IH Dubai announces appointment of new Director of Teacher Training

Originally from New Zealand , Jamie has am impressive work history having lived and worked in ten different countries to date: New Zealand, Australia, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, UK, Ireland, USA and Spain before coming to UAE.

With an MA in Applied Linguistics/TESOL, Jamie also has experience with curriculum design and materials writing. Jamie has extensive teaching and teacher training experience in a variety of contexts with over 40 Cambridge CELTA teacher training courses to date.

In more recent years, he has worked primarily as a freelancer working worldwide, including establishing new training centres, managing teacher training departments, training up new teacher trainers and focusing on the continuing professional development of exisiting teachers. With such diverse international experience, Jamie brings with him a wealth of extensive and current perspectives on modern language teaching professional practice.

"I am very excited to be a part of the IH Dubai team. IH Dubai's CELTA programmes are very well known in the market and I look forward to expanding IH Dubai's training provision by opening out into in-service training courses and workshops which would be open to the public as this would benefit a lot of teachers in the region keen to consolidate and expand on their existing teaching skills. We will also be introducing the Cambridge DELTA (Diploma in Language Teaching to Adults) as well as the CELTYL (Certificate in English Languague Teaching to Young Learners) and YL extension courses there is great demand for raising the quality of language teaching to young learners in the region," said Jamie.

Sam Stephen, Director IH Dubai, said:

"We welcome Jamie and are very pleased to have him join the IH Dubai team. Jamie's extensive knowledge and expertise in the field of teacher training is an added asset to IH Dubai and will reflect positively on the students' learning experience at our centre."

IH Dubai celebrates the success of over 150 trainee teachers who have received their Cambridge CELTA qualification.

Clair Hattle, Asst Director of Studies IH Dubai, said, "We are extremely proud of our CELTA graduates. To support them in their professional career and provide a space for their continued professional development we have now started the Dubai CELTA forum (http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/dubaicelta/) - a way for CELTA trainees to stay in contact, to stay committed to the highest standards of teaching and provide support for each other. We are looking forward to opening our doors to more teachers and teacher trainers in our aim to raise language standards in the region."

International House is a world leader in teacher training, and is renowned for its high quality and standards.

The CELTA (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults) is internationally accepted and is widely regarded as one of the most important forms of training in the field of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL).