As a British Council Officer for eleven years I worked in Egypt, Portugal, Greece and Poland, largely in in-service and pre-service teacher training. It was a wonderful opportunity to understand different cultures, and to appreciate what life is like for the ordinary secondary school teacher.

On returning to the UK, I was Director of Studies and then Principal of Bell College Saffron Walden 1981–1993. A feature of the college then was the wide range of courses for teachers from all over the world and I learnt a great deal from them.

I have been a freelance teacher trainer since 1994, have directed a wide range of teachers courses in Cambridge and elsewhere and have been a member of the NILE (Norwich Institute for Language Education) Advisory Board since its creation. I have also been a plenary speaker at conferences and involved in teacher training courses in many European countries, in Africa, Asia and South America. I am Reviews Editor of English Language Teaching Journal and an inspector for the British Council English in Britain Accreditation Scheme.

It is perhaps inaccurate to describe my writing as a third of my career – in fact I’ve been writing readers and textbooks since I started teaching.

The readers are all available in the Macmillan Guided Reader Series and New Wave Readers Series and include: Starter – LA Detective; Beginner – Death of a Soldier, This is London, LA Raid; Elementary – LA Winners; Intermediate Bristol Murder, The Woman Who Disappeared;
Upper – LA Movie; New Wave – Kate's Revenge.

I am series editor of Accelerate, a six level short course, and of Fast Lane, the American English version, as well as Skilful, a two level integrated skills course.

I am co-author with Judy Garton-Sprenger on Wonderful World, a primary course, and of Shine  which has given us a great privilege to visit secondary schools in different countries, watch classes and listen to teachers and students. In this way Shine represents not just our vision of a successful secondary course but is also a reflection of the classroom reality.