Affiliations and Associations

Accreditations

The New Zealand location TESOL course is approved by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority under the provisions of the Education Act 1989, and Aspire New Zealand : Creative Education and ESL Learning Centre is accredited to teach it.

Board of Academic Advisors

TEFL International is externally validated and moderated by a Board of Academic Advisors. This board includes several internationally recognized experts in the field of English Language Teaching (see list below) as well as dozens of regional language experts in language teaching and teacher training. Both international and regional members advise TEFL International staff on our teacher training centers worldwide.

Board of Academic Advisors member visits a TEFL International worldwide region annually. Members participate as keynote speakers at free national teacher training conferences / workshops sponsored and hosted by TEFL International. They also provide TEFL International with advice on the quality of our training programs in the region they visit on how our programs can adapt and change with growing trends in teacher training. International board members are industry experts that advise TEFL International centers and participate in teacher training initiatives hosted by TEFL International.

Regional board members are trained specialists with more than three years experience in teaching, teacher training and managerial positions (which hire ESL, TEFL, TESOL, or ESOL teachers). Regional members visit TEFL International locations monthly to ensure that each TEFL International course meets industry needs for that particular region and is of high quality. A regional member is not a TEFL International staff member, but rather a paid external consultant that moderates our courses monthly by visiting our center in the region where they have knowledge of local teacher needs. The regional moderator meets with training staff and course participants, observes trainee teaching practice, reviews course participant’s work and checks center resources are adequate. A full description of the moderation process, as well as any credentials of regional moderators, can be provided on request by emailing rbd@tesol-course.org

TEFL International – Board of Academic Advisors:

• Alan Maley: Dr. Maley served as English Language Officer for the British Council in Yugoslavia, Ghana, Italy, France and China from 1962 to 1988. As well as their Regional Representative in South India (Madras). From 1988 to 1993, he was Director-General of the Bell Educational Trust, Cambridge and from 1993 to 1998 he was Senior Fellow in the Department of English Language and Literature at the National University of Singapore. Dr. Maley directed the graduate programme at Assumption University, Bangkok from and from 1998 to 2003 and is currently a freelance consultant and Series Editor for the Oxford University Press Resource Books for Teachers series. His publications include: The Language Teacher's Voice; Literature; Beyond Words; Sounds Interesting; Sounds Intriguing; Words; Variations on a Theme; Drama Techniques in Language Learning; The Mind's Eye; Learning to Listen; Poem into Poem; Short and Sweet; and The English Teacher's Voice.   

• Brian Tomlinson: Dr. Tomlinson is Head of the Post-Graduate, Research and Consultancy Unit in the School of Languages at Leeds Metropolitan University in the UK. He has worked in many countries including Nigeria, Zambia, Vanuatu, Indonesia, Japan and Singapore. Posts have included working as a secondary school teacher, teacher-trainer, curriculum developer, director of studies, university lecturer and football coach. Dr. Tomlinson has given presentations to teachers in nearly 50 countries and published over 70 books and articles (including openings, Materials Development in Language Teaching and Developing Materials for Language Teaching). He's also the Founder and President of MATSDA, the International Materials Development Association, which runs annual conferences and workshops and publishes its journal Folio twice a year. He has also co-authored Discover English, a methodology book for English language teachers which focuses on language analysis. 

• Dave Hopkins: Mr. Hopkins is the director of TEFL International´s academic programs around the world. Mr. Hopkins began in English language training as an EFL teacher on a graduate internship at the Instituto Cultural Peruano-Norteamericano in Lima Peruholds. He received his Master´s degree in TEFL and in Intercultural Management from the School of International Training (SIT). He has taught , developed, managed and trained teachers in language programs in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Asia for over three decades. His most recent position before coming on board with TEFL International was the course director at the AUA Language centre in Bangkok. Keeping up with changes in the industry and methodologies, Mr. Hopkins has helped bring TEFL International into the forefront of the industry with his experience and insightful knowledge. 

• David Nunan: Dr. Nunan is Chair Professor of Applied Linguistics and Director of the English Centre at the University of Hong Kong. Prior to this, he was Director of Research and Development, NCELTR, and Coordinator of Postgraduate Programs in Linguistics at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. He has published over 100 books and articles in the areas of curriculum and materials development, classroom-based research, and discourse analysis. His recent publications include: Introducing Discourse Analysis; The Self-Directed Teacher; Voices from the Language Classroom (with Kathleen M. Bailey); The Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (with R. Carter); and Pursuing Professional Development: The Self as Source (with K. Bailey and A. Curtis). His textbook projects include ATLAS, Go For It, Listen In, Speak Out and Expressions, all published by Heinle & Heinle/Thomson Learning. Go For It has recently been selected and adapted by People’s Education Press as a basal textbook series for middle schools in China. He was President of TESOL in 1999-2000.

