Phuong Tran is a lecturer in TEFL and Applied Linguistics at the English Department, Hue University of Foreign Languages. Over the past 13 years, she has taught a wide range of courses in English language skills, Translation skills, Intercultural Communication, and English Teaching Methodologies at the university level. She obtained her Ph.D. degree in Applied Linguistics from the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences and the School of Language and Culture at The University of Queensland in early 2020. Her areas of research and supervisory expertise include teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL), clinical pragmatics, Technology and translation, and cross-cultural communication.
Chau Nguyen
Chau Nguyen is a lecturer at the Faculty of English, University of Foreign Languages, Hue University in Vietnam. She received her Master’s degree in Applied Linguistics from the University of Melbourne. She has had over 11 years of experience teaching English language skills subjects and ELT subjects. She also works closely with Vietnam’s National Foreign Languages Project as the trainer and master trainer in courses for in-service English lecturers and teachers in Vietnam in topics ranging from ELT Methodology, Technology in language teaching, Language Testing to Test Item Design. Her research interests include teacher professional development, technology in language learning and teaching, and language testing. She has published various articles in these fields. She is also the author of six English workbooks for Vietnamese primary and secondary students, published by Vietnam National University Publishing House.
Oliver Sowden
Oliver Sowden is a recent graduate of the TESOL and Applied Linguistics Masters course at Manchester Metropolitan University. His dissertation contained themes of teacher self-efficacy and the globalisation of English. Before undertaking the Masters course he spent two years teaching English in South Korea. He will be part of the project assistant team.
Suong Hoang
Suong Hoang is a recent graduate of the MA TESOL and Applied Linguistics course at Manchester Metropolitan University. Her current research interests pertain to online peer interaction, teachers’ teaching belief, and young learners. She has been teaching English for 7 years with experience in private teaching contexts in Vietnam. She is also a Volunteer English language teacher at Action Tutoring, a UK charity organization providing tutoring sessions for disadvantaged students. As a TAG project assistant, her mission is to take care of the online community, facilitating meaningful conversations among teachers.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR ENGLISH TEACHERS THROUGH TEACHER ACTIVITY GROUPS 