Peter Holly

Peter Holly has over 40 years of experience in ELT and education, having taught, trained, and managed overseas all his life since his university studies in the UK.

Apart from a postgraduate certificate in Teaching English as a Foreign Language awarded by the University of Sheffield, he also holds an MA in TEFL from UEA Norwich, which he was awarded after his first time in Hungary from 1985-1990 – when he worked for the British Council as a ‘lektor’ at Rákoczi Gimnázium in Sárospatak and at József Attila University in Szeged. After many years in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, he returned to Hungary in 2021, and now works as a freelance teacher trainer, coach, and teacher - teaching learners of all ages general English and Business English online, and ESP face-to-face at a food processing company in Kaposvár. He has delivered teacher training workshops and plenaries in 19 countries so far and is an active member of IATEFL Hungary.

Educational Focus

• 11/2014 – date         Litmus Education – Founder

Freelance consultancy activity undertaken so far has focused on the following 4 areas:- 

a) Teaching, teacher training, & corporate training assignments ( face-to-face & online ). Both general EFL / ESL teaching for trainees and also for educators linked to pre- and post-adoption use of 3rd party teaching materials - in Hungary, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Albania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Kazakhstan, Sudan, and Kuwait. Bespoke course design for individual academic and corporate clients including materials design; academic presentations, workshops and conference presentations on teaching methodology.

b) extensive involvement in the UAE Ministry of Education's ‘Moral Education’ project. This included initial induction and accreditation as an approved teacher trainer, followed by teacher training to groups of private school teachers in various locations around the United Arab Emirates to facilitate the implementation of subject teaching in schools during the project’s first academic year.

c) general consultancy for education-linked projects and publishers, including moderating focus groups for educational projects, delivering editorial reviews, in-depth market research, database construction, picture sourcing etc.

d) business development for selected publishers in the MENA region:- promotional events, trade fairs, sales calls, distributor liaison, targeted campaigns, and other marketing activity.

Clients I have worked with have included Oxford University Press, Pecs University, Kometa, Nishe Consulting, Haremi, EtonX, Cambridge University Press, Macmillan Education, McGraw-Hill, Ladybird Books, Helbling Languages, the British Council ( as an IELTS examiner ), the Royal School of English Dubai, Global ELT, Jazeera University Dubai, Crown House Publishing, Trinity College London, Canford Publishing, TQLS Kuwait and StudyInn Kazakhstan.

Teacher training course and workshop delivery for Educational publishers

• 09/2010 – 11/2014 Garnet Education, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
• 08/2004 – 05/2010 Cambridge University Press, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
• 08/1998 – 06/2004 Pearson Education, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
• 06/1994 – 08/1998 Longman ELT/Addison Wesley Longman, Manama, Bahrain

In my educational business development roles in the Gulf region, I frequently carried out teacher training workshops linked to supporting the adoption of publications from these publishers. Also, methodology-driven workshops for teachers were provided, along with professional development sessions at conferences around the MENA region. These teacher training sessions took place in countries from Kurdistan to Sudan, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Yemen, and the GCC countries.

Employment history ( Education: State and Private Sector )

Full time: 5 varied assignments from 1982-1994 with Ministries of Education in Sudan ( 2 years ) and Bahrain ( 1 year ), and the British Council in Hungary ( 5 years – lektor at Rákoczi Gimnázium Sárospatak, and JATE university Szeged ) and Bahrain ( 2 years ) as an EFL / EAP / ESP lecturer, teacher, teacher trainer and educational advisor – all ages and abilities taught. IELTS and Cambridge Assessment main suite examiner status awarded; EAP, ESP, and methodology teacher training materials development; assessment and course design etc.

Part-time: numerous summer school and teacher training positions with students and teachers in the UK and Hungary from 1983 onwards. 3 extended teaching assignments with the British Council in Dubai, ABN Amro Bank, and Mashreq Bank.

Employment history ( commerce ) 

• 02/2019 – 06/2019 United Global Educational Resources, Dubai, UAE   Chief Executive Officer
• 08/2018 – 09/2018 DGrade, Dubai, UAE Schools Manager
• 11/2016 – 07/2018 Growmore LLC, Dubai, UAE         Learning Solutions and Sales Manager GCC 
• 09/2015 – 07/2018 Stitches Tailoring LLC , Dubai, UAE Business Development Manager 

• 09/2010 – 11/2014 Garnet Education, Dubai, UAE Business Development Director
• 08/2004 – 05/2010 Cambridge University Press, Dubai, UAE

Senior Consultant – Sales Manager – Sales & Operations Manager – local Managing Director

• 08/1998 – 06/2004 Pearson Education, Dubai, UAE 

Project Manager – Regional Sales Manager ( local Managing Director to 03 / 2003 )

• 06/1994–08/1998 Longman ELT/Addison Wesley Longman, Manama, Bahrain

Middle East Marketing Executive, local Managing Director

Education / Other

• MBA, Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University, UK, 2020
• MA ( TEFL) , University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK, 1991
• PGCE ( TEFL / TESL and Geography ), Sheffield University, UK, 1985
• BA Hons ( Geography and Sociology ), University of Hull, UK, 1982

Membership of IATEFL Hungary and the Confident ELT Freelancers Collective.

Operational spoken Arabic and Hungarian.

The trainer's teacher training course in Rovinj, 2025:

 The climate crisis, green issues and sustainability: teaching and learning opportunities in today’s language classrooms