Panagiota Spanish teacher in London

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To begin with, I obtain the IH Certificate in Spanish Language Teaching to Adults (CLTA), and I have interacted with students from diverse cultural backgrounds and various age groups (including children and adults). I have experience in both group and private classes. I have worked in a language school for two years and I have also been a private tutor for the past four years.

What is your teaching style?

I am quite creative when it comes to preparing classes and most of all at motivating my students. I encourage active class participation and use group activities to develop social and interpersonal skills. In addition, I can easily adapt to new methods and books, and I am comfortable working with DVDs, computers, and other teaching materials.
An other privilege for me is my character. I am always in a good mood, including my working hours since teaching is something I really enjoy. I am out-going and friendly and because of these qualities that I possess, my students are always really comfortable around me. That makes them participate more willingly in class, with no sense of fear or shame.
My teaching style is interactive. I teach classes based on “guided discovery technique” of learning, also known as an Inductive approach. This technique allows the students to understand the use of the language by themselves, while the teacher is just the guide who helps them, by giving examples, to figure out why or when each tense, word or expression should be used.
My classes are conducted in Spanish only, encouraging students to really learn rapidly.

Nadine Experienced German Teacher in London

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I have been teaching German in London since 2003, also in Switzerland between 2008 and 2011. Main focus is on one-to-one tuition but also do group tuition.

I have been teaching at companies such as Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, Barclays, JP Morgan, Bank of America, Nomura, Herbert Smith, Taylor Wessing, Moody’s etc. I also have been teaching adult group classes at International House which is also the language school where I did my teacher training course back in 2002.
I used to teach children (privately), too, however, this is not my main focus.
I usually follow a course book (“Willkommen”/”Passwort”) when I teach a complete beginner focusing on grammar and pronunciation but from higher levels (Mid/Upper A2) I prefer using my own material and the main focus is on speaking and writing.
Occasionally I also teach business German.

Italian Teacher in London

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Name: Ambra

Having recently completed my CLTA course with International House London, I am ready and eager to take on a new role as an Italian Teacher.
As part of the course I taught in classes of Beginners and Intermediates, stimulating all three learning styles and developing students’ listening, writing and speaking skills through tailor-made lessons and materials. My tutors will confirm I showed a high level of commitment and professionalism and a strong ability of understanding students’ needs and building trusting relationships.
I have recently started to deliver One-to-One lessons at home. My teaching style is a student-focused and integrated approach aimed at discovering new grammatical structures in an active way rather than just “transferring” rules and knowledge.
Furthermore, I choose the communicative method, emphasizing the interaction among the students in order to learn with practice, in a very active fun way.
The students will have plenty of opportunities for conversation, for instance during activities of role play to practice the language in a natural context.
At the same time, since I consider the language a fundamental vehicle of culture and lifestyle, also interesting cultural aspects will be discovered through activities of reading and listening, videos and movies. I think that introducing cultural aspects is very effective since most of the students choose to learn Italian because they are fascinated by Italy’s culture, art, fashion and lifestyle.
Even though I take text books in consideration, I prefer to supplement them using tailor-made materials, in order to manage my lessons in a more original and interactive way and follow my purposes.

I have always been passionate about foreign languages and I have a MA in Languages and Cultures for International Communication and Cooperation. The fact that I have been a student of foreign languages as well helps me understand more my students, their weaknesses and their needs. I am a good observer and I am a very empathetic person, able to build trusting relationships with people. I have excellent communication skills, improved thanks to my previous jobs in Customer Service, Hospitality and Tourism. But what makes me a great teacher is especially my enthusiasm for teaching and the fact that this is what makes me happy. During my CLTA course I found myself more and more motivated everyday and enjoying preparing materials and delivering the lessons and I truly believe that no other job would make me feel the same.

SPANISH TEACHER IN LONDON

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Teacher name: Marina

The enclosed resume effectively showcases my instructional expertise, demonstrates my relevant accomplishments, and communicates my desire to keep teaching Spanish. Throughout my teaching career, I have had the wonderful opportunity to instruct a diverse group of students of different background and ages, I tough them Spanish as well as English.
My greatest applicable strength is my ability to design stimulating and communicative lesson plans that instil a desire for learning and a true appreciation for Spanish language and culture. I incorporate fun manipulative and hands-on activities to accommodate multiple intelligences, encourage student learning, consolidate important concepts, and enhance students ‘academic skills. Furthermore, I establish a relaxed atmosphere that promotes socialization and real world connections.

