IATEFL BESIG Committee

IATEFL BESIG is run by a group of volunteers who form the Committee and take on the various jobs involved in managing the SIG. As of June 2011 the Committee consists of the following SIG members.

Marjorie Rosenberg - Coordinator

My interest in business English stems from having worked in the advertising branch in New York City as well as the 30 years of teaching experience I have acquired in Austria. During this time I have created materials for a number of business English courses for adults in both the tertiary and corporate sectors. I currently teach general and business English in the language department at the University of Graz and BEC preparation and personal selling for Campus 02, a university of applied sciences in Graz, Austria. I have been a member of IATEFL BESIG since I attended the 8th Annual IATEFL BESIG conference in Graz in 1995 and have not missed a conference since the 13th annual conference in Munich in 2000. I first joined the committee in Köln in 2008 as one of the events coordinators and have been in the coordinator position since 2009. I also write materials for business English.  My publications include the forthcoming Personal Study Book for Business Advantage Intermediate (CUP), In Business (CUP), the forthcoming English for Banking and Finance Level 2 (Pearson) and have recently revised Pass Cambridge BEC Vantage for Heinle Cengage. I have also contributed to the teacher’s books of the new In Company course (Macmillan) and to Business Spotlight and am a member of the authoring team of BizCon (Business Connections) and TechCon (Technical Connections), a series of course books for upper secondary commercial and technical schools in Austria. In addition, I write materials for the Cambridge University Press website, Professional English Online and have produced materials for English 360.

Cornelia Kreis-Meyer - Events coordinator

Since I joined IATEFL/BESIG in 2000 I have never missed a BESIG conference. As a freelance English trainer and translator based in Germany, I greatly appreciate the networking and knowledge sharing opportunities at the annual conference and the benefits of being a member of such a prestigious teacher organization. I know from experience what commitment and hard work is involved behind the scenes. From 2000 to 2007 I was on the committee initially as Membership Secretary and then President of ELTAS (English Language Teachers’ Association Stuttgart). Furthermore, I am the co-founder and Vice President of the recently established association IATET (International Association of Technical English Trainers) and one of the three organizers of the bi-annual English for Specific Purposes Conference. Prior to my involvement in ELT, I worked for an international engineering company and was responsible for organizing trade fairs, international events and liaising with the worldwide network of distributors. My first encounter with a computer was back in 1979. Ever since then I have been an avid technophile and know how to use computer technology confidently and effectively. Originally from the States (Texas, Alaska, Colorado) with a bilingual education and background, I moved around a lot in my life and learned to adapt to new situations quickly, meet new challenges and communicate with people from different cultural backgrounds.

Andrzej Stesik - Events coordinator

In 1988 I graduated from the English Department of Poznan University with an M.A. in English. In October 1988 I started work as a teacher of English at Poznan University. I became interested in teaching ESP, specifically Business English, very early on. In 1992 I became Coordinator of the newly formed BESIG of IATEFL Poland. In 1994 I was one of the organizers of a very successful BESIG conference in Poznan, the first international event of this kind in Poland. In my work as BESIG Poland Coordinator I was instrumental in organizing various seminars and workshops on teaching Business English, and often acted as presenter myself. Together with my wife Ania I have been running an English language training centre – INTERSECTION - in Poznan since 1995. Over the years we have managed to create a professional teaching and training institution. In 2002 INTERSECTION became British Council and Cambridge ESOL Examination Centre for the region. In my capacity as Director, Training I coordinate and supervise all aspects of Business English / in-company language training at INTERSECTION.

Julia Waldner - Newsletter editor

My name is Julia Waldner and I originally come from the land of song and rain (Wales). I moved to Germany in 1991 and have been working here as an EFL teacher ever since. I do mainly in-company courses and, like most of you, I suspect, I love the job - the variety of the work, the people and the different industries. I joined my local ELTA (ELTAF in Frankfurt) way back when and soon become involved in committee work, initially as the inter-ELTA liaison. As the name implies, my role was to liaise with the other ELTAs in Germany to exchange ideas and find out what each was doing. For the past 10 years I've been the editor of the ELTAF Newsletter, which comes out on a quarterly basis. As with any editing work, this involves contacting publishers for review books for our members, following up on contributors, liaising with the proof-reader, graphic designer, mailing team and printer and, last but not least, editing submissions. Last year at the BESIG conference, the very first ELT person I saw just happened to be JoAnn (in the breakfast room on the Saturday morning, as I had driven through snow and arrived too late to attend the Friday night opening ceremony) and when we got talking, she told me that the editorial position for BESIG would be open for applications in 2009. I decided to apply. I believe that with these skills hopefully leavened with a little humour will help the committee in functioning fully and I can support and assist the events team in their work too.

