ELC Brighton is very proud of its team of friendly, experienced and professional teachers who are committed to making your stay a successful learning experience. We have a team of 7 highly-qualified permanent teachers, all with many years teaching experience. In addition, we have another 30-40 teachers who work for us at different times of the year on different courses.
Nearly all of the teachers have worked abroad in different countries so understand what it is like to live in another country and learn a new language and culture.
Our teachers regularly attend external conferences, workshops and seminars as well as the programme organised in ELC Brighton. This means they are continuously refreshing and updating their teaching skills and methodology.
Matthew Devere BA (Hons), DTEFLA, Cert IBET Head of Business English
Matthew joined ELC in 2010. He has been teaching English for more than 10 years, in Barcelona and in the UK, and in most of that time has specialised in teaching Business English. He has a degree in economics and prior to becoming a teacher he worked for the Inland Revenue and Mobil Gas for 10 years. Matthew speaks very good Spanish and some Catalan. In his spare time he enjoys DIY and gardening, playing the guitar and spending time with his children.
Ed Russell BA, MA TESOL, DELTA Head of Teacher Training
Ed joined ELC as Head of Teacher Training in 2016. He has nearly 15 years' experience as a teacher, teacher trainer, academic manager, conference speaker, assessor and published writer both in the UK and in a number of other countries including working for the British Council in Thailand, Palestine, Bulgaria and Singapore. Ed trained as a CELTA tutor and has significant experience of CLIL in a variety of contexts. Another area of expertise is the use of technology in language teaching including blended learning. Outside of teacher training, Ed enjoys touch rugby, and collecting and learning to play musical instruments.
Paul Emmerson MA (App Ling), MSc, BA Teacher/Teacher Trainer
Paul Emmerson works as a writer, teacher and teacher trainer. He is the author of numerous Business English books published by Macmillan and Cambridge University Press, including Email English. Over the summer period he works at ELC Brighton as a teacher on our business courses and a teacher-trainer on our Teaching Business English course. He has two Masters degrees, including an MA in Applied Linguistics, and is a regular presenter at international conferences. His website contains a Business English Ideas Bank with tips and techniques for Business teaching.
Simon Cummings MA, DELTA Teacher
Simon has been teaching English since 1996 before which he worked as an accountant for twelve years. Since becoming a teacher he has worked in Croatia, Thailand, Spain and the United Arab Emirates. He teaches on general English, business courses and specialises in IELTS and has been an examiner for six years. When not working Simon likes nothing more than to relax with a book, listen to music or watch a film.
Steve Jones BA (Hons), DTEFLA Teacher/Teacher Trainer
Steve joined ELC permanently in 2001, having taught for ELC for many years during the summers. Steve teaches on all of our courses but specialises in examination courses (IELTS, FCE, CAE, LCCI) and teacher training. He is an IELTS examiner and also an oral examiner for FCE, CAE and CPE. In addition, Steve enjoys representing ELC on marketing trips to Spain and Japan. Before joining ELC, Steve taught in Spain for 16 years so speaks Spanish fluently. He also speaks very good French and visits both countries every year to visit friends and enjoy the wonderful wine and food.
Penny Moon BA (Hons), DTEFLA Senior Teacher
Penny has taught at ELC for more than 30 years. She teaches on a range of courses at ELC but specialises particularly in Cambridge Examination courses (FCE, CAE, CPE) and our courses for PAs and Secretaries. A fluent French-speaker, Penny visits France a number of times every year. In her free time she loves gardening, cooking and fine wines.
Mike Foy BA (Hons), DTEFLA Teacher
Mike joined ELC in 1990 and has taught on most of the courses we run. He specialises in the use of audiovisual materials and technology in the classroom and was responsible for filming the promotional ELC DVD. From 2000 to 2002 he set up and developed the Media Services Centre at the Abu Dhabi & Dubai campuses of Zayed University, UAE. Before working for ELC, Mike taught in Italy and Germany. In his free time Mike loves playing the guitar and travelling.