is language teaching and training consultant, based in the UK. She has nearly 30 years’ experience in education, ranging from primary and secondary school teaching in the UK and Europe, to EFL teaching, teacher/trainer training, materials writing, education and project management and consulting work.

Deirdre has worked in English education, teaching, training and examining for schools, private institutions, corporate companies and governments in the UK and around the world. She commenced her teaching career in Rome, teaching Italian Members of Parliament for four years. Deirdre has lived and taught in the UK, Italy, Cyprus, Libya, Kuwait, Dubai and Algeria and is a Middle East and North Africa expert.

She worked for the British Council for ten years and is particularly experienced at working with government ministries of education. Whilst working for the British Council in Algeria, Deirdre led and managed all English programmes country-wide, working closely with the Ministry of National Education and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. She devised country-wide, government programmes to improve levels of English amongst schoolchildren across the country as well as developing and strengthening pedagogy in large-scale cascade programmes, impacting every teacher of English in Algeria.

She is well-known for having devised, planned and delivered the largest British Council-organised ELT conference in the world in 2016 in Algeria, featuring 60 international ELT experts and speakers over a 3-day event. She is also an international conference speaker, having led workshops and presented papers at TESOL Arabia and IATEFL, UK.

Since leaving the British Council, Deirdre has set up her own teaching and training consultancy, Palm Tree Teaching Consultancy, as well as an English tutoring company, Top Cat Tutoring. She owns and presents her own YouTube channel, Learn English TV with Palm Tree Teaching: www.youtube.com/palmtreeteachingtv.