We are excited to welcome RSA TEFL Diploma qualified Denise Parker to Christian TEFL. Denise has incredibly varied experience, having worked as an IELTS examiner, university English tutor and plenty more besides. Find out more about Denise as she explains how her Christian faith has influenced her English teaching career so far…

‘I am delighted to be joining the Global English Christian TEFL family! I have worked with Global English (TESOL) for many years as an online tutor and now have this wonderful opportunity to work with Christians who are planning to use EFL in the mission field.

In my own life I started out working in TEFL as a ‘tent-maker’ in the Middle East, working in a secondary school for girls in Qatar. This was a great opportunity to meet young girls who had never met a non-Muslim before. From there I moved into Medical English at the local School of Nursing in Doha, before relocating to Bahrain, where I worked in the prestigious Arabian Gulf University. All this time I felt that I was representing Christianity and tried to be a good model, although I was unable to talk openly about my faith.

But you don’t have to travel far to use your TEFL skills in the service of Christ. In the UK there are plenty of ways to model our faith to people of other nationalities and faiths. I have worked as an ESOL tutor and a Cambridge ESOL examiner, which put me in touch with many people trying to make a life for themselves in our country.

More recently I have worked for Trinity College London as a SELT examiner, assessing candidates applying for the right to remain in this country or citizenship. This has been a fascinating and very rewarding experience too.

Another way to use our EFL/ ESOL skills is to work with refugees. For the last year I have worked with an Afghani student to help her obtain the level of English she needs to become a nurse.  I am now working on preparing materials to help immigrants cope with Medical English at a more basic level – going to the doctor, explaining the problem and understanding the answer!

So, there are many ways to use your teaching skills in this country and abroad – the mission field is all around!

My husband and I worship at a small Evangelical church in Exmouth and keep very busy with work, church life and the family – 5 grandchildren, soon to be 6!

I’m looking forward to working with you!’

Thank you, Denise and welcome to the Christian TEFL team!