Janet Hardy-Gould is an author, teacher and teacher trainer who has worked in English Language Teaching for many years, both in the UK and other countries. 

Janet has written over twenty graded readers for Oxford University Press. These readers include Merlin, which won the Extensive Reading Foundation (ERF) award in 2015; and Amelia Earhart, which was shortlisted for the ERF final in the same year. Her recent book Ellis Island: Rosalia’s Story won the prestigious 2020 Language Learner Literature Award.

Janet believes that graded readers are one of the fastest and most enjoyable ways for learners to improve their English. Having taught with graded readers herself, she believes they are a wonderful tool for developing vocabulary and reading skills. Choosing your own book to read, on a subject which you are interested in, is also highly motivating and engaging. With this in mind, she has produced books on a range of popular subjects – from Henry VIII and Ali Baba to Hollywood and chocolate.

For many years, Janet has written workbooks and other components of Oxford University Press courses such as Streetwise, Hotline, Project, English Plus and Oxford Discover Futures. In addition, she has also written a coursebook, grammar book and novelization to accompany two BBC Worldwide TV series. 

For fifteen years, Janet wrote the Guardian Weekly, Learning English authentic news-based materials and has spoken on the topic at the IATEFL conference along with the editor of the Guardian Weekly. You can download free examples of her past Guardian worksheets here and here.

Her English teaching experience includes teaching children and teenagers, plus running young learner programmes with Bell English and International House in Spain. She has also worked extensively teaching General English, English for Specific Purposes and exam classes to adults.

Janet enjoys working with both new and qualified teachers. Her teacher training work includes many years of experience running CELTA and Trinity Cert TEFL courses, as well as training overseas primary and secondary teachers at the University of Sussex and the University of Brighton.

Janet’s qualifications include a BA in Modern Foreign Languages, a Diploma in English Language Teaching and an MA in English Language Teaching.