Prof. Michael McCarthy

Keynote Speaker 

Michael McCarthy is Emeritus Professor of Applied Linguistics in the School English, University of Nottingham, UK. He hold/ has held visiting professorships at the University of Limerick, Ireland, Newcastle University, UK, and Pen State University, USA. He is an Honorary Professor of the University of Valencia, Spain. He has been involved in the study and teaching of English for more than 50 years. For the last 30 years, he has worked with large computerized corpora of English Texts, investigating them to establish how the vocabulary and the grammar of English are really used at the present time and how they are evolving and changing. His researched has focused everyday spoken English.

He is author of more than 50 books, 114 academic papers dealing with research and teaching of the English language, especially as a second or foreign language. He has taught in the UK, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Malaysia. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Art. 


Dr. Christine Sabieh

 Keynote speaker 

Dr. Christine Sabieh, full Professor at Notre Dame University, Lebanon, teaches and does teacher-training on teaching, learning, assessment, and/or technology partnership.  An advocate of CALL, she is a Certified On-Line Instructor/Trainer. She consults, tutors, conducts workshops, and publishes nationally and internationally. Active in TESOL and its affiliates, Christine is the former TESOL CALL-IS Chair 2019-20.


Mr. Peter Lucantoni

Keynote speaker 

Peter Lucantoni has had a long career in English language teaching, teacher training and management, in Europe and the Middle East, and is now based in Cyprus. He is the author and co-author of a range of popular course books for students, including Cambridge IGCSE English as a Second Language, and Introduction to English as a Second Language, both published by Cambridge University Press.  Peter is Professional Learning and Development Manager for Cambridge University Press in the MENA region, and regularly speaks at ELT conferences and trains teachers internationally in both the public and private sectors. Peter’s interests are in teacher learning and development, and in the transition from teacher to teacher educator.


  • Dr. Huda Shaaban

LD / ADHD Expert in United Nation Development Program (UNDP)

Ph.D in Psychology Specializtion in Learning Difficulties & Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Dr. Huda Shaaban is a highly trained learning disabilities expert, with more than 22 years of professional experience in the field, where she has largely focused on the area of educational psychology. Dr. Huda has been working in the educational field in Kuwait since 1996, serving in multiple professional capacities including high school instructor, educational specialist and consultant, researcher, lecturer and school director. As a renowned regional expert, Dr. Huda has presented at many professional events in the MENA region, Europe, USA and Australia. In addition to her work chairing and coordinating many national and international professional development conferences, forums, training sessions, and public awareness campaigns, she serves as the Assistant Director for the Disability Services at the American University of Kuwait. A passionate and collaborative educational leader, Dr. Huda has been working with the United Nationals Development Program (UNDP), assigned as learning disabilities (LD) & attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) expert consultant to support the Kuwait Association for Learning Differences (KALD). She is also a founding member and President of the Learning Difficulties Professional (LDPA); an organization established in 2002 to work with and support teachers and specialists across private schools in Kuwait. She is a Certified Thomas International Practitioner, an ICF Certified ADHD Coach and the Author of the book, “ADHD Overpowering Strategies: The Recipe of Success”.


  •    Mrs. Fajer Bin Rashed

Fajer is a published researcher in education. She has a Bachelor`s degree in English Language and Literature and a Master`s degree in Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies. She previously served as a TESOL Kuwait Board member, chairing the Teacher Training and Development interest section.


  •     Dr. Abebe Tilahun Mogesse

Abebe Tilahun is an assistant professor at Hawassa University, Ethiopia. He has taught various ELT courses for both undergraduate and postgraduate students for the last nine years at Dilla and Hawassa universities in Ethiopia. He also conducted several researches, advised undergraduate and postgraduate students. Currently, he is pursuing his doctoral research at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India. His areas of interest are English for Specific Purposes, English for Academic Purposes and Syllabus Design.