 

I have a passion for teaching and educational development and have geared my studies and work experience to enable me to continue my career in this sector. Through my previous work on different schools, universities and one to one tuitions, I am able to proving excellent organisational and time management skills as well as be confident in teaching and passionate about it. Being a Spanish native, naturally I have an instinctive understanding of Spanish culture and the language. Furthermore I have learned English and German as a foreign language for several years so I have experience in learning languages and a solid understanding of linguistics. What makes me a great teacher is the fact that I provide with stimulating and communicative lesson plans, where interaction and speaking between students is the core of the lessons.

Italian Teacher in South London

 

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Teacher name: Alessia 

I possess language teaching experience in a range of environments. In 2007, I spent three months in India working at the Italian Consulate of Kolkata where I organised and held an Italian language course for beginners. Additionally, in 2009, I was appointed by the Italian Ministry of Education to serve as an Italian language assistant in three Austrian high schools. On that occasion, I delivered Italian classes at various levels, from beginners to intermediate and advanced; I also planned teaching units and collaborated with Head Teachers. I assessed students during exams and requested feedback. Moreover, in 2012, I participated in the organisation of language classes as part of a project to teach Italian to a group of asylum seekers from Africa whose first language was French. I currently teach Italian to children and adults through various agencies in London. Finally, in March 2014 I completed the accredited DITALS II training course to teach Italian as a Foreign Language and in October 2014 I obtained the DITALS II qualification to teach Italian as a foreign language. My experience ranges from children to teenagers and adults. I have experience teaching to groups of people and on a 1:1 basis and I also used online platform to share teaching materials with students and for students’ self assessment. My approach to language teaching is mostly communicative with the creation of communicative situations where students can use their language skills in context and in real-life situations. With young children, I tend to integrate this method with a Total Physical Response approach.

I have been a language student myself in the first place, therefore I am aware of the needs of students of foreign languages. I have a strong background in language acquisition and a strong knowledge of new technologies to make language learning an enjoyable process. I have a deep knowledge of the Italian culture, having been born and brought up in the South, but having studied in the North. I bring a lot of culture into the class, including books or movies or news and information about society in order to make language a less abstract entity for my students.

 

Chinese Mandarin Teacher in London

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Teacher name: Valeria

Teachers share a significant responsibility in shaping students’ long-life learning approach. Although my teaching is eclectic and resist a clear philosophical classification, however it is possible to identify some fundamental values I always attempt to rely on; first of all conveying contents in an attractive way in order to keep students’ attention. Based on my experience, the constant search for new teaching materials together with the support of new technologies is a powerful combination to stimulate young people’s curiosity. Secondly, another important theme of my teaching I will emphasize is student autonomy. The teacher should provide students with learning skills needed to create independent study and research methodologies. I think that the best way to achieve this is to offer a wide range of academic contributions to a specific subject and encourage students in their own research papers to move beyond the mere description and make constructive suggestions.

During my Ph.D course I gave lectures on Chinese language and literature as Assistant Professor and worked for a project of e-learning Chinese lessons in order to provide courses with innovative tools. Both the two experiences have contributed to improve my teaching skills and methods and a deeper knowledge about modern and contemporary Chinese literature.
My work experience as Italian teacher and tutor in China from 2010 to 2013 allowed me to improve my knowledge of teaching and research methodologies as well as linguistic and literary analysis with focus on contemporary society and culture, language learning and comparative studies including Asian-European studies.
From September 2013 to July 2014 I worked as Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature at Sichuan University of Chengdu giving lectures in both Chinese and English. I was also responsible for the coordination of the Institute’s Comparative Literature programme organising lessons about Chinese and Western Literature and Cultures with a comparativistic approach.
When I taught at “L’Orientale” University I was part of a teacher teamwork responsible of developing an e-learning course on modern and contemporary Chinese literature. The team goal was to create an interactive context on Chinese history and society, including art, cinema and literature, which could provide the literary subject of greater depth and complexity and encourage a multidisciplinary approach. As a result, we had some success in creating a learning environment in which students could improve their synthesis capabilities and critical opinion.
Interaction with students is also essential to my approach; I tend to encourage informal discussion and I use to consider eventual learning problems as important feedbacks for my teaching. When planning a curriculum I am always aware of their different learning needs and styles, what they have already learned and what they will need to learn in the future. Listen to students has been crucial to improve myself as a teacher.
As for this issue, my experience as teacher of Comparative Literature at Sichuan University has been crucial; listening to students’ feedbacks has helped me to adapt my course according to their specific learning modes which, of course, were in part determined by their cultural background. When developing a seminar on the function of myth in literature I attempted to integrate it with some discussions about the use of myth in ancient Greek and Latin literature which have been useful not only to a deeper understanding of modern and contemporary Western authors, but have also provided students with hints about new research interests.

