stephen

A genuine language nut with a love for all things French, I look forward to helping adult learners of all abilities improve their speaking, writing and comprehension skills in the French language.
I have an MA in French and Spanish from Aberdeen University (1998) and have spent a total of over 8 years in Spain, Chile and especially France (Paris, Toulouse and Pau), where I worked as an English language assistant at the local university for one year.
My background in print journalism and freelance translation and general love of travelling, art, literature, history and current affairs help me to connect with people from all walks of life and engage with a wide array of topics.
I particularly enjoy helping learners improve their pronunciation, this being an especially strong suit of mine.

Tutoring Experience

I taught and set written and oral English language classes at the Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour (1998/1999), working with all levels from First-year to Masters, Business Studies with English and CAPES (teacher training). During this time, I also did some one-to-one English language tutoring with adult learners, with the main focus being on pronunciation and oral fluency.
I have recently started teaching French on a private basis to individuals in addition to my translation and English language SEO writing activities.

Tutoring Approach

I am a great believer in a learner-led approach and try to weave the client's interests through my lessons where possible.
I am not afraid to teach grammar and strongly feel that without a strong grammatical framework students will struggle to progress far.
I like using visual aids to help students acquire vocabulary - if we can remember how and where we learnt something we are much more likely to retain that knowledge for longer.