Meet the authors behind Inspired

  • Judy Garton-Sprenger

    Judy Garton-Sprenger has a wide range of experience in English Language Teaching through working as a teacher/teacher trainer, as a writer and as an actor. With a degree in European Studies and a diploma in TEFLA, she joined International House in London, where teaching led to teacher training and to her first ELT writing project. She was also invited to join the English Teaching Theatre, with whom she toured Europe, Latin America, Japan, the Middle East and West Africa over a period of 14 years.

     

    During that time she became freelance, and has since then been a full-time teacher trainer and writer. She has spoken at conferences and led seminars for teachers in Latin America, Western, Central and Eastern Europe, including work for the British Council, the Soros Foundation and universities throughout Britain. Meanwhile she has written numerous coursebooks for adult, secondary and primary students. She has also been a Cambridge ESOL examiner, item-writer and syllabus consultant, and written radio scripts for BBC English.

     

    Tell us about one favorite speacial feature of Inspired, and how it was developed.

    The new Language Links sections raise awareness of language use, and are a response to teachers’ requests for a focus on how languages work.
     

    What makes Inspired different from American Inspiration?

    Inspired has a more task-based approach, with new and updated cross-curricular and cultural content, and a greater focus on vocabulary building and learner independence. And, of course, it has a fresh design!

  • Philip Prowse

    Philip Prowse began his professional life with the British Council, for whom he taught and trained teachers in Egypt, Portugal, Greece and Poland.

    Returning to the UK, he became the principal of a large residential language school where he was responsible for a wide range of teacher-training courses, as well as language courses for teenagers and adults. He has been writing throughout his career, and has been a full-time writer and trainer for the last fifteen years. Something he has always greatly enjoyed has been the opportunity to spend time in classrooms in different parts of the world, and it is from teachers and students that the inspiration to write comes.

    He has been a regular speaker at conferences and has run teacher-training courses in Europe, South America, Africa and Asia. Philip’s publications include a number of Macmillan Readers, and he is also Reviews Editor of English Language Teaching Journal.

     

    Name one favorite aspect of Inspired.

    The new Unit Previews, which introduce the upcoming communicative aims, topics, and vocabulary through pictures, listening extracts, games, puzzles, and quizzes.
     

    What are three adjectives that describe Inspired?

    INCLUSIVE – for its wide variety of appealing topics and its new extra Extension activities

    IMAGINATIVE – for its lively texts and motivating tasks

    INFORMATIVE – because it adds to students’ knowledge of the world they live in