Garnet Authors
Olwyn Alexander
Olwyn Alexander co-authored Garnet Education’s EAP Essentials. She teaches English for Academic Purposes to engineering, management and translation studies students at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. She has collaborated with colleagues Sue Argent and Jenifer Spencer in writing two distance learning courses: Academic English for Business and Academic English for Science and Technology. She also runs a short professional development course for EAP teachers. Her current research interests include the use of learning teams for managing large classes and how to establish links between research and teaching in the EAP classroom.
Sue Argent
Sue Argent co-authored Garnet Education’s EAP Essentials. She has taught EAP for a number of years in universities in Papua New Guinea and in China, as well as in the UK. She has also taught in adult and further education delivering ESOL and EAP training and supporting teachers. She has written EAP courses for distance learning and is currently working with Olwyn Alexander and Jenifer Spencer on Academic English for Science and Technology. She also helps to run the EAP teacher development course at Heriot-Watt University. Her interests are critical thinking and student autonomy.
Douglas Bell
Douglas Bell is the author of Passport to Academic Presentations and is currently employed as Director of the Language Centre at the University of Aberdeen. He has been actively involved in various aspects of both English language and modern foreign language teaching since the late 1980s and in addition to the UK, has worked extensively in Austria, Japan and Turkey. He has also carried out ELT consultancy work in China and the United States.
Doug has research interests in the teaching of English for specific purposes (particularly English for academic purposes) and in the effect of cross-cultural differences on international business communication. Along with an undergraduate degree in German and Italian, he holds postgraduate diploma qualifications in TEFL, Teaching English for Specific Purposes and Teacher Training. He also has a Masters degree in Teaching English for International Business.
Jennifer Book
Jennifer Book has been teaching English as a foreign language since the early 1990s. She has spent time working in Italy and London and currently works for the University of Sussex where she teaches a variety of courses including general English, young learners and teacher training on the BA and MA in ELT. She has written materials for the TASK (Transferable Academic Skills Kit) series for Garnet Education and the BBC world service.
Jane Brooks
Jane Brooks wrote the TASK (Transferable Academic Skills Kit) Teacher’s Book and has contributed to a number of other modules in the series. She has been working in ELT since 1983. After teaching ESOL for a brief time, she moved into English for Academic Purposes, and has taught this in the UK and Caribbean for the last 23 years. She has also taught linguistics and francophone literature. At present, she is based at the University of Sussex, where she works mostly on pre-sessional courses. She is also researching plagiarism amongst international university students in UK universities.
Amanda Fava-Verde
Amanda Fava-Verde began her teaching career in France, where she specialized in Business English for professionals. She is currently Course Tutor for the University of Reading International Foundation Programme. Her area of expertise is English for Academic Purposes and her research interests relate to Online Language Learning and Second Language Academic Writing.
She has completed an MA in English Language Teaching from the University of Reading; a Diploma in TESOL from Trinity College, London; and an Online Education and Training Certificate from the Institute of Education.
Amanda co-authored two of the TASK (Transferable Academic Skills Kit) modules: Essay Writing and Problem Solving. Other recent projects include a longitudinal student-tracking project which tracks the academic progress of international undergraduates through to graduation.
Prue Griffiths
Prue Griffiths co-authored the Scientific Writing module in Garnet Education’s TASK (Transferable Academic Skills Kit) series. She joined the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Reading in 1986. Since then she has taught at undergraduate and postgraduate level and taken an active role in teaching and developing the University’s International and home Foundation Programmes. She also teaches Academic Skills and acts as a Personal Tutor.
In addition to her lectureship in the School of Biological Sciences, she holds a lectureship in the School of Human and Social Sciences, teaching Environmental Science.
She was a lecturer in biology, Ecology and Physical Science with the University of Maryland between 1986 and 1991 and has also taught in Further Education colleges. She has worked as a reviewer and editor for Macmillan and Garnet and as an ‘A’ level examiner with the University of London Examining Board.
Prue is also a member of the Institute of Biology and the Freshwater Biological Association and she holds a BSc (Hons) in Biological Sciences, along with a PhD and a PGCE.
Richard Harrison
Richard Harrison is currently based in Oman working as the Course Coordinator for Academic English at the (English-medium) German University of Technology in Oman. Richard has worked for many years in the Middle East – in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE as well as Oman – and has written a number of course books for the region. He also worked for the British Council in Moscow for three years as the ESP Consultant for Russia.
His main publications with Garnet Education are Upgrade: a First Course in English for Higher Studies and Better Writing. He also co-authored the English for Libya series.