  •    Dr. Mohammed Akram

Muhammad Akram is working as Associate Professor of English at Govt. College Burewala, Pakistan. He has been a Research Associate at Center for Advanced Research in English, University of Birmingham, UK. He has done his postdoc from University of Birmingham, UK. He has presented his research at a number of national and international conferences. his research interests include EFL, Applied Linguistics, Corpus Linguistics and Teacher Education.


  • Mrs. Ann Newman

Ann Newman is an instructor in Gulf University for Science and Technology’s English Department.  She previously taught writing at the University of North Dakota, Armstrong Atlantic State College, Oklahoma State University, and Murray State College in the U.S. At Savannah State College, Newman taught introduction to literature and writing. She taught EFL courses in the Department of English at Kwangju University in South Korea, where she helped establish the Foreign Language Center. She was the head of the Faculty of Medicine’s English Language Unit at Kuwait University. She served as associate dean for Academic Affairs Oman Medical College. In 2007, she joined GUST as head of the English Language Unit. In 2009, she transferred to the English Department, where she teaches composition.



  • Ms. Huda Abuaisha

Ms. Huda Abuaisha is an English Lecturers at KCST, and has a Master’s Degree in Applied Linguistics and TESOL from the University of Leicester. She has been teaching English for over 13 years, and has worked in various colleges and universities in Kuwait, including AOU, ACK and BHCK. Her teaching areas include English for Specific Purposes, IELTS Preparation Courses and English for Academic Purposes She participated in a number of TESOL Conferences and presented various topics such as: the advantages and disadvantages of using of the first language (L1) in second language (L2) teaching, the importance of integrating technology in ESL classrooms, and the challenges of teaching ESP Courses. In addition, she has recently presented during an online symposium in partnership with Cambridge University Press, and her presentation focused on tips on teaching writing online.


  • Ms. Ruba Najia

Ruba graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education with an emphasis in English and a minor in Communications from the American University of Beirut. She holds a Teaching Diploma from AUB. She received a MA in International Educational Management with Merit from the University of Leeds, UK. She then worked at the American College of the Middle East for 3 years as an English instructor. Later, she worked as a Program Manager at INJAZ, an NGO focusing on youth development and education. In pursuit of her passion for teaching, she did a CELTA in 2015 and received a pass A. Upon completion, she worked with the British Council as a part time instructor and was later hired full-time at KCST in 2016.


  •   Mr. Richard Harrison

Richard Harrison is an ELT author, publisher and teacher-trainer based in Muscat and London. He has worked extensively throughout the Middle East region for more than 25 years.  Richard is the founder of Canford Publishing and his many ELT publications include: Framework: Academic Writing and Critical Thinking, the Keep Writing series and Better Writing.


  •  Ms. Eman AL Balooshi
Eman is the founder of iLearn Academy, a centre aimed at helping students with language related difficulties after school and in the summer. Eman holds a bachelor's degree from Bahrain Teachers College in Education, English specialization, and an MA in Applied Linguistics with TESOL from The University of Sheffield with a distinction on a newly designed reading intervention programme for students with learning difficulties. 


  • Mrs. Mary Sebastian

Mrs. Mary Sebastian is an English Teacher with three decades of teaching experience . She holds a Masters in English and a Masters in Education. She also has a diploma in Human resources. Mrs. Sebastian was a teacher in Kuwait before relocating to India.


  • Ms. Huda Hussain

ELT. Supervisor -  Ministry of Education/ Kuwait

Ms Huda has got a CELTA certificate from the University of Cambridge. She has had her  BA degree in Arts and Education from the University of Alexandria, Egypt. She is a MIE Expert 2020 /2021 and MIE Master Trainer 2020 /2021. Currently, she works as an ELT. supervisor at the Ministry of Education in Kuwait. She is an experienced teacher trainer and has conducted many teacher training and professional development courses.


  • Anser Mahmood is working as HoD at Department of English, University of Lahore. Pakistan. His research interests include SLA, Applied linguistics and Teacher Education.
  • Mahreen Tariq is an MPhil scholar at NCBA&E Multan, Pakistan. Her research interests include Discourse Analysis, lexicography and Teacher education.


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