Sueann Wang, a director of Canterbury Language College, was born in Beijing, China, and came to live in New Zealand in 1988. Sueann supervises the caring homestays of the college. In 2003 Sueann set up the Ginkgo Restaurant, which provides authentic Dongbei and Sichuan cuisine to the students of the college and to the Christchurch public.

David, Formerly a professional engineer, David Pepperle worked for many years in the communications business around the world.  After moving to New Zealand, he worked with Telecom and later chose to move to a new career in education.  He is a qualified teacher of ESOL, and has had several years of happy teaching experience in two Christchurch schools.  Currently a director of CLCA, David has been extensively involved with the promotion of the school to students and education agents in various countries, including Japan, Vietnam, Thailand Korea and China.

Miriam O’Connor holds a MA (First Class Honours) in Languages and Literature from the University of Auckland, and a Maitrise in Modern Languages from the Universite de Provence, as well as a Certificate in Teaching in Higher Education (SEDA) and NAATI interpreting credentials. She has lectured at universities and other tertiary institutions in Taiwan, Singapore, France, and New Zealand, and speaks French and Mandarin Chinese as well as English and enjoys tai chi.

James Waghorn is the Marketing Manager at CLCA.  James began this position in March 2007 having worked as administration officer and Korean/Japanese counselor in 2004/2005.
James lived in South Korea for five years where he studied Korean at Sogang University, taught English at the Korean University of Foreign Studies and worked in the overseas promotions department for Samsung Electronics.  James also lived in Japan for one year and speaks Japanese.   James ensures all our Korean and Japanese students feel comfortable at CLCA.
James is a very keen tennis player and is more than happy to give our students a game on Friday afternoons.

Keith Burgess is our Director of Studies and teacher of IELTS II. Keith been teaching ESOL for fifteen years. He has a degree in Linguistics and a TESOL qualification. Keith has a particular interest in developing ESOL resources and is a published author of “Activating 1001 Academic Words for IELTS; A new method of language acquisition.” Outside of the college, Keith is interested in sport, especially New Zealand’s most popular male sport rugby. His son plays rugby and he has been coaching soccer teams.

Keith's Textbook (left image)

Vicky Purvis is the teacher of IELTS I.  Vicky has taught English & IELTS at the Longre Training Centre in Wuxi, China.  Vicky come from South Africa and really enjoys climbing around the Christchurch hills.

Les Hitchcock has been a teacher in public schools and has a special interest in teaching reading skills and in inspiring young people to take up the pleasure of reading. Les teaches at all levels but specialises in preparing students for high school and university. In his spare time he indulges his passion for car racing.

Brenda Benge is our afternoon Upper-Intermediate teacher and also does the English + Retail Skills class.  Brenda has returned to the school this year after working on some other projects.  Brenda comes to school everyday on her bicycle!

Sarah Lloyd-Forest is our Morning Pre-Intermediate teacher.  Sarah has just returned from a year in Australia and we are very pleased to have her back.  

Pamela Phelan is our morning Upper-Intermediate teacher.   Pamela loves teaching grammar to keen students and like all our teachers loves to see our students progressing quickly.