Dion Breen

Beginning in January 2012 I worked at two private academies in Spain teaching children, teenagers and adults Cambridge courses and I also worked at a state school with 5 - 9-year-olds. I subsequently worked with a company that provides in-house company classes at the Malaga Technology Park. For two years beginning in September, 2019 I taught almost 4,000 students at Luzhou High School, China. They ranged in age from 14 to 15 years. This is the top-ranked high school in the area. I taught conversational English and aspects of western culture. In September 2021 I joined the International Department of Hefei no 8 High School where I taught oral English to year two and three students who are preparing to attend university in English-speaking countries. After my contract finished I moved to Vietnam where I taught a mixture of public school and training centre classes, including IELTS. I then returned to China to teach at Henan Vocational and Technical College in Zhengzhou. Due to age restrictions in China I returned to Spain in April 2023 and moved to Ireland in February 2024, where I am still based.

I have completed a 150-hour course in TEFL from the ‘i-to-i’ internationally recognised company. This course, which is the most detailed offered by the 19-year-old company, is recognised by the British Council and was a mixture of online examinations and a classroom course with teaching experience. Apart from the basic course I completed modules in grammar, teaching business English, teaching English to young learners, teaching one-to-one, teaching large classes and how to teach audio and video lessons.

I previously worked for four years for a multinational company researching and writing computer-based training courses for IT professionals and end users. Additionally, my B.A. degree in Communication Studies included modules in Applied Linguistics and Socio Linguistics. I have also completed a diploma in Social Media Marketing and Online Reputation Management. This is in addition to extensive experience as a print and broadcast journalist and editor.