English Language Courses | Ascend Education Centre Singapore

Ascend Education Centre

19 Carpenter Street,
#01-01,
Singapore 059908
(Nearest MRT Station: Clarke Quay/Raffles)

Tel: (65) 6338 1378

Email us at : enquiry@ascend.edu.sg

(Click for Location Map)

Opening hours:

Mon – Thurs: 9am – 9pm

Fridays: 9am – 6pm

Saturdays: 9.30am – 6pm

(Closed on Sundays and Public Holidays)

Part-Time Teachers and Private Tutors

DAVID,
from Ireland, is the principal of Ascend and a CELTA qualified English teacher, who specialises in teaching IELTS. David has extensive experience teaching IELTS preparation courses in Singapore. In class, David maximises the students speaking and writing time by using past IELTS exam papers to ensure they understand what the examiners are looking for in the real test. David’s IELTS class size is limited to 15 students to ensure that all of his students receive individual attention. Studying in a small class also allows David the time to give comprehensive feedback to his students to ensure they get value for money and most importantly of all to ensure they improve their IELTS score.

Lauren Swieter,
is from the USA and has taught English in various parts of America, Hong Kong and Singapore. She has taught general, business, and academic English to children, adults, and business professionals. Lauren has a master's degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, as well as a bachelor's degree in English and Spanish. She is passionate about teaching and learning, and wants to see all Ascend students succeed in reaching their goals.

Anna Beatrice Manyam,
has a Masters in Education and is a TESOL trained teacher. Anna is a Singapore citizen, and her first language is English. Her main duties have been to teach English as a first language in the public schools and English as a second language in the International schools and at the National University of Singapore where she worked mainly with pre-matriculation students.

Her skills go beyond classroom teaching. She has organised and managed Summer School programmes for various International Schools. She has assisted the ESL department in writing the curriculum for their new ESL programme, was also involved with student placement. In addition she experience in assisting foreign students in achieving high marks in IELTS. At present she is in the part time employment of the National Institute of Education as a supervising co-coordinator helping to conduct the practicum for student teachers.

She believes a successful teacher has to be flexible as well as hard working, and always approachable to and empathetic with students. In addition, she is a team player and enjoys collaborating with her colleagues.

Esté Johnson,
is a native of Johannesburg, South Africa. Esté has been teaching English as a first and second language for 30 years in South Africa, the Middle East and most recently in Singapore. Este is passionate about her teaching. In her conversation classes, she makes her students respond through her liberal sense of humor. Este firmly believes that the key to a successful class is building the confidence and trust of the students. Este also encourages her students to be vocal so she can help spot any issues they have with their pronunciation and grammar.

Tim Green,
is from the UK. He recently qualified as a CELTA teacher here in Singapore. Tim believes in building a good rapport with his students and making his lessons as interactive as possible to encourage life-long learning. He enjoys helping students to improve their English and finds it enormously rewarding to see students developing their skills. Tim previously worked for a British Member of Parliament for nearly 12 years as Office Manager and Senior Research Assistant, and holds a Master’s degree in Politics from Birkbeck College, University of London.

Aziza Rawat,
a British citizen, is an award winning, multi-skilled British designer who holds a CELTA and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Visual Communication Design. Her creative career spans almost a decade starting from her hometown London and continuing in Hong Kong and finally in Singapore where she worked as a designer before pursuing her teaching career. Combining her passions for teaching and traveling, Aziza has previously taught in Indonesia at various tsunami relief care centres and schools. Her teaching portfolio includes private tuition, conversational and pronunciation classes from starter to advanced levels of English. In her classes, Aziza believes, in combining a creative and artistic approach to teaching.

Ruth Lee Yen Leng,
is a Singaporean citizen, who is CELTA trained and holds a Bachelor of Science (Honors) in Mathematics from the NUS. She used to work as a Policy Analyst in the International Department of the Policy Division in Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore. Besides having the experience in the coordination of international meetings, she also has significant experience in the work among young people. She loves interacting with people from all cultures and firmly believes the value in lives.

