Liz Soars
Headway, and its award-winning authors, John and Liz Soars, are names that have become synonymous with English language teaching and learning. The Headway course is renowned worldwide for its clear understanding of teacher and learner needs.
In the late 1970s and 1980s, Liz and John worked at International House as highly experienced teachers and teacher-trainers, after time spent teaching English in Tanzania, France and the UK. John was Director of Studies at International House London, where Liz was Director of Teacher Training. She was also co-chief examiner for the Cambridge/RSA DELTA examination for over five years. In John's words, 'the academic discipline of TEFL was in the process of establishing itself. IH buzzed with innovation and youthful enthusiasm'.
When John and Liz were working at International House in London, they decided to create their own teaching materials. It was the height of the communicative era. John and Liz brought grammar judiciously back into the mix. They based their course on a clear set of values they passionately believed in, and these have remained at the heart of Headway's methodology ever since. Although their principles might now appear self-evident, they were innovative and inspired in the 1980s, and set the blueprint for course book syllabuses for decades to come.
