Philip Kerr

I was born and grew up in the outer suburbs of north-west London, and went to university, first in Brighton and then Oxford, where I qualified as a teacher. My first job as an English language teacher was in a lycee in Morocco. After two years in Casablanca, I worked in language schools in London and Belgium for a number of years before becoming director of studies of a school in Bilbao in the Basque Country.

Leaving Bilbao with many happy memories, I returned to London where I worked at International House as a teacher and teacher trainer, and subsequently director of studies. During this time, my range of professional interests expanded. I worked as an examiner for the Cambridge ESOL exams, became an assessor for the Cambridge teacher training schemes and worked as a consultant in the development of the CELTA award. I also began to publish articles in journals and books, acted as a judge for a number of ELT book competitions, and served on the Education Committee of ARELS and the Teacher Trainers and Educators Special Interest Group committee of IATEFL.

For the last ten years or so, and especially since returning to live in Belgium, most of my time has been devoted to writing ELT materials. My projects have included the international coursebook series Straightforward and Inside Out, and Matura Masters, a series for Polish high school students. The writing work has taken me to many countries around the world to make presentations at conferences and to run workshops and training courses for teachers.

In the future, I hope to spend less time writing and more time in the classroom, as a teacher and as a teacher trainer.