Richard is an active member of TESOL Arabia and IATEFL and has presented papers at a number of conferences. His main areas of academic interest are: the teaching of writing; ELT materials development; academic English and language change.
Richard was educated in the UK at the University of London, Manchester University and the University of Reading and holds an MA in Applied Linguistics.
David King
David King holds an MA (TEFL) from Reading University. After teaching in the West Indies and in Spain, David spent several years with the Eurocentre Organisation in the UK as teacher, trainer and Director of Studies. Since 2000, he has worked as a freelance trainer, editor and author of ELT/ESOL materials.
For Garnet Education, he has written ESOL Practice Grammar (2007) and the forthcoming ESOL Elementary Practice Grammar. In addition, he has authored and edited a wide range of print and multi-media language learning materials for a number of other publishers. He works part-time as an ESOL teacher and trainer for Central Sussex College, Crawley.
Peter Levrai
Peter Levrai has been working in TEFL since 1995. He has worked in Europe and Central Asia and is currently working in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Since starting to teach corporate clients in Portugal he has become increasingly interested in developing specialized courses for highly specific needs.
While working in Azerbaijan this culminated in English for the Energy Industries: Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals, which was published in 2006. Based on authentic technical training material, this course is fully focused on the language needs of trainee technicians in the oil industry.
He is currently involved in the establishment of a new training centre, which caters to higher level students and has been responsible for the development of targeted training courses, i.e., IELTS Exam preparation workshops and report writing for high level business English students.
Michael Macfarlane
Michael Macfarlane has an MA in Applied Linguistics from Essex University and began his career in teaching and educational TV in Japan. He subsequently worked on a British Council project, which involved supplying and running the new Language Centre for King Abdul Aziz University in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia. This moved him in the direction of full-time writing and he became Development Manager for OUP’s in-house writing unit. He also gained ELT publishing experience with OUP Japan.
Since 1983, Michael has worked as a freelance writer, teacher, editor and publishing consultant. He is particularly interested in meeting specific needs, whether by market or by student subject interest, such as business studies.
He has worked on several Garnet Education publications, including Link, a four-level course for Arab World absolute beginners; English Practice Grammar; and the English for Libya series. Other major projects include vocational courses for Germany (Cornelsen-OUP and Cornelsen); English for Palestine, Grades 8-12 (Macmillan); and International Express, pre-intermediate and intermediate self-study components (OUP).
Anthony Manning
Anthony Manning is Acting Director of the International Foundation Programme (IFP) at the University of Reading. He teaches EAP and Academic Skills and is also the convenor for these modules.
Anthony has authored or co-authored nine course books in the TASK (Transferable Academic Skills Kit) series. He has also written English for Language and Linguistics as part of the ESAP series; a graded reader for Oxford University Press; articles for EL Gazette and is the Editorial Chair for InForm, a new journal for IFP professionals.
Before joining the University of Reading, Anthony taught in France, Germany, China and Japan. He was also a lecturer at a Japanese College situated within the University of Durham, and at an International College in Reading.
In his spare time Anthony is studying for a Doctorate in Applied Linguistics with a focus on language testing. He has delivered seminar papers at IATEFL, BALEAP and HEA conferences on the subject of English for academic purposes and academic skills development at foundation level. In addition to language testing, Anthony's other research interests include English for specific purposes and English as a global language.
Annette Margolis
Annette Margolis is a teacher at an Italian Commercial High School and an assistant Cambridge ESOL Young Learner CELTA Extension Tutor. She has co-authored the Pronunciation volume in the English for Academic Study series.
Fiona McGarry
Fiona McGarry has been working in EFL since 1989 as a teacher, teacher trainer, examiner, editor and materials writer. She is a young learner specialist with particular experience in the Arab World. She is the author of two primary course books and has been a writer, consultant and editor for the Preparatory materials in Garnet Education’s revised English for Libya series. She has also been involved in writing ESP and EAP books, including English for the Energy Industries: Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals and TASK (Transferable Academic Skills Kit). Over the past year, Fiona has been involved with the writing, editing and piloting of materials for the aeronautics course: Take-Off.
Fiona has worked in Qatar, Libya, Sudan, UAE, Spain, the USA and the UK.
She has written and delivered many in-service orientation courses to familiarize teachers with new teaching materials, methodologies and teaching techniques. She is also involved in running CELTA and diploma courses and is an examiner, assessor and moderator for UCLES and Trinity College London.
