Tom Garside

Tom, tell us about yourself.

I am a lifelong teacher, manager and teacher trainer in TESOL, with experience in Europe, New Zealand, mainland China and Hong Kong. I love the diversity of the current training environment in TESOL, and contributing to the development of language teaching in the world.

What is your favorite travel memory?

I have so many to choose from. If I had to pick just one, I would probably say sitting under palm trees watching my son running around and throwing coconuts in the air on a beach in the Cook Islands.

Or, climbing Mount Emei in Sichuan Province, walking through the jungle and up through the sea of clouds and onto the peak to look down off a 4000-metre cliff to the ground below.

How have you changed/grown since working for your current company?

I become stronger in my teacher training delivery - I can now rationalize most of what goes on in my training sessions with authority and have used this to create a training program which produces high-quality results, with over 85% of trainees gaining grades of A or B on the CertTESOL course that we run.

If you could go on any program that your company offers, which one would you choose and why?

I would take the Trinity College Diploma in TESOL. I took the Cambridge equivalent many years ago, and I would like to see the differences in style and content first-hand.

I see the challenges and rewards of the DipTESOL in our candidates as they develop towards this prestigious qualification, and sometimes I want to be there on that path with them!

What makes your company unique? When were you especially proud of your team?

I'm proud of my team every time a course finishes. They unfailingly give trainees what they need to get through the course, in terms of emotional support, academic guidance, practical advice, and honest assessment.

No matter what the situation, they always find a way to get our trainees through the course intact, and to the best of their ability. The volume of work that this entails is a testament to how hard we work to get trainees up to standard.

What do you believe to be the biggest factor in being a successful company?

Realistic expectations - this applies to staff, clients, trainees, and all stakeholders related to what we do. If people know what to expect, and you have the confidence to know that the standard of delivery will live up to what is advertised, everyone moves forward together and success is inevitable