Authors and Experts

Vital English designs and distributes English Language teaching and learning solutions globally. We now have one of the largest product ranges of any online ELT provider in the market. Since its conception Vital English has enjoyed the privilege of working with many leaders in both the ELT and technology markets. This enables us to design, build and deliver learning materials that are incomparable on the world stage. We have drawn upon the academic expertise of internationally recognised ELT consultants. Professor Rod Ellis from the University of Auckland and Professor Zhang Lianzhong from China.

Prof.Rod Ellis - Academic Advisor

Rod Ellis is currently Professor in the Department of Applied Language Studies and Linguistics, University of Auckland, where he teaches postgraduate courses on second language acquisition, individual differences in language learning and task-based teaching. His published work includes articles and books on second language acquisition, language teaching and teacher education. His books include Understanding Second Language Acquisition (BAAL Prize 1986) and The Study of Second Language Acquisition (Duke of Edinburgh prize 1995). More recently, Task-Based Learning and Teaching (early 2003) and (with Gary Barkhuizen) Analyzing Learner Language (2005), were published by Oxford University Press. He has also published several English language textbooks, including Impact Grammar (Pearson: Longman). He is also currently editor of the journal Language Teaching Research. In addition to his current position in New Zealand, he has worked in schools in Spain and Zambia and in universities in the United Kingdom, Japan and the United States. He has also conducted numerous consultancies and seminars throughout the world.

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Zhang Lianzhong-Professor of Linguistics and English Education

Professor Zhang has MA in Applied Linguistics 1985, Dept of Linguistic Sciences, University of Reading, England. He has worked in the field of ELT for over 30 years, research interests include: socio-linguistics, language testing, pragmatics, cultural linguistics, teacher education, curriculum and material development and has rich experience of consultation and cooperation with international publishers in the field of ELT material development and language programme design and development.
He has been a visiting scholar to UCLES (1997), Cambridge University; University of Melbourne (1995, 1996), Australia, EEC Academy of Seoul, Korea (2004). From 1988-1997 he was the deputy dean of the Department of English Education, Capital Normal University, Beijing; but is now working as Director of Foreign Language Education Research Centre, National Institute for Education Research. He is a member of National English Syllabus Standard Drafting Committee; Ministry of Education, China; (the leading body for English education reform and development campaign for China in the 21st century); as well as a member of textbook inspection committee, Ministry of Education, China and a member of the designing board of China’s National Public English Testing System (PETS) and team leader of test paper development; which is now one of the key national official English proficiency tests for Chinese learners of English. Professor Zhang is the Chief editor of Students’ English Times (one of the major student English learning weekly with over 4 million readers) as well as the Deputy General Writer and Editor for one of the major English textbooks for senior high schools; co-published by Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press (FLTRP), China (one of the major publishers in China) and Macmillan Publishers LTD, UK. He is also a consultant for British Council, China English Education Programme and a Senior Consultant for Intuto Science and Technology Company, LTD.
Professor Zhang’s publications include books on ELT theory, ELT course books, national PETS testing system and ELT articles on journals and newspapers.

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Madelize Bekker-Author, ELT Consultant, Academic & Project Manager

Madelize Bekker has been involved in classroom teaching, educational design and e-learning for many years. She has extensive experience in programme development and delivery as well as in instructional design. She designs material for local and international educational institutions and businesses and supports them during the implementation and delivery phases. Prior to running her own business, Madelize was the Learning Design Manager for Vital English where she managed the design and development of various ELT (English Language Teaching) products for blended delivery. Her wide ranging experience involves teaching at primary, secondary and tertiary level in South Africa and New Zealand. This includes four years of working as an academic staff member in Wintec’s School of English Language. Amongst other responsibilities, she coordinated the General English program and started the Curriculum Factory team-an online course and resources development team at Wintec.
Madelize obtained a Bachelor of Arts (English, Psychology) from the University of the Free State in South Africa; a Cambridge Certificate in Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA) from Languages International in Auckland; a Postgraduate Diploma in Second Language Teaching and a Postgraduate Certificate in eEducation from The University of Waikato; and graduated with a Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics through Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand.

