NileTESOL 2024

Ghada Elshimi (Plenary Speaker)

Ghada Elshimi is the dean of Undergraduate Studies and Academy of Liberal Arts (ALA). She is also the director of the Core Curriculum. Elshimi's mission is to enhance the liberal arts mission of AUC, and ensure that students experience a holistic education by connecting all aspects of student learning to achieve intellectual and personal growth.

She also teaches in the Department of Rhetoric and Composition and the Core Curriculum. She has taught cultural explorations courses, as well as courses in approaches to critical writing, argument writing, academic research and business communication.

Elshimi holds a PhD in higher educational leadership from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. She also holds a master’s degree in education and a bachelor’s degree in English literature and linguistics. Her interests include developing curricula for special populations and tailoring instruction for students’ individual learning styles. In teaching, her focus is bridging the fields of education and rhetoric to create effective learning experiences for students.

Michael Connolly (Plenary Speaker)

Michael Connolly is Director English Programmes at the British Council, based in London. English Programmes works with UK and international partners to support more than 40 governments around the world in providing high-quality and inclusive teaching, learning and assessment of English. In addition, English Programmes supports individual teachers with professional development opportunities, resources and professional networks through an online English teacher community of more than 6 million globally.

Sophia Hawthorn (Featured Speaker)

Sophia Hawthorn is the current Commissioning Editor at York Press Ltd. Before moving to York Press, she had worked as a Commissioning Editor and a Digital Production Editor at several renowned Publishing Houses. She gained extensive experience in ELT whilst working as an English Language Teacher, delivering group English lessons for kindergarten, primary, and secondary level students. Her experience in editing includes copy-editing and proofreading ELT materials, as well as managing projects throughout all stages of the publishing process. Sophia works closely with authors and editors through content development stages. She holds a Master’s Degree in Publishing and Language from Brookes University, and is currently working on writing her very own historical novel.

Alex Warren (Featured Speaker)

Alex is a DELTA trained teacher trainer with over 19 years’ experience of working in ELT as a teacher, teacher trainer and academic director. He has presented in over 50 countries throughout Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America. Alex is currently the Senior ELT Academic Consultant for National Geographic Learning.

Theresa North

Theresa North is currently the English Language Fellow in Cairo with the US Department of State’s English Language Fellow Program. She has a BA in French, an MA in Comparative Literatures, a CELTA, and a DELTA1. After teaching English for 20 years in the US, Peru, Greece, and Ecuador, she shifted her focus to training teachers in-person and online in Morocco, Bangladesh, and now Egypt. She has given numerous workshops, presentations, and webinars to her colleagues on best practices in education. Her focus is on fostering learner-centered classrooms which encourage acquisition of not only English, but also 21st Century Skills.