Alison

Hello, I am a friendly, qualified and experienced EFL/ESOL tutor offering 1:1 private tutorials online (restricted online times at the moment) at all levels (elementary, intermediate and advanced) as well as:

• Cambridge exam prep/IELTS
• Proof-reading of assignments/dissertations
• Business English
• Medical English

I am also a fully qualified and experienced medical secretary, having worked in Manchester, Leeds and London and I am currently working from home as a part-time medical transcriptionist.

Tutoring Experience

After completing my MA at the University of Manchester, I successfully passed my TESOL Certificate (Trinity College London) at City College Manchester as a result of many international students I lived with in halls encouraging me to embark upon TEFL. I then travelled to Leipzig in former East Germany and taught EFL to a wide range of adults for almost 18 months for the Berlitz Sprachschule. I taught groups of business employees, eg, at Deutsche Bank and Siemens, as well as general conversational English to students and offered private 1:1 sessions. (Levels included false beginners, intermediate and upper intermediate students).

In 2000, I returned to the UK to study for a PGCE in Further Education at Cardiff University, where I mainly taught ESOL to refugees, asylum seekers and some college/university students. After successfully completing my PGCE, I taught EFL/ESOL at the South Cheshire College for about nine months. Unfortunately, my contract came to an end due to a budget shortfall at the college which meant I had to return to medical secretarial work in Manchester where I occasionally taught EFL privately on a 1:1 basis, both adults and children.

Tutoring Approach

I have a relaxed approach to tutoring and have proved that this achieves the best results. I like to think I can put my students at their ease, realising that sometimes learners have a diffident approach to learning EFL due to cultural differences and language barriers. I have taught many different nationalities - mainly adults, but also some young children. I try to tailor my lessons to the requirements of my students/pupils when I can and use a variety of teaching strategies to cater for all learning styles. I can motivate and inspire students, but also challenge them to perform beyond their expected grades. Students need to feel success and have a series of challenging but achievable short term goals.