She recently discovered her passion for teaching and is now enjoying her new career. She has since co-conducted an intensive English-bridging course for international students, taught in Conversational and Pronunciation class and General English classes from starter to intermediate levels, as well as Algebra and Advanced Mathematics to Korean students. She always makes it a point to make each lesson engaging and relevant to everyday life. Seeing her students improve and gaining the confidence to use the language gives her great joy.

Samantha,
is a well-trained, experienced, empathetic and encouraging teacher. Her primary research interests are in bilingualism and sociolinguistics, particularly the discourse aspects of second language learning. She has two postgraduate qualifications: a research-based MA degree in Second Language Studies from the University of Hawaii specializing in English Language Teaching and a practice-oriented TESOL diploma from the London Teacher Training College. Additionally, she is one of a handful of certificated and experienced IELTS Speaking and Writing examiners in Singapore.

She has been professionally involved with the teaching of English as a first, second or foreign language as well as ESL/EFL teacher training in places as diverse as the US, China and Singapore since 2003. More crucially perhaps, her having learned some 10 first and additional languages means you will not only have a well-qualified and experienced mentor who understands your language learning needs but at the same time, a down-to-earth and yet inspirational role model to emulate.

Thomas Robinson,
is from the Midwest USA and is a permanent resident of Singapore. He holds a B.A and M.A in Sociology from Florida Atlantic University. He has also received teacher training from both the British Council and Emroy University's teacher training programme. Tom has been teaching English in Singapore since 2001. He is the co-author of two journal articles and has written book reviews for Singapore's TODAY newspaper. Although Tom has taught all age levels, he prefers teaching adult students. In his free time, Tom enjoys reading novels, biographies and works of non-fiction in a wide variety of disciplines.

Isabelle Hay Campbell,
is from the UK, where she worked in International Market Research, both in consumer and healthcare, for a number of years. She has always had an international focus, having lived in the US (for 10 years), Germany and Italy, as well as the UK. She holds a BA Hons in German and Italian from the University of Leeds and is bilingual in French and English. Learning languages is her passion but also enables her to understand the challenges of taking on a new language. Isabelle is CELTA trained and enjoys sharing her enthusiasm for English in the stimulating multi-cultural environment of Singapore. She believes that learning should be fun and productive, so as to feel the sense of achievement of being able to improve communication in another language.

Nadja Pizzo,
is a US/Swiss citizen who has lived in Singapore for 2 years. She is billingual French/English, holds a degree in Political Science and Philosophy as well as the Cambridge CELTA. She has been actively involved in the educational field for the past 10 years including her teaching experience with primary school students and more recently, as an English teacher for adults. Having travelled and lived in over 5 countries, she understands the need and importance for people to be able to communicate and integrate into new communities. She is passionate about the learning process and believes that learning should be fun, engaging and most of all relevant to everyday life. She aims to make her classes interesting and dynamic.

Carolyn Penny,
is originally from Canada. She is a TEFL certified English teacher and has been teaching in Singapore for almost 5 years. She has a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations/Geography. As well as a Post-Graduate Diploma in Geomatics. Before coming to Singapore she was a Corporate Trainer for Geographic Informations Systems (GIS) in the USA. Carolyn loves meeting students from all around the world. Last year She took part in a Youth Conference in Dubai and was amazed how well the students there spoke English. She loves teaching conversation and just finished taking a Speech and Drama course at the British Council so students might just be doing a little acting in her class.

Ratchaneewan Wee Kay,
holds a Masters in Applied Linguistics (TEFL) from the University of Bedfordshire (UK). She specialises in teaching foreign students English and has been in this profession for 6 years. Her interests in the English language would include, TEFL, English Grammar, Materials Development, Business English, corporate business English courses and IELTS. Kay has worked at the University of London as a part time Linguist and also at the University of Hull as an English teacher to foreign students. Kay is Singaporean and has returned to Singapore after 8 years abroad.

Kathleen Metzger,
is a native of the United States and holds university degrees in the fields of economics, international management and law, as well as a TESOL certificate from the London Teacher Training College. Having worked for several years in international business, Kathleen enjoys helping students develop their English communications skills for use in the business world."

