We’re delighted to announce that English on the Mountains is the winner of the Simon Greenall Award 2026, a project that brings English language learning to children in some of the most remote communities in Europe.
The Simon Greenall Award celebrates the life and work of Simon Greenall OBE: teacher, trainer, materials writer, former President of IATEFL and a trustee of International House. Each year, the award recognises a grassroots project that builds community through learning English, offering the winner mentoring, promotional visibility and a grant to help their work grow. It is sponsored by Macmillan Education, International House London and International House World Organisation.
This year’s winner is English on the Mountains
Originated and coordinated by Fay Marinides of Anatolia College, Thessaloniki, English on the Mountains reaches children aged 4 to 18 in the Pomak villages of Xanthi and Rhodope in northern Greece. These are remote communities where English isn’t taught in local schools. Hundreds of children now take part in year-round online lessons and summer schools, learning through English rather than simply studying it: play, art, storytelling, environmental projects and even entrepreneurship all form part of the curriculum.
Beyond language skills, the project gives isolated students something harder to measure but just as valuable: confidence, friendship, and a pathway to further education and opportunities they might not otherwise have encountered.
As part of the award, George Pickering is mentoring Fay to help develop a succession plan and ongoing teacher development for the project. George is an educational coach, trainer and consultant with extensive management experience across the private and state ELT sectors. He is academic director of the English UK Diploma in English Language Teaching Management and a trustee of IATEFL.
Highly commended
Two outstanding projects were highly commended this year:
Ukraine Speaks English, led by Project Manager Olena Zhupanova, offers free daily online English classes for Ukrainian children aged 4–18. Through speaking clubs, art and yoga classes, book clubs and storytelling, children connect with a global community of volunteer teachers, librarians, scientists and other professionals – support that reaches across borders in every sense. Katja Preston, IH World Organisation’s Assessment and Training Coordinator, is mentoring the project on evaluating communication skills, helping to demonstrate impact and support international fundraising.
The Good Games Project, coordinated by Khalifa Affnan, takes a playful route to fluency: participants learn English through structured board game sessions led by trained youth facilitators, combining storytelling, strategy and discussion. The result is an inclusive space where students can practise speaking without fear of making mistakes, building a sustainable English-speaking community around them. Shaun Wilden will mentor the integration of language learning more intentionally into game sessions on the project, so that play is recognised as a genuine and serious route to learning.
A tradition of grassroots impact
The Simon Greenall Award has a strong track record of shining a light on projects that might otherwise go unnoticed. Previous winners include The Happy Teachers’ Mentorship Programme (2024), founded by Venice Irving in Jamaica, and The Dau Dau Project (2022), run by Sirhajwan Idek and Nurazilah Othman at Keningau College in Sabah, Borneo.
Congratulations to Fay Marinides and the English on the Mountains team, and to everyone involved in this year’s highly commended projects. Each, in its own way, shows what’s possible when language learning is rooted in community, exactly the spirit Simon Greenall dedicated his career to.
