Training
• 2020 Masters in TESOL
• 2020 Young Learners Certificate
• 2015 CELTA
• 2013 Masters in Software Development

Research Interests
• World Englishes
• Emotional Intelligence
• Diversity in ELT & Coursebook material
• Folklore and storytelling
• Psycholinguistics

Hello, and what’s the craic?

I’m Alan, an English teacher who has been teaching since 2013.

Since 2015 I’ve been teaching English as a Foreign Language in private language academies in Spain and Italy, focusing on exam preparation for the Cambridge exam suite, as well as the Trinity GESEs.

Over the years I have gone through various job titles, including but not limited to teaching assistant, student support, English teacher, senior English teacher and Director of Studies.

One of my major interests from early childhood is folk stories. Thanks to working with some superb story tellers at home and around the world, I am keen to work on the preservation of Irish folk tales, as well as telling stories from around the world, not just in the English classroom, but also for the craic. There are no borders in storytelling and our imaginations know no boundaries.

Before my Masters in TESOL in 2019 at Queen’s University Belfast, I was based in Spain for four years, teaching two years in Asturias, and two years in Extremadura, again focusing on Cambridge exams as well as the Trinity GESE exam levels.

In Ireland I work with the Belfast Unemployed Resource Centre on the BELFAST Programme which focuses on migrant and refugee communities within Ireland, primarily working with Absolute Beginners (pre-A1 level students), Progressors (A2-B1 level students) and job/conversation classes.

Conference Presentations
• ELT Ireland 2022.
• ELTed at ELT Ireland March 2021.
• Tell Us a Story… webinar series with Sardinian Exams Project, March 2021
• TESOL France, 2020.
• Trinity Future of ELT Online Conference, 2020 – two presentations.
• ELT Ireland, 2020.
• Workshop on How to Teach Absolute Beginners from the Islamic World, Belfast, August 2016.
• ESOL Approaches for English Language Classes, Dungannon, 2016.
• ELT Ireland, 2015.

Publications
• Story Sharing: Together Again with David Heathfield – IATEFL Voices, October 2022
• Helping Students Overcome Speech and Anxiety Issues with Puppets – Puthalika Patrika, February 2022
• Helping Students Help Themselves – The Teaching Times magazine summer 2021
• An analysis of the linguistic representation of affect in ELT Coursebook Materials, 2020, Queen’s University Belfast.