Information About Carol - Bucknell teacher

Personal Description:

My name is Carol and I am a fully qualified and experienced teacher and examiner in French and German. I am an English native speaker but my childhood was spent between UK and Germany due to my father's job. We moved to the UK permanently whilst I was studying for my GCSEs. I went on to take French and German at A 'Level and then degree level, spending the 3rd year of my degree living and studying in Germany and France. Straight after completing my degree, I studied for my PGCE in French and German Secondary Level teaching in the late 1990's and then I started working as a languages teacher in 1997. I have been an examiner for MFL writing papers for several years for Edexcel and AQA and being a grammar specialist led to a contract for KS2 Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling SATs papers and Reading papers. I write my own resources and assessments and a lot of my resources appear on well-known websites including exam boards. I live with my husband and children and enjoy playing the piano and clarinet when time allows.

Teaching Experience:

I started teaching straight after my PGCE and have continued ever since, mainly KS3 and KS4 teaching French and German in Secondary schools. Taking maternity leave and relocation into account, I have over 24 years of experience in teaching. During this time, I was also asked to teach in Primary schools at times, so I have experience at Primary level in MFL and English. I have been tutoring for several years and whilst most of my students are KS3 and GCSE level, I tutor all age ranges - currently that ranges from 8 to 76 years old. In 2020 during the first lock-down, I made the decision to leave full-time teaching and I now tutor full-time. Due to the exam marking and assessment writing, I am always up to date on changes and am constantly amending work to reflect these changes. Exam marking includes intensive training each year.

Teaching Approach:

I take my role very seriously and prioritise ensuring my learners are making significant progress, whilst establishing good and productive relationships. I set and mark homework if learners would like it and I share my resources. I see my role as supporting and extending, i.e. filling any gaps they may have and then pushing them towards the next steps. I like to bring humour into lessons and have a friendly and supportive manner, whilst quietly challenging them at the same time. Value for money is key and I feel it is important that students feel they are getting as much out of me as possible and I believe my love for teaching and languages shows through very clearly.