Meet the Staff

Jo Staniford, Director of Studies, has been an English teacher for over 12 years. She has worked in Lithuania, Japan and Brazil. She loves meeting new people and having adventures. Her favourite sport is sleeping, although being a relatively new Mum she doesn't always have a lot of time to do so! She loves books (especially history/literature) and hopes to write one herself one day. She's looking forward to teaching on the Internet and wants to know all about you as well!

Mark Haverstock, Managing Director, has had a rather unusual mix of careers since leaving university where he studied environmental sciences. Following a brief spell of teaching in the state system, he moved into sports management (including university sport) and sports centre management. This was followed by some 12 years of managing shopping centres on behalf of organisations such as the Prudential, Norwich Union and Taylor Woodrow. Finally teaching drew him back and he is now a certificate qualified TEFLer with experience in teaching business English, interviewing certificate applicants, teaching practice tutoring and examining students! Mark's involvement with NLL is, however, less on the academic side and more on the business and marketing aspects. In his limited spare time, Mark enjoys sports including squash, tennis and swimming. He is also a softy-cyclist who likes nothing better than idling along country lanes in pleasant weather; like-minded companions are always welcome!

Eric Baber, Director, has been involved in teaching EFL and teacher-training for a number of years, and has taught in a variety of countries such as Germany, Thailand and Laos. He began piloting live online language teaching 1997, and feels that this is a major step forward in global communication and allowing access to high-quality teaching to the world.

In his free time Eric enjoys reading and travelling, as well as educating himself and others about "renewable" energy sources. He loves telling people about the solar panels on his roof, which give him all the hot water he needs almost 40% of the year – in London! His dream is to build an energy self-sufficient building south of London, from which NetLearn Languages could operate. Watch this space….

Barbara De Angelis, 30, completed her degree in Teaching Italian as a Foreign Language at the University of Rome. During her studies she spent several years in Germany, and has taught Italian for a number of companies in Germany, Italy and England. Since October 2000 she has been living in Berlin because she find Berlin to be a town in motion! In her free time she likes to cook Italian pizza for her friends and to work with German-Italian children.

Heike Sass (the one in the middle, of course) is a qualified teacher with lots of experience in teaching German as a foreign language.
She taught German for many years while living in England, after her return to Germany she continued teaching German to emigrants from Eastern Europe. She also taught English, German and Maths at a secondary modern school for many years.
Right now she is busy looking after her two kids but - once a teacher, always a teacher - she teaches classes at the local college in the evenings and teaches for NLL whenever they need her.
In her free time (should there ever be any) Heike likes doing research into e-learning, goes cycling or works in her garden.

Anna Vicente, our French teacher, was born in Paris and completed her degree in Teaching French as a Foreign Language at the Sorbonne University. After having spent two years in Spain on the Canary Islands she taught French and Spanish for a number of companies in Paris. In 1993 she decided to leave Paris for the Provence to where she was attracted by the quality of the life and the sun. She spent several years working in different areas for the same company: management, marketing, administration, and, finally, as webmistress for a site of reproductions of artistic masterpieces. But she missed teaching, and when Céran Provence opened near Avignon, she found herself back in her professor's job with pleasure. Passionate about data processing and especially the world of the Internet, she spends her free time between her computer, the discovery of the Provence, and reading.

Andrei Zagorodny, 36, was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and is our "Russian connection". He has had a wide and varied background: he holds Masters degrees in Chemistry and Physics from the University of Pennsylvania and St. Petersburg, is currently finishing his Master's in Applied Translation in London, and has taught Russian as well as a range of other subjects both privately and for various institutions. He is therefore in an excellent position to offer Russian tuition for a range of scientific purposes, and is also available for translations from English or Italian into Russian.