Jane

Hello! My name is Jane and I have been a professional English Language teacher ever since leaving university, balancing this with family life. I have taught and worked in all corners of the globe throughout my career, including in England, Spain, Hong Kong, and East Africa. The countries I have worked in have given me an understanding of what it means to learn a new language and appreciate a new culture, and I enjoy encouraging my students to feel the same enthusiasm that I felt in these new places.

I am an avid reader and use that love of books to bring enjoyment to my classes by using classic and modern texts to open students’ minds and to support the learning of grammar in an enjoyable way. I much prefer teaching through using interesting sources - particularly books but also magazines, websites and other material - rather than through vocab lists and grammar (though these are necessary too!).

Through my other interests such as yoga, swimming and tennis I am aware of what it means to make incremental improvements to a new skill through focused training. Most especially, I took up tap dancing last year to train both mind and body to learn something entirely new. I know just what it takes to achieve, whether at something brand new or something you may have struggled with for years.

Tutoring Experience

My teaching experience began in Spain, continued in Hong Kong, carried on in East Africa and is currently in the UK. I have experience in teaching children and adults from many different walks of life. I have taught in schools, community colleges and privately. Working in England as a teacher of English as a Second Language, I have enjoyed helping students to achieve their academic goals through, for example, IELTS; and their non-academic goals through helping them to integrate and make contact with different organisations such as sports clubs or the NHS. I have also guided students through the UK Citizenship exams. Of equal importance is my teaching Literacy to adult learners whose first language is English and who struggled to achieve at school. They come back to learn with a will and need help in all 4 skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing.

Teaching away from England is a different and equally rewarding experience. I taught in a rural school in East Africa and have gained a clear picture of what it means to be very poor and very committed to learning. I also taught in Hong Kong, where adults, who had been working all day, would come to classes in the late evening, alert and determined to learn.

My teaching includes English as a Foreign Language, English as a Second Language (for those settling in Britain who need help integrating) and English for Academic Purposes (IELTS), and Adult Literacy.

In order to help students to the best of my ability I have a masters degree in Applied Linguistics, a postgraduate certificate in Education and a Diploma in English Language Teaching and am a published course author of 1) Essay Writing and 2) Formal speaking for the prestigious, award-winning educational school: Oxford Royale Academy.

Tutoring Approach

My approach to tutoring is to first listen to the student and find out what they want to achieve. I then work out from an analysis of their problems and strengths how they can best achieve those goals. There would therefore be an initial period of analysis, looking into the problems that need to be overcome to achieve the end goal. That analysis would include listening to the student and examining in detail their current skills: their abilities in reading, writing, speaking and listening.

I would proceed to build a course for the student with the ultimate aim of achieving those goals. I would choose which materials would be best and how best to apply them in learning tutorials. Those tutorials and the way they are conducted will depend on the amount of time and dedication the learner is able to give to their course. Would the learner, for example, be able to do homework?

Each student, depending on age and interests would be treated as an individual and the course would therefore be tailor-made to them.
My approach is student-based but tutor-led. There would be a strong emphasis on what is grammatically accurate in writing; what is authentic in listening; what is skilful in reading, and finally what is communicatively appropriate in speaking.