Marnie Reed,
originally from Melbourne Australia, Marnie is Singapore permanent resident who has also lived and worked in London and Hong Kong. Marnie holds a Bachelor of Arts (Psychology) (Hons) and is CELTA-qualified with more than eight years of English teaching experience. Marnie has taught English at all levels and ages and has a particular interest in teaching business English to adults. Marnie strongly believes that English teaching must be results-focused. She works closely with students to tailor course content to ensure they are working towards clear and achievable goals.

Claudine Cerrini,
is a British citizen who holds a Degree in French and Italian from The University of London. She has been living in Singapore for the past year. She has experience in teaching all levels of English both to international organisations and individuals looking to learn English in their spare time. Having studied foreign languages, she understands how difficult and frustrating it can be!

She therefore believes in building a good relationship with all of her students, so that they look forward to their English class. Claudine varies her style of teaching to suit the needs of each class. She believes in tailoring the course as much as possible in order to create a stimulating, imaginative and fun environment in which the students can learn.

Khyati Kapai,
has been teaching and training in Singapore since 2004. She has also taught in the U.S., London and Hong Kong. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and a Post Graduate Certificate in Education from the University of London. She is also a certified ESL Teacher. Before moving to the teaching and training profession, Khyati worked in Hong Kong as a Financial Analyst for Citigroup and as an Auditor for Deloitte & Touche.

Given the diversity of her background, she is well-positioned to provide training in a variety of areas and specialises in Business English. Her course participants find her training style very friendly and her content very informative.

Lucy Brosnan,
is from the UK. She holds a BA in English from King's College, London University. Lucy then worked as a lawyer in the UK for approximately 11 years, working for a law firm and then as an in-house lawyer in that time. Lucy recently completed the Celta course here in Singapore. Lucy believes in building good relationships with her students and making lessons fun as well as useful.

Peggyrose,
originally from the USA, is new to Singapore. She has lived twenty years of her adult life in Indonesia. There she taught English reading, writing, and conversation skills to Indonesians of all ages. She has an MA in TESOL. Living abroad and soaking up international wisdom is one of her greatest life joys. Peggyrose endorses a classroom that engages the emotions—laughter, joy, anticipation, and sadness. These can promote learning whereas boredom and disengagement do not.

Valerie Biguet,
originally from Canada, has lived in Singapore for 10 years. She is Cambridge CELTA trained, holds a Certificate in TESL, a Bachelors of Commerce/Marketing and is bilingual in French and English. She has had the pleasure to also work in Kuwait, India and Canada. Her work experience includes TESL to business professionals, adults and children, as well as, In-Flight Supervisor and Communications Coordinator. Valerie believes in a holistic approach to teaching where students are empowered, multiple-intelligence is acknowledged and student needs and interests are used as strong motivational tools.

Sutha Koneshon,
is a Canadian citizen who has worked in the education sector for 12 years and counting. Sutha holds a Masters in Education and is a fully certified teacher in Canada. She has been teaching English as a first and second language for many years. She is a dynamic Edu-preneur with focus and passion that is oriented towards teaching excellence, student learning, pedagogical research, and innovation. Her teaching philosophy is 'WE' not 'I' and 'they'. If her students succeed, she succeeds, and vice versa. She feels it is her responsibility to try to meet the learning needs of each and every one of her students. It is her goal to give her students the opportunity to work to their highest ability, and to enjoy learning while attending this goal. Sutha believes that when students are given the opportunity to succeed and have fun with learning, they will become life-long learners.

Nurzaihan Noordin('Zee'),
a Singaporean, has been cultivating her interest in teaching since 2000. Upon completion of her Sociology & Economics degree at the National University of Singapore (NUS), she went on to complete her TEFL certification with ITTT (International TESOL Teacher Training). Her teaching background includes local and overseas stints, teaching students of all ages and nationalities.

Not a fan of monotony, she believes that interest will lead to the desire to pursue. As much as she can, she tailors her lessons to suit the various needs and interests of students. This, she admits, is not necessarily easy but definitely worthwhile.