Charlene Earl

About

Charlene is an International Programme Manager, with particular responsibility for managing the Pre-sessional and in-sessional courses. Charlene also teaches on the two-year Master’s in International Social Policy and on in-sessional courses, and delivers a range of workshops across the University, to students and staff, focusing on enhancing intercultural awareness and communication skills.  
 Charlene graduated with a Master's in TEFL from the University of Wales, Swansea and specialised in vocabulary acquisition and retention. She was also an IELTS examiner for over six years.  She joined the Centre for English and World Languages (now International Programmes) in 2011 and has experience of teaching both home and international students from diverse cultural backgrounds. 
Charlene has travelled extensively and taught EFL in in a number of countries. These experiences led her to further explore the notion of intercultural awareness through a joint research project funded by UKCISA/HEA. The outcome of this joint project resulted in Talking Cultures, encompassing intercultural awareness training in a variety of educational and professional settings. Charlene has co-designed and delivered a range of workshops for international medical healthcare practitioners focusing on intercultural and interpersonal language and communication skills.  
In 2018, Charlene became a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and was also awarded the Barbara Morris prize for a ‘sustained and impactful effort to enhance intercultural awareness at the University of Kent’.  She is currently undertaking a PhD in Higher Education at the University of Kent, with the intention of exploring the extent to which intercultural competencies and strategies are influential in providing international students with a smooth transition for studying a degree in the UK.