Peter Sheekey

Background

About Peter Sheekey

I have taught and researched English as a Second or Other Language for over 35 years. I have been an ESOL practitioner in various countries (Switzerland, Italy, Britain, Ireland) and settings over the last three decades. I have extensive experience of delivering English for Special Purposes and English for Business communication courses in Italy and Ireland. Between 2007 - 2015, I worked as a linguistics and Academic English lecturer Trinity College Dublin. For the past 15 years I have provided English as a Second or Other Language (ESOL) teaching, teacher training, learning materials, curriculum design and research for marginalized refugee and migrant language learners in Ireland. I have specialised in researching, designing and delivering language training which aids the greater civic and social particpation for these groups in Irish society. I successfully completed a Masters in English Language Teaching (2010) and a PhD in Applied Linguistics at TCD (2015). In 2015 I founded Intercultural Language Services (ILS)- a winner of the 2018 European Language Label Award. We offer targeted English language training, social orientation, and community-based, intercultural activities with locals to the New-Irish who are most in need. Our mission is to promote social inclusion for newer community members, and to foster social cohesion in the communities and areas of Dublin City where New-Irish reside. Our vision, put simply: We see diversity as a golden opportunity for personal and (inter)community development, not a challenge. We see integration as a two-way conversation. To find out more about our school, see interculturallanguageservice.com My research interests include second language learning and acquisition, second language identity work (esp. Transgredience), critical literacy, web-assisted language learning and socially situated learning.