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Dorothy Cleary - Co-author & ELT Consultant & Academic Manager

Dorothy Cleary has been involved in ESOL teaching, programme management and curriculum development for more than 15 years. She has extensive ESOL experience and qualifications in both New Zealand and Canada.
She gained a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 1975, and worked for some years as a high school teacher in New Zealand. She then gained a post graduate diploma in ESL from the University of Calgary in Canada in 1992. She gained the RSA/Cambridge CTEFLA qualification in 1994, and graduated with a Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics through Victoria University of Wellington in 2004. She worked as a Senior Academic Staff Member in the School of English Language at the Waikato Institute of Technology, and was the Programme Manager for the Certificate in Advanced English in this school for many years. Her responsibilities included test development, student placement, curriculum development, staff management and teaching on this programme.

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Jorinde Alderton - Author

Jorinde Alderton is a content creator, audio recorder and content loader for the Curriculum Factory at Wintec. Since joining the team a year ago she has worked on the BULATS Test Preparation online course and classroom resources and IELTS Intensive. Jorinde has over five years ESOL teaching experience in both ESP (English for Special Purposes) and General English. She has taught a variety of levels and age groups, including the teaching and managing of short-term courses for international high school students. Jorinde has a Bachelor of Teaching from the University of Waikato, and is currently completing a Postgraduate Diploma in Second Language Teaching, also through the University of Waikato. Jorinde has a particular interest in how cultural and social contexts impact on language acquisition. She strongly advocates that materials design and teaching need to be learner-directed if they are going to best meet the needs of students. She believes that online learning materials can be successfully blended with classroom teaching to provide students with effective feedback. She is excited to be working for the Curriculum Factory as it provides her with a challenging and stimulating environment, where she is able to develop professionally in an experienced and knowledgeable team.

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Helen Oliver - Author

Helen Oliver is a content writer and editor for the Curriculum Factory at Wintec. She has worked on Junior High School (Vital Beginner), the Vital BULATS Test preparation courses, Vital English for IT and the classroom and teacher resources for IELTS Test Success! and IELTS Intensive. Helen has been an ESOL teacher since 1978. This includes 17 years of international experience in Hong Kong and Japan. Helen has also taught at Wintec and at the University of Waikato. Her wide ranging experience involves General English, Academic English, Refugee classes and CELTA teacher training. Helen holds a Bachelor of Social Science from the University of Waikato, an Honours degree (Economics) from Victoria University, an RSA/Cambridge Diploma TEFLA (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), a Masters of Arts in Applied Linguistics (First Class Honours) from the University of Waikato and is certified by Cambridge University as a CELTA trainer.
Helen feels that designing materials for Vital English has given her already extensive experience an exciting new dimension. Developing tightly-focused interactive language activities for the online environment requires academic rigour as well as creativity. She is particularly interested in how the blended approach to learning involves creating online materials according to the principals of ‘good’ classroom teaching.

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Helen Otto - Instructional Designer / Academic Consultant

Helen is an Instructional Designer / Academic Consultant, for the Curriculum Factory at Wintec. Prior to joining the team in March 2005, Helen worked for six years as a Teacher Coordinator at the University of Waikato and seven years as Director of Studies for a PTE (Private Training Establishment). She has many years of experience in ESOL teaching, teacher training, materials writing, syllabus design, management, student administration and international marketing.

Helen holds a Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics, a Diploma in Second Language Teaching, and the Cambridge Certificate of English Language Teaching. She has an interest in research and has presented at conferences on materials design and student online engagement.

