Lisa

I have been teaching for seventeen years. My philosophy is that anyone can learn a language if they are given the right tools and are shown how to learn. I am creative, serious, academic, thorough and systematic in my approach to lesson planning.

Having lived in Spain for twelve years and as a language student, I have many cross-cultural abilities, I am open-minded, approachable, bright and friendly. I am an enthusiastic and self-motivated person who believes that we can achieve whatever we set our mind to, and this is what I hope and aim to pass onto my students.

In addition to the classes listed here, I am also available for preparing Cambridge FCE, CAE & CPE, & IELTS, academic English and conversational English with error correction activities.

Tutoring Experience

After finishing my PGCE in MFL, I taught French to Key Stage 3 and Spanish to GCSE and A-level. Following that I lived in Madrid for ten years, where I taught English as an additional language to primary, secondary and adult students with the British Council. I also gave one-to-one lessons. More recently, I taught English in a Secondary School in Barcelona. I prepared classes for all levels and abilities and I have in depth knowledge and experience of writing didactic materials. I also have extensive experience preparing students for FCE, CAE & CPE Cambridge Examinations.

I am an inquisitive teacher who believes in life-long learning and have attended many training sessions during my time in Spain on different aspects of language learning. At International House (2005) I completed the young learner certificate course. I have copious methods and skills in building reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. I am adept at teaching grammar and error correction.

Tutoring Approach

The old adage of “one learns by doing” would probably be the best way to describe my teaching approach. As an experienced and highly capable teacher, language learner and also a graduate in psychology, as well as in French and Spanish, I have a deep understanding of learning theories and how people learn.

In my classes I teach language but also the skills, methods, ways of thinking that make language learning easier. I also make my students question what they believe of themselves as language learners, so as to have a more positive regard of their ability.

We learn language through the language learning activities we engage in and our language learning environment. Therefore, in my classes, I create learning situations that bring the language to life, make people think for themselves and create their own understanding of the language. In this way, they construct a deeper understanding of the language and are more able to produce it in writing and speech in the future. I teach from a communicative approach and build knowledge up through a continuum in a progressive and systematic way.

Depending on the type of focus you have for your class will depend on the type of lesson I teach. Therefore part of the first lesson together will involve a needs analysis to enable me to prepare highly functional lessons for your needs.

Finally, I am a patient teacher who genuinely understands the needs, worries, anxieties and abilities of language learners. I look forward to hearing about your language learning needs.