Our Trainers

Smiths English has teachers based in North, South, East and West London, making it more accessible to students living in and around the capital.

For further information about Francesca or any of our trainers, 'contact us'

Francesca is currently based in East Acton, in West London. She specialises in advanced business English and communication skills with an emphasis on pronunciation and vocal skills training.

Francesca's Qualifications:

• Degree in Communications and Media (Bsc)
• TEFL Certified (Teaching English as a Foreign Language )
• Trained Actress (LAMDA Gold medal for Acting)
• Certified NLP Practitioner (Neuro Linguistic Programming)

 Francesca also has business experience in:

• Recruitment (IT into investment banking)
• Public Relations
• Coaching/Training
• Events

Contact Francesca directly, on: +44 (0)7903 954 550

Lindsey lives in Ealing, in West London, and is a graduate of York University (BA Hons in English and Political Philosophy) and has a post graduate diploma in Performing Arts. She worked as a professional Actress for some years and has subsequently moved into teaching. She currently teaches: drama, elocution, and speech and communication. She specialises in coaching students in presentation skills and confidence building.

Heidi Gordon-Smith

Jessica Durant lives in Wandsworth, London and is a fully qualified TESOL teacher. While acquiring her TESOL training, Jessica found she had a natural interest, and talent, in phonology, which serves as the basis for the teaching of elocution.

Jessica also has a 2:1 degree in Politics and English from the University of East Anglia. While at University, Jessica was an active member of the UEA Debating Society, taking part in numerous debates and public speaking events. Through the Society, she also taught public speaking techniques and methods to other members of the student body.

Jessica gets on extremely well with her students and she feels that it is very important for them to be totally comfortable with her, particularly for elocution and public speaking lessons as the speed of progress often depends on the student’s willingness to play with the way in which they talk.

Jo lives in Islington and is a trained actress, singer and CELTA-qualified English teacher, with a degree in Modern Languages from Cambridge University. With her background in music and singing, she has a particular interest in intonation and vocal expression.

Christopher lives in Denmark Hill, South East London and has a Post Graduate Diploma in Musical Theatre from the Royal Academy of Music. He has been working as a professional actor/singer for the past couple of years. Previous to this he worked as Training and Development Officer for a leading UK wine retailer, specialising in soft skills training. Christopher is adept to teaching on a one to one level or working with large groups of students. He has completed a certified Train the Trainer Programme as well as courses in Coaching, Communication and People Management. Originally from South Africa he has lived in the UK for 11 years and has first hand knowledge of accent reduction.

Shaylini is based in North London and has a great passion for Speech, Linguistics and English Language. From a young age Shaylini trained in theatre and dramatic arts through Bodens Drama Academy and by the age of 16 she had completed her LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts) qualifications in Public Speaking.

Shaylini has graduated with a 2:1 BSc Honours degree in Communications, and since then she has gained presenting experience at Channel 5, taken part in Bollywood films, practiced radio broadcasting skills for a major radio station, and has been working in publishing with Linguistics and English Educational materials.

Whilst working, she also qualified in professional proof reading and copy writing skills and is fluent in a number of foreign languages: Hindi and Gujarati to name a few. Whilst studying for her German A Level, she spent some time in Germany assisting students to improve their spoken English.

Shaylini specialises in coaching and training students with their public speaking, elocution skills, voice projection, accent reduction and confidence building. She thoroughly enjoys teaching and places great emphasis on putting practice into action. She places a lot of importance on understanding her students and their needs, and gains great satisfaction from seeing the difference that it makes to their confidence, overall linguistic skills and to their lives in general.

Jessica has been working as a TEFL, Language and Communication trainer for over 8 years. She is a fully-qualified TEFL trainer (Trinity TESOL) and has trained speakers from all over the world in Communication Skills, Public Speaking, English Language, Confidence Building and Vocal Trainining. Jessica has a degree in Politics and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Marketing, having worked as an Account Manager in Marketing for over 3 years. She is therefore highly-qualified to train in Business English and Communications. She has taught English and Communications in Denmark, France, Spain and now here in the UK.

Emma is originally from Cambridgeshire and is now based in Tooting, in south west London. She has a BA Hons Degree in Drama and Theatre Arts from Goldsmiths College, University of London, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Acting from Drama Studio London. Emma works as a professional actress and has had extensive voice training. Emma has a lot of experience working with children, both in an academic and performance environment.

Amber Lives in Islington and has a B.A in Performing Arts from Lancaster University and a Post Graduate Diploma in Acting for which she studied at Mountview Academy of Dramatic Arts. She gained her C.E.L.T.A certificate at International House, Barcelona, where she lived and taught for a year. She has been a working actress since she was a child and has been teaching for over 8 years. Recently she has gained a Certificate in Education and is a Performing Arts lecturer in a Further Education College. She also teaches Drama tuition to private students.

Fran lives in Richmond, in West London. She is a qualified NLP (neuro linguistic programming) Master Practitioner. She is a professional actress and writes screenplays in her spare time. She has always had a love for English and Drama. She teaches elocution, accent reduction,  public speaking, and confidence building skills. Through the use of NLP she also works through a variety of other issues with clients.

Dee divides her time between Brighton and Enfield in North London. Dee was born into the tradition of theatre, opera and performing and it remains a great passion for her. She has spent years training her own voice, and has enjoyed over 30 years as a professional actor, singer and recording artist. She has had the privilege of working with some of the biggest names in the business and has been lucky enough to have played at top venues regionally and in London's West End theatres. During the nineties she retrained as a voice and accent coach on the UK's foremost vocational course for professional voice teachers, Central School of Speech and Drama. She also completed her NLP parts 1&2. She belongs to the voice care network. She specialises in accent reduction for clarity, minor speech problems, elocution/ articulation problems, vocal power, variety, presentation skills and confidence building. The ethos behind her work is drawn from a diverse background of teaching influences, including Cicily Berry, Kristan Linklater, Michael Macallian, Jo Estille, The Alexander Technique and Roy Hart. Although her work keeps her incredibly busy (she is also deputy head of voice at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts www.mountview.org.uk, in North London) she still finds time to pursue her singing career, performing an extensive Jazz repertoire.

 For further details about our teachers, or to arrange for a teacher to come to your home or office, please do 'contact us'.