Our Staff

The Hull team is as follows:

 

Dr Marina Mozzon-McPherson is currently The Head of the Modern Languages Department and is the Regional Director of the Routes into Languages Programme for Yorkshire and The Humber and Links into Languages Regional Centre for Yorkshire and the Humber. Routes into Languages (RiL) is a three year programme, funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (£4.5 million) and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (£3.5 million) to inspire young people to study languages. Links into Languages is a two-year programme funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families to  provide a coherent programme of Continuous Professional Development courses for language teachers in the region (primary, secondary and FE).  From September 1997 to September 2001 she managed project SMILE (Strategies for Managing an Independent Learning Environment). This project was funded by a Higher Education Funding Scheme for the Development of Teaching and Learning and focused on the promotion and development of good practices in the implementation of independent learning and the management of learning environments (classroom, online and self-access). Amongst its outcomes are:

•             The development of an online postgraduate qualification for language learning advisers

•             A book on language advising practice

She has won two European Awards for Languages for her innovative teaching of Italian to non-specialists (2004) and for the development on an e-mentoring language learning scheme for Gifted and Talented Linguist (2007). In 2004 she was awarded a prestigious National Teaching Fellowship for excellence in teaching and learning. Funded through such Fellowship, she is currently managing a project which is developing three online 20-credit modules (EFL, Italian, and Spanish) at level B2 of CEF.

 

Kerry Dobson - Project Manager

Upon completion of my undergraduate degree I decided to pursue a career in teaching English as a Foreign Language. My first job was with a language school in Barcelona, Spain, and I lived there for almost four years. In addition, I worked part-time for the British Council and I was also a First Certificate examiner on the speaking assessment.

In 1995, I returned to the city of Hull to study for a Masters in Business Administration. Upon completion of my MBA, I worked for the University of Lincoln teaching EFL and Research Methods, and worked as an external consultant delivering management training. I then took up a post for 18 months with a local company to implement and deliver a strategic plan for the Company’s long-term marketing needs.

I returned to the education sector in 2002, and worked at the University of Hull delivering EFL and EAP modules to international students. In 2005 I took up a post as Business Associate in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University, and was involved in reach out activity for a number of departments.

In January 2008 I was appointed Project Manager for Routes into Languages, Yorkshire and The Humber, (www.routesintolanguages.ac.uk/yorkshire ) a three year programme funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (£4.5 million) and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (£3.5 million) to inspire young people to study languages.

In September 2009, I became the Centre Manager for Links into Languages, Yorkshire and Humber.

 

Claire Barber is the Project Manager of Routes into Languages Yorkshire and The Humber Regional Consortium. Claire is currently on maternity leave.

After graduating from Stirling University in 2001 with a BA in English and Spanish, Claire worked for the BBC for 3 years at Television Centre in London. She worked firstly as a Production Assistant and then went on to be a Subtitler in the Access Services department. After that she decided to focus on her love of languages and retrained as a teacher. She returned to her home town of Hull in 2005 and completed a PGCE in Secondary Languages (Spanish and French) at the University of Hull. In 2006 she began teaching Spanish and French to Years 6-12 at a private school near Selby. Claire joined the Department of Modern Languages at the University of Hull in September 2009 as Administrator for the Routes into Languages project. She is now working closely with Marina Mozzon-McPherson, Consortium Director, in carrying out the aims of the project in her role as Project Manager.

 

Rachel Docherty is the Routes into Languages Project Administrator. After graduating from Teesside University in 2009 with a BA in Graphic Design with Illustration, Rachel undertook several freelance contracts for local companies before heading for a new challenge with the Routes into Languages team, joining officially in August 2010. Rachel now provides administrative support to the members of the Routes into Languages team who are based at the University of Hull.

 

Our regional consortium partners:

Graham Webb-Leeds Metropolitan University
Graham is Head of Languages at Leeds Met and Principal Lecturer in Spanish.He has been involved with many schools over the past 10 years delivering presentations and workshops to promote language study. Before joining Leeds Met he worked in Spain in the banking and finance industry so knows how valuable languages can be to getting exciting careers.

 

 

Maria Scheule-Sheffield Hallam University

Maria's main area of teaching is international business and German, but over the last two years has also been teaching on the events management degree. She is also responsible for German placements, which is her vocational area. She enjoys teaching languages starting right at the beginning and then our final year students are very very good so she gets the whole spectrum of all learners, and says that it's great to see them progressing.

 

Jessica Bradley-University of Leeds.

I am responsible for coordinating and implementing our widening participation and schools liaison activities in languages and linguistics and have been working at the University of Leeds since January 2005. A linguist myself, I studied French with Spanish at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and am currently studying towards an MA in Applied Translation Studies at the University of Leeds.

The School of Modern Languages and Cultures offers a range of activities for schools and colleges to encourage pupils to continue with their language study at school and beyond. Our activities and projects include a 'Linguists into Schools' module for second year languages students, Languages @ Work conferences for Year 9 pupils and Sixth Form language conferences. Examples of current projects are available on the SMLC schools website

Penny Simons-University of Sheffield

After graduating in Modern & Medieval Languages from Newnham College, Cambridge, I spent a few years working in museums and administrative roles, before coming to the University of Sheffield to undertake doctoral research on the portrayal of education in twelfth- and thirteenth-century French literature. Upon completing this, I joined the staff as a lecturer in 1991. From 2000-2002 I was seconded as an Adviser in Learning and Teaching to the University's Staff Development Unit. I rejoined the French Department in 2002 and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2003.

 

Helga Adams-Open University

I joined the Open University in 1997 as Staff Tutor for Languages, dividing my time between the Yorkshire Region and Region North which includes Continental Europe. My main responsibilities are the recruitment, selection and development of a team of Associate Lecturers in French, German and Spanish. Before joining the Open University, I was Senior Lecturer and Head of German at Leeds Metropolitan University.

 

Other members include:

Sandra Potesta- Regional Language Network, Yorkshire and The Humber

Margaret Ferguson-The University of York

Malcolm Pollard-The University of Huddersfield

Nina Spencer-Yorkshire Universities

Ann Gregory-York St. John University