Marie McLisky
Marie McLisky is the author of English for Banking, part of the ESAP series. Marie took her first degrees (BA, MA Hons) in Sociology at the University of Auckland, in New Zealand. She then tutored Sociology at the University of Auckland and, following a move to Seoul, South Korea, she tutored sociology at the University of Maryland (Asian Division). While in Korea, Marie gained her RSA Certificate in TEFLA, and worked as an ESOL instructor to Korean university students and adults.
In 1992, Marie moved to Jakarta, Indonesia, where she was employed for over five years as an English language instructor and trainer for the British Council, and as a certified examiner for the IELTS exam. During that time, she completed the RSA Diploma in TEFLA, and an MEd. in Educational Technology and TESOL at the University of Manchester.
Since her return to New Zealand, Marie has worked in a variety of roles, including teacher trainer on the Trinity College Certificate in TESOL Course. However, her focus has been on English for academic purposes (EAP) and IELTS preparation for adult ESOL students, including international students and new immigrants.
Hans Mol
Published for young learners, teenagers, young adults and adults, general and business, tertiary, international language schools and teacher training programmes, Hans Mol’s materials have catered for CEFR levels A1-C2 and all Cambridge Exam suite levels. He has written textbooks, workbooks, teachers’ guides, CD-roms, CDs, websites and tests, for local and international markets. He has worked as lead author, co-author, editor, project co-ordinator and audio producer in and for countries such as Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, Indonesia and Australia.
Having written ESP titles Present your Business and In reply, Hans co-wrote a business English course, Link-up (level 2) (Klett). The Garnet title Tourism and Hospitality in the ESAP series is his latest project in higher/adult education.
Hans has co-authored many Young Learner English courses, including Real English; Early Start; Get Started; Get moving; Get Smart and Making A Start as well as a handbook for teacher trainers and other courses for adults. He is also co-author of a bilingual dictionary for Dutch young learners.
He is series editor on a magazine-based EFL course called, Shift (FCE/CAE) and has worked on writing, editing and audio production for English First’s Efekta and Fast Track series.
Hans also co-writes and produces songs and music for English language learners for children, teens and adults under the FracasEnglish/Supasongs label.
David Morgan
David Morgan, BA Cert Ed., co-authored the Take-Off student’s book. He has spent most of his teaching career in Further Education and Industry, teaching general English, EFL and ESP. He has completed numerous specialist projects, such as teaching short courses to air traffic control personnel and producing a 200-hour intermediate ESP course for a leading Middle Eastern electricity supply company.
Until 2003, he was in charge of the English Language programme at the on-site training centre of a major oil company in Libya, where national employees from all technical fields followed courses in General English and subject-specific ESP. During this time, he pioneered the establishment of the UCLES examinations in order to produce an externally validated objective yardstick by which courses and teaching could be judged.
Although now retired from teaching, he is still involved in materials writing and editing projects. He also enjoys researching specific topics for use as language-controlled reading passages.
Clare Nukui
Clare Nukui is Acting Director of the International Foundation Programme (IFP) at the University of Reading. She teaches EAP and Academic skills and is also responsible for the pastoral welfare of the students on the IFP.
Clare is the author of four books in the Garnet Education TASK (Transferable Academic Skills Kit) series. She has also written materials for BBC English and book reviews for its corresponding magazine. She is a member of the editorial committee of InForm, a new journal for IFP professionals. She has delivered workshops and seminar papers on working with Japanese students and academic skills development at foundation level at IATEFL and has also lectured at the British Council, Tokyo on the History of English as a Global Language.
Before joining the University of Reading, Clare taught in Nigeria, Hong Kong and Canada. She was also an EFL teacher at the Swan School, Oxford and a lecturer at an International College in Reading.
Clare’s research interests include the teaching of Critical Thinking, Plagiarism and Intercultural Communication. She has MAs in Applied Linguistics and Social Anthropology which have helped bring together her diverse interests.
Andrew O'Cain
Andrew O'Cain currently teaches Sociology and Study Skills on the Access to Higher Education course at Gloucestershire College. He also tutors for the Open University on the course ‘Power, Dissent, Equality – Understanding Contemporary Politics’. His previous role was with the University of Reading, where he taught Academic Skills, Politics and Sociology on the International Foundation Programme. He has also lectured on undergraduate courses in Sociology at the University of Reading and in Political Theory, Globalization, Democracy and European Politics at Oxford Brookes University. His research interests are centred on post-modern political theory and practice.
He has contributed to two of the volumes in the TASK (Transferable Academic Skills Kit) series: Team-working and Research and Referencing.