• John W. Miller: John W. Miller is an Academic Specialist for the Korean Language Program at the Defense Language Institute, Monterey, California, where he is in charge of faculty development. He designs and facilitates teacher-training workshops for faculty and learning strategies workshops for students. John began his career as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Liberia. After getting his MA, he taught in and directed Kyungsung University’s Foreign Language Institute in Pusan, Korea for three years. Later, while working for Ohio University, he helped launch OPELT, an English Language Program at Chubu University in Kasugai, Japan. He also served as Associate Peace Corps Director in Ukraine during the mid-90s and later returned to Ohio University to administer the OPELT Program. John is currently finishing his dissertation for a PhD in Intercultural Communication at Ohio University. He has written extensively on language teaching and has conducted teacher training workshops in Liberia, Korea, Japan, Ukraine, and the U.S. His current professional interests extend to areas such as reflective teaching, learning styles and strategies, and action research. He is particularly interested in learning more about the ways that intercultural relationships develop and change. He lives in Monterey with his wife, Sunhee, a naturalized Korean-American.

• Marc Helgesen: Mr. Helgelsen is co-author of the English Firsthand textbook series (Longman) which is the market leader in Japan and Korea and popular throughout Asia. He is also an author of Active Listening, from Cambridge University Press. He teaches at Miyagi Gakuin––a women’s university in Sendai, Japan–– and also in the Columbia University Teachers College MA TESOL program-Japan. He led teacher development workshops throughout Asia and has been a featured speaker at JALT (Japan Assoc. for Language Teaching), Korea TESOL and Thai TESOL.

• Mario Rinvolucri: Mr. Rinvolucri is a well-known teacher trainer and has been in the English language teaching field for over 30 years - the last 26 years with Pilgrims. He also edits Pilgrim's online magazine Humanising Language Teaching, and his latest work is the CDROM-based language-learning software, Mind Game (March 2000) and a new publication titled Humanising Your Course Book (Pilgrims Press). 

• Richard Day: Dr, Day is Chair & Co-Founder of the Extensive Reading Foundation (ERF). He is currently a Professor in the Department of Second Language Studies at the University of Hawaii. He is also co-editor of the online journal Reading in a Foreign Language. He has developed many teaching materials, including Impact Issues and Impact Topics, both with Junko Yamanaka, and Journeys Reading 3, with Jim Swan and Masayo Yamamoto. 

• Robb Scott: Mr. Scott began his ELT career  in Quito, Ecuador teaching middle school ESL at an international K-12 American style school. Several years later, he moved to Japan, where he gained valuable experience working on American branch-campus start-up projects, writing ESL curriculums and training teachers.  Recently, he has been in Brooklyn, New York, where he wrote education materials for Newsweek, served as a technical instructor helping junior high students build Web pages in a Cablevision project, studied at Teachers College, Columbia University, and started an online newsletter for ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) professionals as well as the ESL online mini-conference.  He now lives in Kansas, USA with his wife, Meribel and children.   

• Wendy Redlinger: Dr. Redlinger joined the US Peace Corps as a teacher in Nepal in 1962 and soon found herself as a teacher training specialist for the Peace Corps in Nepal where she learned Nepali. After three years with the US Peace Corps, Dr. Redlinger returned to the US to earn an M.A. in Asian History (1971) at Washington State University and a Ph.D in Linguistics (1977) from the University of Arizona. She then moved to Switzerland where she worked on bilingual research at the University of Bern as a NATO postdoctoral research fellow. Dr. Redlinger continued to do research and write for Miranda Associates & ACCESS, Inc. back in Washington, D.C. following her two years in Switzerland. In 1982, Dr. Redlinger joined The Experiment in International Living and worked there for the next nine years as a program manager, placement specialist and training associate. From 1990 to 2004, Dr. Redlinger worked for the School of International Training (SIT) designing teacher training programs for their Master of Arts teaching Program and from 1993, served as Director of the US State Department’s English Language Fellow Program. Wendy currently resides in Vermont, USA where she works as a group leader for Elderhostal Tours to SE Asia and enjoys performing early music on the portative organ and harpsichord and gardening.

TEFL International are actively seeking additional ESL professionals to join this board.

Interested individuals may Email daveh@tesol-course.org and receive information on being involved with some of the brightest minds in the industry.

Members of the Regional Board of Academic Advisors:

Local ELT Specialists (ESL professionals, school managers and training experts) visit each TEFL International site to moderate and validate our courses. A list of moderators and their credentials can be provided upon request for any of our centers by emailing mikef@tesolcourse.org

• George Mason University
• Burapha University
• University of Southern Queensland
• Manipal University
• Hyundai Corporation
• PDA
• Ministry of Education, Thailand
• New Zealand Education Global Services Ltd.
• Aspire New Zealand: Creative Education and ESL Learning Centre Ltd.
• AMIDEAST
• Nike
• Peace Corps
• Office of Basic Education Commission, MOE, Thailand
• Dave’s ESL Café
• Ajarn.com
• Oregon Institute of International Education
• Virgin Radio
• University of Washington
• Middlesex University (pending)

Pattaya, Thailand