Barbara Garside

Barbara Garside was born in 1953 in Gloucestershire, England. She studied English Literature at King's College, London, then took the International House TEFL course in 1975.

She taught EFL in London for 2 years before going to Madrid, where, with a partner, she opened her own language school, teaching English and Spanish. She obtained an Rc SA Diploma in 1984 and began teacher training in 1987. After another year in London as a Director of Studies / teacher trainer, she worked freelance in various parts of the world.

She then went to work for the British Council in Turkey, as a Director of the Teachers' Center in Izmir. Since returning to London 7 years ago with her Turkish husband, she has been working on teacher training courses, teaching ESOL, and writing materials. She has also graduated with an M.Sc. in Psychodynamic Counseling from Birkbeck, in 2000. She is particularly interested in working with refugees and asylum seekers, both as a teacher trainer and as a counselor. She is also interested in task-based learning and developing materials for ESOL.