Italian Teacher in the City of London

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Name of the teacher: Barbara 

In my career as a teacher I have experienced each and every segment of the work starting from planning to assessing the course outcomes. What is so appealing to me about this job is that one works with but above all for people, getting to know their ways of learning, of interacting and of evolving, but at the same time it helps one get to know him/herself better as well, comparing themselves with one’s own strengths and weaknesses.

As a teacher, I have always tried to present contents with different methods (visual and auditive especially at a basic level, situation-oriented, interactive-communicative, at upper ones), but I have also taken into consideration the importance of meta-cognitive strategies, peer-tutoring, cooperative learning, which are pivotal to set the best and most varied approaches and learning strategies during a lesson in a classroom and outside.

Using authentic materials, taken from different sources (books, newspapers, magazines, blogs, internet, etc…) is a must and always positively affects learners’ interest and involvement. Another key-word is supporting the autonomy of students, scaffolding and encouraging them to achieve their learning goals; to do that it is very important to augment students’ talking time and reduce teacher’s talking time, by presenting activities, games and exercises which allow them to practise the language, knowing that the
teacher is anyway there ready to help.

I am conscious that many obstacles can prevent a very good learning process from taking place, like peer-pressure and other psychological obstacle to acquisition, so I try to create a positive, cheerful, very
involving class-setting, where anybody can feel at ease and take part into lesson activities. Teaching and learning is a complex, delicate process that only takes place when it is based on a good interaction among partakers and when the atmosphere positively stimulates them to get involved.

Learners need to trust their “guide” and feel they can express themselves, so I would tend to accept their participation and give the appropriate feedback, supporting and giving some advice if needed to further improve their skills and inform them about their progression routes.

I am keen on studying and widening my teaching skills so I regularly attend courses to widen my competences and keep me updated. As you can see from my resumé, I graduated in 2006 with a Master Degree in Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures; last year I completed a Post-Graduate Teacher Training during which I had the chance to work as Teaching Assistant side by side to Mrs Salzano, an MFL teacher in charge of supervising and observing my training.

Here in London, I attended a course about Behaviour Management in challenging classroom and I am in possess of the Enhanced CRB required to work with pupils.
Among the other certifications I took a Certificate of Proficiency in English, the “Teaching Knowledge Test – Module 3 and “Teaching Knowledge Test – Clil” at the ESOL Cambridge University Local Examiner and School, “The British School” where I was given the chance to be part of the team as an English teacher for young learners and as an invigilator during ESOL exams.

Concerning my experience, I started working as a teacher and tutor for a local association, GIOSEF -Italy, planning, delivering and assessing lessons for University students visiting our country and attending EUProgrammes,
like Leonardo and/or Erasmus. Meanwhile I started cooperating for “The British School” as an MFL teacher and invigilator. Then, I was hired by a Primary School as an English teacher and after 3 years I was called from a State Secondary School in a near city to teach German language and civilization. At the end of 2013 I had also the chance to be hired as a Commissioner for Final State Exams (High School Diploma).

Regarding the books, I tend to create a mix between some online sources, bespoke exercise and activities, and some books, like “Espresso”, “Noi”, “Italian Grammar Drills”, but I am always open to students’ input and so to sort fo create a “new formula” each time.

 

Teaching and learning is a complex, delicate process that only takes place when it is based on a good interaction among partakers and when the atmosphere positively stimulates them to get involved. This is the reason why I always try to create a positive, cheerful, very engaging class-setting, where anybody can feel at ease and take part into lesson activities. The approach I tend to implement is the meta-cognitive where the learner is encouraged and actively engaged to explore and gaining self-awareness about his cognitive processes, thus developing autonomy of thoughts, independent judgement and recognition of their limits, abilities and chances. I have been working in the educational field for more than 15 years and I still think this is a challenging but very rewarding and enriching profession, and I really wish to put all my knowledge, skills and heart to good use to prove myself an efficient teacher.

Russian, Chinese and Serbo Croat teachers in London

Elana Stojkov – Polish and Russian

Hi everyone. I’m Elana, originally from The Ukraine and I teach Polish and Russian to anyone who wants to learn. I’ve been teaching adults for about four years here, but I was a teacher of children in middle school in The Ukraine, ages 9 to 11. I am a very patient teacher and I know that Eastern Bloc languages are very difficult to learn, but I really believe that with hard work and a positive attitude, anyone can become a perfect speaker. Spaseeba (Thank you in Russian) for reading about me and I hope to see you in my classes. Do widzenia (Polish for goodbye).

Li Min Lao – Chinese Mandarin

Nee how students. I am teacher Li Min Lao from the Beijing Province in China. I came to this country to help people learn about the culture of my country, and the beautiful and musical language that I speak. I hold a degree in Chinese cultural studies and am currently working towards getting my Masters degree. I hope to teach everyone about all of the history of China, and we can even learn about Chinese food together. I hope you will join my class, from the youngest student to the oldest, and we can all become lovers of China together.

