Teachers - Varna

All our teachers are native speakers with teaching qualifications and extensive experience. Below is a brief summary.

Mark Mctaggart /director/
Mark Graduated in Economics in 1998 and worked in the London stock exchange for 2 years before retraining as an English teacher in London. He spent time teaching in Asia for 2 years before moving to Bulgaria in August 2003. He went on to work for the British Council in both Sofia and Varna for 3 years and is now a director and teacher at English Academy.

Abi Robinson
Abi is a British born native English speaker. She gained her joint honours degree in Psychology and Zoology at Bristol University where she went on to train as a teacher. She then continued her teacher training and gained her TEFL certificate. She has over 15 years experience in teaching literacy with specialist knowledge of the way that people learn.

Jaron Smith /exam coordinator/
Jaron graduated from Illinois University in the USA and went on to teach in Russia before moving to Bulgaria in 2009. He also spent time in the American university in Blagoevgrad as an exchange student in 2004 and is now enjoying life by the sea.

Benjamin Parkin
Ben has over 5 years teaching experience in Brighton, England , as well as in Barcelona, Spain. He has taught all levels including Cambridge, IELTS and TOEFL and joined our team in April 2012.

Karl Wadsworth /senior teacher/
Karl has 15 years experience teaching in mainstream schools in England and was the Head of Humanities department in Blackburn, England. He has taught all levels and ages and he moved to Bulgaria permanently in the summer of 2007.

Neil Scarth
Neil has completed the Cambridge DELTA qualification and has been teaching English for 13 years in Hungary, Turkey, Macedonia as well as 5 years in Sofia. Neil will be joining our team from September 2010 as a full time teacher.

Shirley Wadsworth
Shirley has nearly 20 years experience teaching a range of subjects in mainstream schools in England. She spent 4 years teaching pupils with special educational needs delivering all aspects of the national curriculum. She also moved permanently to Bulgaria in the summer of 2007.

Richard Jennifer Bannister
Jennifer graduated in Primary education from the University of Wales in 2002. She worked as a volunteer teacher in Tanzania for 3 years and for the last 4 years worked in a special needs school in Wales. Jennifer is relocating to Varna in September 2011 to teach at English Academy.

Richard Richard Bilson
Richard graduated from Manchester University in 2005 and went on to lecture at the university for 2 years. He then tutored special needs students in Regents College before moving to Bulgaria in January 2011 to volunteer for the LIFE foundation in Pleven. Richard is also relocating to Varna in September 2011 to teach at English Academy.

Richard Michelle Evans
After finishing her university degree, Michelle moved to Russia where she taught and trained for 15 years including at the British Council. As the head of Professional development and training she was responsible for course design, training and development in numerous international firms such as KPMG, Johnson and Johnson, BASF, Nokia among others. Michelle joined our team in Varna in July 2011.

Pippa Canney
Pippa worked in design and management for 10 years, followed by 10 years as a Therapist and lecturer in the UK. As well as a univeristy degree, she also has a teaching qualification from Oxford Trinity. Pippa has been working at English Academy since April 2011.