Meet the trainers
Steve Oakes
Head of Teacher Training
In autumn 1988, after a number of years working in the film business in New York, I observed an ESL class near the UN, taught by volunteers. I immediately fell in love with teaching and made an instant career change, scraping by as a volunteer/lowly paid (and untrained) teacher for awhile and then going to Japan in July 1989, where I worked as a highly paid (and still largely untrained) teacher for a few years. After completing the CTEFLA (now the CELTA), I moved to Hungary at the end of 1991 and have been here since, first working as a teacher, then teacher trainer, and finally as Head of Teacher Training. I co-tutor on DELTA courses and spent a few years recently co-writing a coursebook called Speakout. I’ve made Budapest my home, and I think that everyone who comes here gets a sense of why that might be.
Borbála Szőcs
Teacher Training Administrator
You might know me as Borka and I work on the administration side of the department. I’ve been working in the Teacher Training team for a couple of years now and still enjoy the relaxed and friendly yet highly professional environment here in the school. If you come to IH Budapest, be prepared to be tempted to stay in the city or even (who knows?) to join the teaching staff one day… There is a great social life in the school and a lot to discover in Budapest which attracts a lot of people: the beautiful architecture, pubs, great cultural events, festivals, concerts of every style and for me on top of all of it, it’s a fantastic place to do various outdoor activities in every season of the year!
Antony Turner
Teacher Trainer
Trainer on CELTA courses Hi, I’m Antony and before joining teacher training I had been teaching English for many years. I started in Thailand but have also worked in the UK and in Hungary. Teaching has been a great way to meet lots of new people and see a bit of the world. I seem to have settled here in Budapest which is a really interesting and beautiful city.
Vanja Glavaski
Teacher Trainer
Trainer on CELTA and 1-1 courses Hi, I am Vanja. I come from Serbia, but I’ve lived in a lot of different places: Belgrade, Reading, Pennsylvania, Louisville, Kentucky, Budapest and finally Szentendre. My family and I love it here!
Luca Tenyi
Teacher Trainer
Trainer on CELTA and YL courses Having spent the better part of 15 years in the UK and working as a teacher and teacher trainer (with some breaks that somehow always involved IH Budapest) I find there is a certain something about this school that keeps drawing me back. I have now permanently moved home to freelance from here and I am very excited to reacquaint with my native city and equally excited about being part of the Teacher Training team.
Eszter Szenttornyai
Teacher Trainer
Trainer on CELTA courses Hi, I’m Eszter and I’m from Budapest. Ever since I started teaching, IH has been an important part of my career. The first lesson I ever taught was during my CELTA course and this was so enjoyable that I decided to do a master’s degree in TEFL. When I started teaching in a high school in Hungary, I came back for the DELTA, too icon smile Meet the trainers . These days I teach English in different contexts and I’m also involved in teacher training. I travel whenever I can, wherever I can because I just love to explore cities.
Amal Pecsi
Teacher Trainer
Trainer on CELTA courses Hi everyone, my name is Amál and I’m from Budapest. Before moving into CELTA training, I taught English for over 15 years in different contexts and countries, to students of different levels and ages, and it’s all been a lot of fun. Most recently, I worked in Vietnam for over four years, and before that I taught in France. I love working in an international environment, which is why I really enjoy being at IH: you get to meet and work with so many interesting people from all over the world. After all these years, I’m happy to be home: Budapest is definitely one of the coolest places in Europe, particularly in the summer.
Donna Markovitch
Teacher Trainer
Trainer on CELTA courses Hi, I’m Donna. I’m from Adelaide, Australia but started my ELT career in Budapest when I completed the Celta at IH in 2013. Before this, I was a high school and middle school English Literature, Film Studies and Creative Writing teacher in Australia. Post-Celta, I worked in Budapest, back in Adelaide and in Rome, but the universe led me back to Budapest in 2017 where I completed my DELTA under the wise and experienced guidance of IH’s incredible DELTA trainers. In my free time, I enjoy cooking, travelling, watching TV series in Italian and FaceTiming my adorable niece and nephew back in Aus. In a while, crocodiles!