Milner International College of English in Australia has received one of the highest accolades in Australia’s English language teaching industry – twice! Brendan Brown, a young teacher with the school in Perth, won the English Australia/Cambridge University Press teacher award for 2011, the presentation being made at the recent EA Conference in Adelaide.
This followed the previous year’s victor, Laura McCrossan, also winning the same prize and working at Milner International College. “It was unprecedented for teachers from the same school to win two years running,” commented Warren Milner, Owner of the school, which has a second school in London, UK, who explained that Brendan had to make numerous written submissions and give presentations before the award was decided by an international panel of judges.
The award was the English Australia/Cambridge ESOL Award for Action Research in ELICOS (English language intensive courses for overseas students). Brown commented, “the project was very rewarding to be a part of. Having the opportunity to take a step back from the classroom and reflect on my classroom practise, to document the effect of changes made in my own class, and to be able to discuss these issues with my peers… was an extremely gratifying experience.” The title of his work: “Raising Pronunciation Awareness and Promoting Independent Practice of Pronunciation”.
