Teachers - Varna

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

Mark Mctaggart
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.

Adrian Robinson. PhD. DipMgt MIstLM
A TEFL certified teacher Adrian has taught and trained across a wide range of business related subjects at the City of Bristol College (4th largest further education college in the UK) as well as being an associate lecturer for the Open University Business School, tutoring students with English as a second language both Online and face to face at under and post graduate (MBA stage 1) levels

Alistair Turnbull
Alistair was born in Bath, where he lived for 25 years before moving to Sevlievo, Bulgaria to teach English, having gained his CELTA qualification in Edinburgh. He has also taught in Greece and Italy, and has now settled in Varna.

David Hudson
David graduated in Economics in 2000 and worked briefly in banking before retraining as a teacher in 2002. David has more than 7 years teaching experience in both Russia and Ukraine and is now a full time teacher in Varna.

Jaron Smith
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.

John Dillencourt
John joined our team in the summer of 2007 and works both as a teacher at English Academy Varna and as a freelance computer programmer for an American based firm. He has spent the last 7 summers in Varna and has previously worked on a voluntary basis including at Dom Gavroche.

Karl Wadsworth
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.

Liesel Beukes
Liesel is a qualified Lawyer in both England and South Africa and practised as an Attorney between 2003 - 2009 specialising in Corporate and Commerical Law. She completed her teaching qualification in 2009 and relocated to Bulgaria to be closer to her family.

Matt Landis
Matt Graduated in Psychology from Millersville University in the USA before entering into teaching. He worked for 8 years in local schools and within the community in the USA before moving to Bulgaria. Since then, he has taught for 2 years in various language schools in Bulgaria and is now a full time teacher at English Academy in Varna.

Phillip Cruttwell
Phillip completed his teaching qualification in 2003 in England, then moved to Bulgaria in 2003. Prior to this he ran his own marketing consultancy firm for 14 years working with businesses, local authority and voluntary organisations. He taught business English as well as running his own real estate agency for 4 years but is now concentrating on teaching English in Varna. Please visit Philip`s blog.

Rebecca Lane
Rebecca has taught Art History in American and Canadian universities over the last 7 years. She completed a B.A. degree with distinction at Carleton College, Minnesota, USA and a M.A. degree at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, USA. She began writing and publishing art criticism in 2003, and became a Ph.D. candidate at the University of British Columbia, Canada in 2005. Rebecca moved to Bulgaria with her husband, a visual artist and a native of Varna, in August 2009.

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.