Bethany Cagnol - Treasurer

In 1999 I received my BA from the University of Virginia, USA, and an MA in Teaching Second and Foreign Languages from the University of London Institute in Paris In 2002. I founded my own freelance teaching business in Paris, France: International Customer, which caters to communication the needs of professional, adult learners. I am also the President on TESOL France and enjoy organizing the conferences for that association (e.g. in 2009 with Penny Ur and Jamie Keddie and in 2010 with David Crystal). Thanks to the contacts I've made through both associations I've spoken at IATEFL, IATEFL BESIG, IATEFL Poland, and ESP Conferences. I've recently begun a handful of materials design projects for major ELT publishers and my professional interests include Business English, Testing and Assessment, Teacher Development, English for Specific Purposes and English as an International Language.

Ákos Gerold - Development Coordinator

My involvement with ELT started in 2002, when I began working for the two institutions I still work for: the Department of English, University of Novi Sad, Serbia, where I am in full-time employment, and the Lingua Foreign Language Centre, the biggest private language school in the country. At the former I currently teach English to non-specialists, while at the latter I am the part-time Business and Legal English Coordinator. I took an active interest in ESP, and especially business English, in 2004 after being asked by the language school to prepare a group of candidates for a BEC exam. Since then, I have worked with candidates for all levels of Cambridge ESOL exams in general and business English, delivered in-company language courses and added legal English and ILEC preparation to my teaching repertoire. The decision to join IATEFL primarily to become a member of BESIG came in 2010, soon after attending a workshop by Marjorie Rosenberg. In the same year, I was awarded the Cert IBET scholarship. Apart from the Cert IBET certificate I also hold a BA in English language and literature and the LCCI Further Certificate for Teachers of Business English.

Duncan Baker - Administration

I started my professional life in the Royal Navy. I went to Dartmouth and then spent 4 years navigating diesel submarines. I left the Navy in 1975 and joined the Diplomatic Service. I served in London and Nairobi before learning Arabic and then serving in Sana'a as 1st Secretary and, for a short while, Chargé d'Affaires. My interest in language learning was kindled during my Arabic course - there had to be a better way! My wife, Rita, and I founded Lydbury English Centre in 1985. Rita's professional life has been devoted to language learning and language teaching so she is the guiding light behind the whole enterprise. I have been a member of BESIG since its inception and have served on the committee in the past and as coordinator. I was a founder member of the committee launching and nurturing BusinessEnglishUK for the past 10 years or so but, now it is on a stable and thriving footing, I have retired from that which enables me to put my time and enthusiasm back into BESIG. It is amazing how BESIG has developed and prospered over the years – full marks to all those who have helped this happen! In parallel, global technical facilities have evolved enormously and I am very happy to be part of a new committee with the experience and expertise that will enable BESIG to continue developing in this new and exiting area. Rita and I have 4 grown up children - two engineers who have moved into the area of business development and facilitation, a prison governor and one in the Gurkhas. In my spare time, I walk the Shropshire countryside, sing in a couple of choirs and play the flute and bassoon. When I can, I turn off my mobile phone, leave my computer behind and sail.

Carl Dowse - Web Coordinator

Carl Dowse has been involved in English language teaching since 1992, and currently has a full-time lectureship at the Fachhochschule fur Ökonomie & Management in Essen, Germany, with overall responsibility for undergraduate business English courses. Carl has a keen interested in the use of ICT in language teaching and is a member of the Consultants-E teacher training team and moderates a number of courses including an online version of the Cert IBET and Moodle training courses. Carl also writes teaching materials, including a teacher's guide for the German publishers Cornelsen and online study activities for the Cambridge University Press backed business English learning platform English360. He also develops teacher training materials for world-wide use within the British Council..