Donna

Hi My name is Donna and I live Manchester, although I am originally from the lovely city of Chester about 40 miles away. I started teaching English after I graduated from university in 1996. At first, it was a means to travel around the world but after my first year I found that I loved teaching English and I learnt so much about my own language. It was great to see the kids I taught progress and the exam results at the end of the year were very satisfying.So eventually teaching became my career and I took courses to build my skill set.
I have met so many great people and made many long lasting friendships over the years as well as learning a lot about other languages and cultures. It's a very rewarding job and a can't imagine doing anything else.
In my spare time I enjoy listening to music, reading crime fiction and cycling at the weekends. When I can, I also like to travel, it can be abroad or camping somewhere in the UK.

Tutoring Experience

I have been teaching for 25 years, 10 years at a private language school in Greece, where I taught all ages with a focus on the Cambridge examinations (KET, PET, FCE, CAE, CPE, IELTS and the American Michigan ECCP exam) I have also worked for two language schools in Leeds, where I taught adults from all over the world. I was responsible for the higher classes of the EAP (English for Academic Purposes). For the past ten years I have been a freelance tutor in Manchester , where I teach small groups. one-to-one classes and some corporate clients from the gas and oil industry. My learners range from absolute beginners to proficiency level and come from all four corners of the earth.

Tutoring Approach

My approach depends greatly on the learner's needs and reason for learning. However I would say that my classes are generally communicative in that I use a lot of activities to facilitate spoken practice of the language taught. I like to use a lot of role plays, picture prompts, discussion topics and games. With learners whose aim is to take an exam, the class will generally follow a syllabus, but for those who want to work on their communication skills, I often let the learner dictate the structure and theme of each lesson.