Adrijana Kajkavian – Serbo Croat

Zdravo, kako ste vi danas? Welcome to my teacher profile. My name is Adrijana – pronounced: ahd-ree-ah-nah – from beautiful Croatia. I only came to this country recently but I have already met many students who want to learn to speak in Serbo-Croat. I was a teacher of geography in my country, and I love to explain how beautiful Croatia is, and the deep and rich history is has built over many thousands of years. I hope you will join to my class, even if you already speak the language, because I have many things to teach you that you maybe don’t already know. Good to you in your studies and I hope vidimo se uskoro, which means, I will see you soon.

10 reasons to learn French

Why you should learn French?

 

French courses can dramatically improve your chances in your professional and personal lives. Learning a new language goes beyond learning a new vocabulary, it can effectively open doors, professionally and culturally. In this article we’ll take a look at the top ten reasons why you should consider taking French classes.

 

  1. Speaking French can help you get a job! Knowing this language can help you get employment at a French company as well as in other countries that have French among their primary languages, including some of the most sought after job markets like Canada, Switzerland, and many countries in Africa. France is among the world’s economic powerhouses.
  2. The French language can allow you to communicate with the world. Don’t forget that French is spoken on five continents and more than sixty countries.
  3. Broaden your travel horizons. France is the top touristic destination in the world. Knowing French can help you get acquainted with many of the amazing travel destinations located in the Hexagon much more intimately than non-French speakers (after all, French people aren’t exactly known for their openness to foreign culture,) not to mention all the other countries where French is spoken regularly.
  4. French is used extensively in all the fine arts and in fields like fashion and cooking. Learning French on a language  course can significantly broaden your access to culture and art.
  5. France has some of the best universities in Europe and, in many fields, the world. Learning this language can open doors for any young aspiring professional wishing to study in these world-class establishments.
  6. Taking some French lessons can help you communicate on the Internet or on the media. French is the third most popular language on the Internet and France’s radio and TV are well-known all around the world.
  7. French is the language of diplomacy and it is  an essential part of the formation of any aspiring diplomat or specialist in foreign relations. From the United Nations to the European Union, French is the official language of many important international organizations.
  8. Attending language courses can help you learn other languages with greater ease. As one of the many so-called romance tongues, French can make it easier for you to learn languages like Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese.
  9. Learning French is not that hard! It is is among the most popular languages in the world. Because of that, there are plenty of methods to assist people wanting to learn it, making it more accessible.
  10. It is the language of love. According to popular culture, French is simply a beautiful language.

The Language class in London organises French courses in London for anyone who want to start learning this popular modern language from scratch or for those who want to brush up their existing skills. Classes are interactive and well planned to allow the student to start practising the language from the first lesson.

Post GCSE and A Levels how to retain your language abilities in London

Say that you have put in the considerable effort necessary in getting your GCSE, a University Degree, or an A level in a particular language. However, actually learning a language is only the beginning, it is often just as difficult to keep your language skills from getting rusty. That’s because languages require immersion and constant use. Otherwise, you are apt to forget a lot of your vocabulary and also have problems retaining your fluency. That is where language conversation classes come in! Even if you live in a country where you cannot practice your second language, language conversation classes can help you practice your skills and make sure that they are not forgotten due to lack of use.

 

Language conversation classes are also great for intermediate and advanced speakers looking for a less structured course. Often, at the advanced levels there are little alternatives but official courses designed to prepare students for some kind of accreditation, exam, or diploma. However, many people do not want that, they may simply want to practice their second language in a relaxed environment without the pressure of an examination. While you can do a lot of things to practice your skills on your own (for example, watching TV in a foreign language, watching foreign films, travelling frequently, and reading the news in a second language,) these kinds of activities are only effective up to a point. Eventually you are going to want to have real live speakers to interact with.

 

While regular language conversation classes are often hard to find, speakers in London have access to a great service within easy reach. These kinds of courses will usually be quite open ended and will typically last from two to three months with one or two weekly sessions. They do not need to be too often as the whole point of language conversation classes is simply to practice an already acquired skill, rather than learning a whole new language. Because of this, they are often also considerably more accessible than traditional language courses. Best of all, language conversation classes tend to be a lot of fun, more of a guided social gathering where you will meet interesting people, learn new things, and practice fun activities while at the same time keeping your second language skills from stagnating. Remember constant practice is the best way to keep your acquired language skills polished. Do not let your years of hard work go to waste because of lack of practice, look for a language conversation class today!