Anne Pallant
Anne Pallant authored the Writing volume in Garnet Education's EAS series. Anne has varied experience of teaching English for Academic Purposes. She has been teaching on EAP courses at the Centre for Applied Language Studies since 1994 and is part of the EAP Management team. She was also Director of Studies at a Language School in Italy.
Amongst other qualifications, Anne has obtained an MSc in Teaching English as a Foreign Language from Aston University, a P.G.C.E from the University of Bristol and a Certificate in Online Education and Training from the Institute of Education, University of London.
Whilst Anne is interested in the teaching of all skills within EAP courses, her current focus is on the teaching of academic writing skills and the development of appropriate materials and methodology. She is especially interested in the teaching of critical thinking skills in academic writing. Anne is also concerned with the teaching of study and research skills to prospective postgraduate students, and developing methods and materials through which the needs of students from different disciplines can be met in one classroom. She is also interested in teaching content-based courses and is presently involved in teaching writing to scientists and social scientists by electronic delivery and 'e-learning' methodology.
Anna Phillips
Anna Phillips has worked in ELT for more than 30 years. She has worked as a teacher of both multilingual and monolingual classes, with teenagers and adults, in both the UK and abroad.
Anna began writing materials for special courses as a senior teacher working for the British Council in Oman. Later, as Director of Studies and Owner-Manager of the International House school in Oman, she spent much of her time adapting and developing materials, owing to the lack of suitable course books for the needs of the students. During this period Anna was also extensively involved in teacher training, both in-service and also for CELTA and DELTA. She was also an examiner for CELTA and travelled extensively throughout the Gulf region in this role.
In 1989 Anna completed her MA (TEFL) from Reading University.
Since returning to the UK, Anna has worked with Terry Phillips on a large number of textbooks for a variety of publishers. Most recently, she and Terry have been working on the Skills in English series. Anna’s particular interest is making course books more ‘user friendly’ for teachers who are not native speakers of English, and so she has been very much involved in developing resources for the teachers using the UAE version of Skills in English.
Terry Phillips
Terry Phillips has worked in ELT for more than 30 years as a teacher, teaching supervisor, manager and language school owner. As a consultant, he has worked in more than 20 countries in all parts of the world, advising state and private language institutions on all aspects of school management. For the last ten years, he has been a full time freelance writer with his wife Anna, producing more than 160 published books in ELT. Although he and Anna have worked for all the major publishers, all recent works have been for Garnet Education, including the multi-level EAP course, Skills in English. The course was highly commended in The Duke of Edinburgh’s English Speaking Union Award for 2004. It is taught in over 80 universities in the UK and around the world. A special version, entitled UAE English Skills, has been adopted by the state secondary schools in the UAE. Terry is also the series editor of the new English for Specific Academic Purposes series for Garnet, which aims to prepare students to entry into a particular faculty for English-medium tertiary education.
Nicholas Regan
Nicholas Regan is an ELT writer and teacher trainer. Since 2002, he has worked as an independent consultant for teacher development in the primary and secondary sectors, covering teaching in under-resourced and crowded classrooms, and working with Ministries of Education, Universities and schools in China, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and the EU. He has also been involved in the evaluation of state provision of English teaching. For several years he taught English at secondary school level in Latin America.
In 2008, he co-authored the Garnet Education ESP course Take-Off, and has also contributed to the UAE English Skills series and the English for Libya series. He has also written materials for ELT training at Diploma level.
His other work includes examining and assessment design for ESOL teaching qualifications; pre- and in-service training; and supervision of dissertations for MA TESOL students at the University of Birmingham.
He holds the Trinity College London LTCL DipTESOL and an MA in Applied Linguistics from the University of Reading, UK.
Barbara Reimer
Barbara Reimer has been in the ESP field for over 15 years, and has taught in Canada, Japan and the Middle East. She is currently the English Level Two (Intermediate) Coordinator in the development program at UAE University, the national university located in Al Ain, UAE.
Barbara co-authored two photocopiable teacher resource books for Garnet Education: Get Going with Grammar and Versatile Vocabulary. Her partnership with Jennifer Meldrum grew out of their working relationship at UAE University, where they found themselves taking similar approaches to their ESL classes. Their common interest in games development led to their first project, which quickly led to a second. Having "field-tested' these games in their classrooms, they decided to share them with others, in the hope that others would also find them useful. The overwhelminghly positive response they have received bears out this expectation.The books led to requests for presentations at TESOL Arabia, as well as several other conferences.
