John Hughes is an ELT author, teacher trainer and presenter at international conferences. He began working as a teacher in the early nineties and combined language teaching with business communication skills training. Between 1993 and 1995 he worked at a higher business school in Poland and then managed language training for companies in northern Poland. He also ran company language courses in Italy in the late-nineties as well as training teachers on courses leading to the Trinity Certificate in TESOL and the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Certificate in Teaching Business English. John also started to publish articles in journals during this time including a regular column for ELT teachers in the Guardian Weekly newspaper