Meet Our Trainers

James Stakenburg

comes from Australia, but has lived in New York for several years. He has a Bachelor degree in Accounting and a Masters degree in TESOL. He spent many years traveling the world and has been to more than 75 countries. He’s taught English in Japan, Thailand, Australia and the U.S., and has also lived in England and on a Caribbean cruise ship. In Sydney, James was an Assistant Director of Studies and Deputy High School Principal. He has taught Business English, Academic English and Exam Preparation and General English. When not training or teaching, James enjoys reading, watching movies, scuba diving, speaking Spanish badly and, of course, traveling.

Autumn Clark

is from the Berkshires in western Massachusetts and has been living and working in NY for about 6 years. She has a Bachelor degree in Theater and Education and has been teaching English as a second language for 4 years (General English, TOEFL Preparation, and Basic Writing Composition). Autumn has spent a year abroad teaching in South Korea, and loves learning about other languages and cultures. Besides English, she has experience teaching fashion design, arts and crafts, jewelry making, set design and acting to adults and young learners. In her very precious free time she loves studying Korean, watching The Deadliest Catch, and planning her next vacation.

Brian Long

has been working in the field of ESOL for 23 years, as a teacher, trainer, and administrator. In 2008 he became an independent ESOL training consultant, after 5 years as a director of teacher training at the School for International Training in Brattleboro, VT, where he had also earned his MAT. He continues his consulting work while pursuing an Ed D in Adult Learning and Leadership at Teachers College Columbia University in New York. His interests include the practical intersection of ESOL and Adult Learning in the classroom and how perceptions and definitions of rigor influence curricular design and instruction decisions.

Peter McGill

is a trainer from Boston, MA. He started teaching in 1999 at a language school in Bangkok, Thailand and has been teaching since. After living and working in Tokyo and Seoul, he went back to his hometown of Boston to get his Masters in Applied Linguistics. Shortly after receiving his MA, he moved to New York to begin working at our Partner School, where he has become a certified trainer for SIT. Peter enjoys training: “Teaching ESOL has been such an interesting and rewarding job for me for so long that I’m glad to help others enter the field. Through teaching, I’ve been able to meet so many amazing people and really see the world.”

Noreen Skennion

is a native New Yorker and has just returned from living and teacher training in Kurdistan Northern Iraq for four years. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education and a Masters degree in TESOL. She has lived and taught English and English Language Methodology in Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. She has travelled extensively for work and pleasure to Central Asia, The Caucuses, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Haiti. Before becoming an SIT trainer, she worked as a teacher trainer and program officer for Open Society Institute's Soros Professional English Language Teaching Program. As an SIT trainer, she has conducted numerous training courses in New York and Costa Rica and is very happy to be back training on courses in NYC. When not training or teaching, she enjoys playing tennis, photography, hiking and playing around with recipes in the kitchen where it really is pot luck!

CHECK OUT our TEFL Trainees Testimonials

Want the truth, the whole truth and, well, you know…? Pictures are worth a thousand words and videos even more so. Here, real TEFL students talk about their real teaching experiences at ITTO TEFL TESOL Courses. You get insight and opinions which are straight to the point. Check it out!