Professional Teachers
The Ascend Education Centre Teaching Team
At Ascend Education Centre we recognise that our most important resource is our teachers. Our teachers are committed to Ascend Education Centre, since we share the same values and understand the need for high standards of professionalism in delivering our service. Ascend Education Centre ensures that its teachers will have considerable previous teaching experience, hold at least a qualification relevant to teaching English language to foreign students, such as the CELTA, TEFL, TESOL or a diploma/masters degree in Applied Linguistics.
Teacher Deployment
Profile of Deployed Teachers
David an Irish citizen and Singapore PR, is the CEO of Ascend Education Centre with a diverse background in the education industry. David was a research and teaching assistant at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth where he was a British Council Chevening Scholar in International Relations from 1996-1997. He holds a primary degree in Economics and a Masters Degree in International Relations. Since 2001, David has made Singapore his home, working and teaching in the Education industry. In 2003 he completed his CELTA with the British Council Singapore. In June 2004, David, in partnership with fellow Irishman Gareth O’Brien, started Ascend Education Centre.
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. She has organised and managed Summer School programmes for various International Schools and assisted the ESL department in writing the curriculum for their new ESL programme and she was also involved with student placement. In addition, she has 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.
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.
Ranitha Naidu Doyle,
Ranitha, a Singaporean, graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Arts. She has a Cambridge CELTA from The International House, London. Ranitha’s work experience in the private education industry in Singapore spans over 18 years. Ranitha has worked as a Marketing Manager and Product Development Manager in an MNC. She has also taught and managed students from across the globe and specialises in the teaching of English. An avid traveller herself, Ranitha enjoys meeting students from all over the world.
Vinitha Kongot Ramachandran,
Vinitha is a native of India, but has lived in Singapore and Malaysia for the last 11 years. She has a bachelor’s degree in English literature from the University of Bombay, India as well as a TESOL certification from SEA English Academy (Australia). She has taught ESL at all levels, IELTS and conducted public speaking and communication workshops. She believes in leveraging her teaching experience and academic background to design engaging and inspiring lessons to effectively address the curriculum and help students realize their individual potential. She firmly believes that a comfortable and enjoyable classroom experience is the key to positive learning.
Robin Hull ,
I am a UK citizen who first visited Singapore five years ago. Instantly being drawn to Singapore’s diversity of people and culture (and its kopi) I decided to spend as much time here as possible. Driven by a desire to know more about my own language, I completed a degree course at Roehampton University in London in English Language and Linguistics. I have also completed a University of Cambridge CELTA qualification. I am a fitness and running enthusiast and I have recently started training to run a half marathon. I also enjoy more sedate activities such as music, radio and film. My teaching style is to keep things as enjoyable as possible with plenty of student interaction. Whenever I can I try to relate lessons to students’ own lives.
Tim Green,
is from the UK. He 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.