Barbara has just completed a new course book for the University, following the set curriculum objectives of the development program, and which focuses on topics and content specific to the region and interests of the students.
John Slaght
John Slaght has worked at the University of Reading in a variety of capacities since 1988 and currently works in the EAP department. He is a Course Director and the Language assessment Coordinator in the Centre for Applied Language Studies at the University. John has co-authored two books in Garnet Education’s English for Academic Study series: Reading and Extended Writing and Research Skills.
John has extensive overseas experience in Higher Education, having spent a total of 14 years teaching English, History and French in Africa, and Academic English in the Middle East. His work continues to take him to various areas of the globe. John is currently piloting a book of preparation materials for the Test of English for Educational Purposes and is planning further publications on Academic Reading and Language Testing. Currently, his responsibilities in testing include test administration and writing. He has been an item writer for Cambridge ESOL for a number of years and is regional team leader on a marking panel.
Jenifer Spencer
After working in community education provision for ESOL adult learners, Jenifer Spencer (BSc Hons., Grad. Cert.Ed., Dip TEFL, and LCCI Cert TEB) spent time teaching EFL, Business English, EAP and IELTS courses at Stevenson College of Further Education in Edinburgh. She was also involved in materials development, including a language module for use in EU work exchange programmes.
In 2001, Jenifer joined Heriot-Watt University as part of a team researching and writing a corpus-based EAP distance-learning course for students preparing to study Management Degrees. She is currently involved in developing a parallel course to prepare students for degrees in Science and Engineering subjects. Other materials development projects have included a research skills module to prepare students for the reading approaches needed for study at masters level.
Since 2003 Jenifer has been involved in the development and delivery of the Heriot-Watt EAP teacher development course, which is focused on linking classroom practice and course content with current research, particularly in the areas of discourse analysis and the use of corpora. EAP Essentials, which she co-wrote with Olwyn Alexander and Sue Argent, is based on the insights gained from developing and delivering this course as well as previous experience in teaching a wide range of EAP classes.
Jeremy Walenn
Jeremy Walenn has had a varied career. He graduated in Law at Leeds University, but then qualified as a primary teacher and taught in infant/junior schools for five years. He changed to teaching English as a Foreign Language and worked in large language schools in London and Oxford before becoming the Head of the Language Centre at Cranfield University in Oxfordshire, where he worked on several English for Peacekeeping projects. He moved to Hong Kong in 2003 to take up an appointment as English Language Director at the Asia International Open University (Macau). He teaches the English language modules on the university’s MBA and DBA courses. He also recently developed a course for gaming staff at one of the casinos in Macau. He is an examiner in English language and has travelled extensively in south-east Asia, Europe and South America. He has been an author of English language materials for over 20 years. Jeremy has written the following Garnet Education titles: ESAP: English for Law and Talking Trinity and still enjoys the thrill of starting to write a new book.
Carolyn Walker
Carolyn Walker worked from 1984 to 2006 as a lecturer and teacher of English as a Foreign Language at the University of Exeter, UK, where she was Programme Director for the Graduate Certificate in Management (with English). She is currently Director of Postgraduate Programmes at INTO University of Exeter and continues to manage and teach on the GCM Programme. She also lectures on the MEd in TESOL at the University of Exeter's School of Education. She previously taught in Spain and the United Arab Emirates, and has contributed to many short courses for teachers organized by the British Council. Her academic interests include motivation and self-concept in language learning, L1 and L2 reading, and English phonology and phonetics.
Carolyn authored English for Business Studies in Garnet Education's ESAP series.
Sebastian Watkins
Sebastian Watkins co-authored the Speaking title in the English for Academic Study series, published by Garnet. Since 2002, he has also taught English for Academic Purposes at the University of Reading to both pre-sessional and in-sessional students. Prior to that, Sebastian spent time working in Spain, Turkey, Hungary and Oman, concentrating on Business English, IELTS preparation and teacher training on UCLES CELTA courses. He received a Masters in TEFL from the University of Reading in 2004.
Elisabeth Wilding
Elisabeth Wilding is a Course Tutor for the International Foundation Programme at the University of Reading, where she teaches Academic Skills and International English. She is also a certified IELTS examiner for the speaking and writing modules. Before joining the University of Reading, Elisabeth taught EFL and EAP in the USA, France and Switzerland, as well as French in the USA.
Elisabeth co-authored two of the titles in the Garnet Education TASK (Transferable Academic Skills Kit) series: Presentations and Seminars and Tutorials.