Helen’s skill set includes, syllabus design (including planning and research), content writing, online content editing and academic consultancy. Her contributions include work on the IELTS Test Success, Vital English for IT, Vital BULATS Test Preparation, Vital English for Health, Vital English for Hospitality, Vital English for Living Abroad, Vital General English and TESOL for both classroom and online delivery.

‘I enjoy the challenge and creativity of developing pedagogically sound, interactive-learning materials for NESB (Non English Speaking Background) students at all levels of English competency.’

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Angela Stephens - Author

Angela Stephens is a content developer for the Curriculum Factory at Wintec. She has worked as both a content writer and senior editor for the BULATS Test Preparation course; as an editor for English for Information Technology and writer on IELTS Intensive. Before joining the Curriculum Factory over two years ago, Angela worked as an ESOL teacher for six years, including 2 years overseas experience in a French high school and for the University of the French Pacific in New Caledonia. Angela has taught both General English and IELTS Test preparation courses. Angela holds a Master of Arts (in languages) and a Postgraduate Diploma in Second Language Teaching from the University of Waikato. Angela is currently studying Spanish through Massey University. Angela is especially interested in foreign language learning, linguistics and the teaching of General English. Angela believes students learn best when they are provided with various modes of delivery. This includes a combination of classroom teaching, self-directed study, online learning and a period of immersion in an environment where the target language is used. Angela appreciates the Curriculum Factory, as it provides her with the opportunity to work in an intellectually creative environment with a team of highly experienced, professional ESOL teachers.

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Melanie Brown - Contributing Writer

Melanie Brown has worked as a content writer for Wintec’s Curriculum Factory since August 2006. She has written materials for the Vital BULATS Test preparation courses, and worked as project coordinator, writer and teacher for English for Hospitality in China and New Zealand. Melanie has taught ESOL at British international schools since 1998 in Japan and Thailand. She holds a Master of Arts with Honours from Waikato University, the Cambridge CELTA and a Postgraduate Diploma in Second Language Teaching with distinction from Waikato University. She is currently enrolled in a Master of Education programme. In 1997 she received an Asia 2000 scholarship to conduct research in Japan and has published a paper on the differences in modality between Japanese and English language. Melanie’s particular areas of interest are in international education and English for the hospitality industry. She believes that when designing a curriculum, writing content or teaching, the primary aim should be to create materials and environments that maximise the potential learning opportunities for the student. Melanie enjoys her work for the Curriculum Factory. "There is nothing better than working with a group of like-minded people who possess such depth of knowledge of language and language teaching, combined with experience of other cultures and countries."

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Cameron Darcy - Sound Technician

Cameron Darcy is the media producer and a content writer for Wintec’s Curriculum Factory. Cameron has worked as a content writer for IELTS Test Success and Vital English for IT. He works on and is responsible for the audio production of all courses developed at the Curriculum Factory. Cameron has 12 years teaching experience in community education, special needs and ESOL. This includes two years teaching in Kenya, and six years teaching general and academic English at Wintec. He has taught students from all over the world, ranging from ten to 65 years. Cameron holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Second Language Teaching from Massey University and has completed a Teaching Practice paper at Waikato University. He is currently completing a GDITE-ICT Tools for Teachers course at Wintec. Cameron is particularly interested in how computer-created media can be successfully combined with traditional modes of teaching. He believes that students learn best when they have an enthusiastic teacher who cares about them as both people and learners. Cameron is enthusiastic about learning new technical skills and the creative potential of computers for teachers, including the use of podcasts, video and audio resources.

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Richard Lawrence - Writer/Editor

Richard Lawrence is a learning designer and content writer for Wintec’s Curriculum Factory. Since 2005 he has worked as a writer and editor on IELTS Test Success, the Junior High School (Vital Beginner) course and Discover English & Interactive Stories.
Richard is an experienced ESOL tutor who, since 2001, has worked at Wintec on a variety of different English Language Programs, ranging from beginners to advanced level students, including EAP (English for Academic Purposes). This includes international ESL teaching experience in Kangneung in Korea in 2005. Richard holds a Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics from the University of Waikato. Richard has a particular interest in online learning and Korean language learning. He has conducted research and presented papers at a number of conferences on these topics.
"I am very interested in the potential and challenges for computer-based language teaching and learning."

