People
Our teachers
All our teachers are properly qualified professional teachers of English. Many have been working at the School for over 10 years. We never employ unqualified teachers and we have an active in-house teacher development and training programme. All our teachers are regularly observed by their colleagues and our senior academic staff.
The School is a centre for the internationally recognised University of Cambridge Diploma in English Language Teaching to Adults and many of our teachers have been trained at the School.
All our teachers are paid to keep up to date and attend conferences and in-service training courses. Members of the teaching and academic management staff regularly give talks and lead workshops at international and national teachers' conferences and seminars.
Rolf Donald, BA, Cambridge DTEFLA
Head of Teacher Training, Teacher
Rolf joined ESoE in 1985. He had previously taught English in Paris and on summer courses in England. He has developed and taught our courses for overseas teachers of English and has led workshops for teachers in Switzerland and Poland. He is a Cambridge oral examiner and has been involved in producing training videos for examiners of the Cambridge examinations.
He is particularly interested in humanistic teaching techniques.
Graham Smith, Cambridge DTEFLA
Summer Course Co-ordinator, Teacher
Graham has worked here since 1988. Previously he taught in Japan, Mexico and in London. He is a trained CELTA tutor and has also developed a wide range of teaching materials for the school. He is an oral examiner for the Cambridge examinations. Graham is a karate expert and a qualified sports therapist. He is also a qualified First Aider. In 2008 Graham taught for five weeks at a partner school in Argentina and was appointed Summer Course Co-ordinator at Eastbourne School of English.
Patsy Dinc, B Ed, Cambridge DTEFLA
Teacher
Patsy has been with the school since 1995 and has regularly taught on our Cambridge Intensive courses. She is also a Cambridge CELTA course tutor. In 1999 she presented a paper at the IATEFL Conference in Edinburgh. She enjoys painting in watercolours and playing the piano.
Mark Hill, BA, Cambridge DTEFLA
Teacher
Mark became a teacher at ESoE in 1990. He has specialised in teaching Cambridge examination classes and has recently been involved in our English for Business programme. He enjoys preparing students for the IELTS examination. He also helped develop the Learning Centre. Mark enjoys swimming, gardening and painting. He has a qualification in garden design and plans to set up his own company in his spare time. He redesigned the school garden in 2006.
Mitch Mitchell, Cambridge DTEFLA
Teacher
Mitch has taught at the school since 1990, having worked before as an engineer and a teacher of the trumpet. He is interested in Business English and methods of teaching pronunciation. He is also involved in our Overseas Teachers’ courses.
Administration
Graham White, MA Applied Linguistics, Cambridge DTEFLA
Principal
Graham joined ESoE in May 2000 after a career of over 20 years with the Regent Group. He worked as a Business English teacher at Regent Brighton, was Principal of Regent Brighton 1983-1990 and Principal of Regent London from 1994-2000. He is the author of two Business English course books.
Glyn Hodgson, BSc, PGCE, Cambridge DTEFLA
Director of Studies
Glyn joined ESoE in 1986. He is responsible for the day-to-day running of the courses. After five years teaching English children in a primary school in Nottingham, Glyn went abroad to teach English in Egypt and Italy. He is interested in helping students to develop their reading and writing skills. He is also a Cambridge DELTA tutor.
Administrative staff
Catherina Ashford, BA
Registrar
Catherina joined us in December 2006. During 2007 she has been responsible for enrolling students and dealing with agents. She has also dealt with accommodation placements during the absence of Glynis Chuter on maternity leave.Catherina previously worked in publishing and events organisation in London and Brighton.
Glynis Chuter, RSA Grade II Typing
Accommodation Officer
Glynis came to the school in 1992 after completing a secretarial course. She is responsible for dealing with enquiries and student welfare. Glynis lists as her interests information technology, dancing, music and cinema. Glynis took over responsibility for our accommodation service in November 2003.
Roy Smith
Finance Officer
Roy joined ESoE in March 2002. He has worked for various companies including a language school in central London in the 1980s. He enjoys badminton, swimming and looking after his two sons and one daughter.
Rebecca Willis, BA, Cambridge CELTA
Marketing Executive
Rebecca took up the marketing role in February 2008. She was brought up in Belgium and studied in Canterbury where she taught EFL for a number of organisations. Following a move into marketing, Rebecca spent several years as Marketing Executive for IALC. Her main interests are travelling, playing the guitar and playing rugby.
Social organiser
James Murphy
Full-time Social Organiser
James joined ESoE in 1999 after studying Business Administration with Finance at university. He organises the social activities, parties and excursions and is the man to go to for any questions about Eastbourne and its attractions. James likes to play table tennis and pool with the students and has a daughter.
Our students
Our students come from all over the world. In the last three years, we have welcomed over 60 different nationalities, speaking nearly 40 different languages.
Most of our students are between 18 and 30 years old but we also run courses for people younger than that and for people over 50.
Our oldest student was 83 years old when she started studying with us.
Our students are learning English to take examinations, to go on to study at a British or American university, to help with their work or just because they enjoy the challenge.
Some people come for a little as two weeks; some stay for a year. Whatever you need, we have the right English course for you.
Satisfaction questionnaire
“I really enjoyed my stay in Eastbourne! It was perfect!!! I like this school very much and all people are very nice. I liked the relaxed but serious atmosphere here and I am sure that I will come back - maybe next summer.”
Melanie, Switzerland
“The study programme is serious and the teachers are very qualified. I was pleased to notice standards are the highest, which enabled me to improve my English a lot.”
Nikitina, Russia
“My time in Eastbourne was great! I was warmly welcomed at my first day at school and during all the time the teachers were nice and helpful. The timetable was just perfect. It allowed us to do lots of free time activities, which the school staff organized well!”
Marco, Italy
“I learned lots during my time at the Eastbourne School of English. The lessons were very good and the school buildings impressive. The teachers were very helpful, as well were the receptionists.”
Amr, Yemen
“I enjoyed the friendly, humorous atmosphere at school and during our lessons. The afternoon activities were interesting and great to experience the English way of life. I just can say, that I loved to stay here and hope to come back soon!”
Xiao, China
“Thank you very much for everything! I liked that there were not only young students but also elder people studying, too. I did not feel like a grandmother because of that.”
Alex, Brazil