Information About Michèle - Aylesbury teacher -

(34 reviews)

Personal Description:

I am a native French speaker, born and educated in Paris where I graduated from the Sorbonne University. I worked as full time French teacher for over 25 years until a few years ago when I retired from classroom teaching whilst keeping up with the changes in the various syllabuses and focused on one to one French teaching and becoming a Pilates instructor ( P.E. being my subsidiary subject ) I am therefore extremely experienced and I consider myself a very dedicated teacher, eager to see the students progress and enjoy learning about French culture at the same time as they improve their command of the language. I have become convinced that the most efficient way of learning other than total immersion is the one to one approach. including face to face online via Skype. It has allowed me to enable my students to progress faster, get motivated and achieve their potential.

Teaching Experience:

I have taught French and English to adults (managerial staff and trainees) in the private sector, in small groups and individually.
Subsequently, I have taught French from KS3 to KS5, full-time on permanent contracts for over 25 years. At the same time I have tutored my own son to passing his French G.C.S.E. with the top mark in the country, and his French A Level with flying colours. As a result he graduated in French at Oxford University with the highest mark in the oral exam. A few years ago, one of my A Level students whom I tutored privately obtained the top marks in the country in every module of the Edexcel exam. I have recently helped some of my A level and G.C.S.E. students to obtain top grades with the sole benefit of my tuition as they could not find the time to study French at school. I am extremely experienced in coaching students to success in their G.C.S.E. and A Level French exams and the overwhelming majority of my students systematically achieve their potential or better. For over 20 years I was responsible for virtually all the A Level French teaching at school and have always acted as teacher-examiner for both G.C.S.E. and A Level. Last year (2017) all the students I prepared for Oxbridge were offered a place partly thanks to their grade in French. Last year (2018) one of my students improved her A2 Level grade from E to A in the writing paper with the sole benefit of my tuition and as a result was able to attend her first choice of University. This year (2019) one of my online GCSE students obtained a mark of 95% having completed the course in one year only. Several of my students including online ones obtained A* grades in the new GCSE . Furthermore in the space of one year only another one of my students obtained a grade A* (minus one point) at A Level, 3 years after he last studied French at school Quite an achievement for both of us!

Teaching Approach:

First, I assess what each student is aiming to gain from the private tuition, whether it be coaching for written and/or oral examinations, building confidence in communicating within a given context, improving pronunciation,mastering the finer points of grammar, studying French literature etc. I also quickly evaluate the level and ability of individual student through gentle probing and questioning. I go on to prepare an appropriate programme of study and gather material such as PowerPoint presentations, tailor made practice exercises, Past Papers, relevant websites, use visual and aural aids to add interest. With online students, who are in the majority at the moment, I make extensive use of Skype and Google Docs which have proved to be extremely flexible and reliable tools. I can give feedback on line between lessons to maximise efficiency of personal contact time. Basically it all depends on what the student wishes to achieve.Because I know the subject so well I can be extremely flexible and can instantly fine tune my approach according to the need of a student at any given moment. Thanks to my long experience I have become extremely responsive to the all-important feedback I get from my students, encouraging questioning of course, taking into account their correct or incorrect responses, hesitations, even body language. I hope my students find my enthusiasm catching and I try to ensure that they are never bored by striving to make the teaching process a constructive exchange between two people who share the same goal.