Information About Elena - Southwark teacher

Personal Description:

My name is Elena, I am Italian but fluent in English and German.

I graduated in Translation and Interpretation at Scuole Civiche Milano, Dipartimento di Lingue (Centre for Translation Studies Milan)
and further qualified in Translation from English and German into Italian (and viceversa) at UNIVERSIT MARC BLOCH de Strasbourg.

I left university in 2001 to work as a free-lance translator (English and German to Italian) for various Italian publishers, such as Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Editore, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore and Il Saggiatore.

I also did sub-contract work for an agency involved in making subtitles for films, TV series for the DVD market and subtitles for productions for SKY TV.

Teaching Experience:

From March 2006 to July 2007, I taught audiovisual translation from German into Italian at Scuole Civiche Milano, Dipartimento di Lingue (Centre for Translation Studies Milan)

In 2007 I entered into teaching Italian to foreigners living in Milan.
This involved an intensive training course in teaching and a certificate awarded by International House, Milan.
Since then I have been working full time in language schools, teaching Italian on a one-to-one as well as on a group basis.
I have experience in teaching people of different nationalities and age, from kids/teenagers to adult professionals.

Teaching Approach:

I use a communicative method, which is student centered and where the target language is used from the first lesson.
Starting from a context, students learn new vocabulary, then reading a text or listening to a dialogue they find out about grammar or other aspects of the language. Written and oral practice follow.
This method is both very effective and fun, we won't just study grammar and write, there will be lots of games and conversation involved.

I also help younger learners with homeworks and uni students with preparation of exams and proof-reading of assignments.