Meet the trainers
John Hughes
Hi. I’m a published ELT author with well over 50 titles. As an author, my main course series include ‘Life’, ‘World English’ and ‘World Link’ for National Geographic Learning. I’m also a lead author on the ‘Business Result’ series for Oxford University Press. Increasingly, I’m working in newer areas such as online course design and video production. I’m also the orginator and series editor of the ‘ETpedia’ resource series for teachers (published by Pavilion ELT and an ELTons finalist). The series includes my book ‘ETpedia Materials Writing’ and the award-winning ‘ETpedia Business English’.
As a teacher trainer, I’ve worked with teachers from all over the world and given plenaries at numerous international conferences. I’ve also lectured in materials writing and critical thinking on courses with Oxford University.
Katherine Bilsborough
Hello! I’m an ELT author of many print and digital courses. I’m most known for my primary titles, including ‘Ace!’, ‘Oxford Rooftops’, ‘Big Questions’ and ‘Bright Ideas’ for Oxford University Press, and ‘Look!’ and ‘Imagine’ for National Geographic Learning. I’ve also published courses for teenagers and for bilingual education (Science and Art), as well as a range of vocational titles such as ‘English for taxi drivers’ and ‘English for Oil and Gas’. Besides coursebooks and digital courses, I write free-access materials and lesson plans for the British Council and several ELT publishers. I am the author of ELT Teacher 2 Writer’s ‘How to write primary materials’.
As a teacher educator, I’ve worked face to face and online with teachers around the globe, focusing on developing all kinds of materials from low-resource printed worksheets to highly polished video animation.
“For someone who’s fairly new to the world of ELT materials writing and still quite inexperienced as a writer (such as myself), the course was very useful and interesting. It was hands-on with great practical tips and the sessions covered all the basics. It was great to exchange ideas with and learn from experienced ELT materials writing professionals such as Kath, John, and my group members. This course comes highly recommended to anyone who’s interested in the world of ELT materials writing.”
“As a practicing teacher, I normally write materials for my own students, but Kath and John gave me the strategies and inspiration that I needed to start writing for a wider audience. The classes were informative and practical, balancing lecture with small-group work, and the assignments were an opportunity to develop a creative teaching idea into a publishable set of materials. Since I write mainly for young learners, I was delighted to receive expert guidance and feedback from Kath, who has a wealth of experience as a primary ELT author. I highly recommend this course to anyone in ELT who wants to develop their skills as a materials writer.“
“I am so grateful to both you and John for running the WEM course and I’m so fortunate that I came across the website where you promote it. I love how the course is put together and learnt a lot from the sessions and from both of your feedback.“
“I would really like to keep developing as a materials writer, so if you and/or John are thinking about setting up another course, count me in!“
