Department of Engineering / Profiles / Dr Helen East

Department of Engineering

Dr Helen East PhD

hre21

Helen East

Language Teacher

Telephone: +44 1223 3 32620

Email: hre21@eng.cam.ac.uk


Teaching activity

Helen has taught English for many years and specialises in advanced-level academic and scientific English. She enjoys working with students and researchers at all levels to improve their communication skills and confidence in English.

This year, Helen will be leading a number of workshops designed to improve the writing skills of students and researchers in the Engineering Department who have English as a second or foreign language.  The workshops range from raising awareness of your audience and purpose, and how this informs your writing strategy, to specific areas of grammar, style and vocabulary.  

Helen also teaches on a 1:1 basis offering individualised English language tuition, often looking in-depth at drafts of research papers and reports to improve clarity of communication. These are bookable via CLIC / Moodle.  She also edits research papers, reports and theses before submission to bring the English up to a good standard.  

Helen has previously taught courses in pronunciation and presentation skills for the department and led workshops on many areas of scientific and technical writing.  Outside the department, Helen works with Masters students in the Faculty of Education and the Institute for Sustainability Leadership to improve their academic writing and in private institutions teaching professional communication.  She has recently been to Stockholm to teach administrative staff at KTH (the Royal Institute of Technology), and works with staff in a wide range of roles here at the Engineering Department, from porters to cleaners to financial directors, to make sure they have the language they need to work effectively and to enjoy being part of the University of Cambridge.

Qualifications

  • PhD in Psycholinguistics
  • MPhil in English and Applied Linguistics (Distinction)
  • Diploma in Teaching English as a Foreign Language to Adults