My Credentials

Now, straight away, you have to do something. There is so much suspect and dubious teaching and information on chat sites, Internet forums, books, and schools. Such advice could have the very opposite effect to what you want. As I say in my IELTS books, ‘Students want easy answers; people out there want easy money, but does their [advice] help? No!’ [IELTS Writing Task Two, Tip 10, p.65]  Similarly, as I say in my IELTS seminars, follow three rules.

  1. Be skeptical!
  2. Be critical!
  3. Demand proof!

Thus, the very first step you should do before deciding to trust anyone who puts forward IELTS advice is to establish their:

  1. CREDENTIALS, and 
  2. MOTIVES FOR PRODUCING THEIR LEARNING MATERIAL.

Let me do that now.

 

  1. CREDENTIALS

Let me show copied images of my credentials, providing proof that I have…

  1. the Cambridge Certificate of English Language Teaching (CELTA) [See below].
  2. the Cambridge Diploma of English Language Teaching (DELTA) [See below].
  3. a Masters Degree in Educational Management [See below].
  4. accreditation as a CELTA teacher trainer – that is, I train teachers to obtain the CELTA [See below].
  5. written seven IELTS books: the ‘Practical IELTS Strategies’ series, as you can see from the picture at the top of this page. The seventh book – IELTS Listening – was the latest to be published [See picture at right].
  6. been specifically teaching IELTS preparation for over 20 years! [See below]

Finally, I have…

7.  many former students whose real and genuine testimonies are all around the place, on the walls of schools I have worked for in the past, and on Internet forums such as PTT (here in Taiwan). However I will not show any of these testimonies here, as personal testimonies only matter when they are honestly and naturally given outside of the teacher’s influence.  Find these testimonies yourself. I have, however, copied and pasted feedback about myself from PTT in the next tab (of this main ‘About AIS’ tab). Click here to read these.

To sum up, I have the…

  • theoretical background,
  • practical experience, and
  • hard provable results,

a combination [Items (1) to (7)] that no one else has.

6. DELTA, Andrew Guilfoyle-page-0012. Masters Degree-page-001

Letter verifying CELTA Tutor accreditation-page-001Proving IELTS teaching in 1994-page-001

  1. MY MOTIVATION

My motives for producing this site are the same motives for writing my IELTS books, and for becoming a teacher. In my career, I have seen the results that dubious advice has caused. Input from the wrong sources is not the answer. I do not called myself ‘IELTS God’, ‘IELTS Expert’ or ‘Prince of IELTS’. My books are not called ‘Super IELTS Strategies’, ‘Easy IELTS 8’, or ‘IELTS 7 in 10 Days’. There are no highly dubious, totally unproven advertisements moving across this page saying, ‘Thank you so much for giving me IELTS 8 after just one week of studies’. These strategies are DANGER signs. [Do you remember the three rules?]

I call myself ‘Teacher Andrew’, my books are entitled ‘Practical IELTS Strategies’, I have solid credentials (given above), and I have achieved real results for my students. My motivation is to provide a reputable and solid bank of tips and advice, from a qualified source (myself), who you can trust. That is why I am producing this website.