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Joanne Patterson - Writer

Joanne Patterson has worked as a content creator for the Wintec Curriculum Factory since February 2006. In this time she has worked as a writer on the Vital BULATS Test preparation courses, and Junior High School (Vital Beginner).
Joanne has a wide ESOL teaching experience, including work at institutions in New Zealand, Japan, the UK and Spain, where she has taught both high school and adult students. Joanne holds a Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics (First Class Honours), a Postgraduate Diploma in Second Language Teaching, and a Bachelor of Social Science in Linguistics and Cognitive Science from Waikato University.
Joanne is particularly interested in pushing the boundaries of the online learning environment, and expanding its potential both technically and educationally. She is part of an innovative writing team, adapting the classroom orientated principles of task-based learning to language learning online. She is committed to developing online learning that is both interesting and easy to use. She is excited by the challenges and opportunities her work provides for working in a new and dynamic field of language education.

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Debbie Robinson - Writer

Debbie Robinson is a content creator for the Curriculum Factory development team at Wintec, where she has worked on the following projects, IELTS Test Success, Vital English for IT, and Vital BULATS Test preparation courses. She is also involved with an IELTS preparation course taught in conjunction with the IELTS Test Success.
Before joining the Curriculum Factory two years ago, Debbie had worked as an ESOL tutor at Wintec since 2001, and before that in Japan. She has taught a wide range of ESOL courses, including the development and delivery of ESP (English for Special Purposes) Academic English courses, including business studies, test preparation and computer and information technology. Debbie holds a Bachelor of Art (English) degree from the University of Auckland, a Diploma of Teaching (Secondary) in English, and is currently completing a Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics from Victoria University in Wellington, NZ.
Debbie is committed to the development of a quality curriculum that teaches students the skills and approaches they need to adopt in order to achieve their objectives. "Studying online is a new and challenging environment, but the fundamental principles of good teaching remain the same. We are striving to offer courses that are based on a strong and comprehensive pedagogy."

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Peter Sampson - Contributing Writer

Peter Sampson is a content creator for Wintec’s Curriculum Factory. Since February 2006 he has worked on Vital BULATS Test preparation courses and the Junior High School (Vital Beginner) course.
Before joining the Curriculum Factory team in February 2006, Peter worked as an ESL (English Second Language) and EFL (English Foreign Language) teacher in both New Zealand and Egypt. Peter holds a Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics from Victoria University. Peter’s special area of research interest is in vocabulary acquisition, particularly vocabulary learning strategies.
Peter believes online learning should be engaging. He finds the challenges of developing online English language courses to be stimulating, as he is constantly being pushed to discover innovative solutions to the challenges of re-imagining language teaching for the new world of online learning.

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Chris Wyborn - Contributing Writer

Chris Wyborn has worked for Wintec’s Curriculum Factory since 2005, and has led the team since February 2006. He has written material for IELTS Test Success!, Junior High School (Vital Beginner) and Vital English for IT. He collaborates closely with Vital English on the course design and development of all Vital English courses.
Chris is an English language specialist with nine years’ experience in New Zealand and Japan. He holds a Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics (TESOL) from Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia.
Chris’ teaching experience covers a diverse range of courses, including Conversational English, Business English, IELTS Test Preparation and English for Academic Purposes. He has a particular interest in Pronunciation and Phonology, Systemic Functional Linguistics and Computer Assisted Language Learning. Chris also has a keen interest in Instructional Design and the interaction between language students and learning materials.
Chris enjoys his work on the Vital English brand, and looks forward to the Vital English courses reaching a wide audience of English language learners.

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