Babette

I am a French national with an inquisitive mind therefore speaking foreign languages helps me extend my understanding of the world around me. After living in the UK, in Greece and in Italy for many years, I am now back in my native Burgundy, in Central France. Apart from foreign languages, my interests are current affairs, literature and history. When I lived in the South Downs Park, I instigated a twinning with the beautiful Normandy village of Veules les Roses, started a very popular French Film Club and gave lectures in Charleston Farmhouse about the relations between the "Bloomsbury" artists and French artists.

Tutoring Experience

I like to say I started teaching when I was only five. My first pupil was my disable elder brother and I was desperately trying to teach him to count to 10. My next teaching job was as a relief teacher in Burgundy and that was when I was studying sociology, pedagogy and psychology at Dijon University. After obtaining my TESOL in the UK, I started teaching English as a foreign language in Greece, before returning to the UK to teach French in a college of further education. I started teaching privately in 2000. I teach all levels, from GCSE to university degree level, Intermediate and advanced French for leisure.

All my one to one and my group lessons moved successfully to Skype with the first lockdown.

Tutoring Approach

My approach varies according to the specific requirements of each student. What remains the same is my unwavering support. Also, I find that the best way to keep my students learning is to start a conversation based on their own input with a weekly "Quoi de Neuf?" and to stimulate their curiosity with topics taken in the news. Lastly, I usually manage to turn the most "grammarphobe" student into a "grammarphile.".
Not everybody has the same needs or expectations, and that's why I am offering different types of lessons at different prices:
supported conversation (£35), lessons with a follow up feedback email and personalized quizlet (£40) and exam preparation (£40).
I love my job. Teaching A Level students makes me feel fortunate to be able to meet so many bright young people and many of my adult students have become lifelong friends.
Having felt, as a mature Italian A level student, that my college teacher was too overworked to be innovative and attentive to her students' needs, I limit my number of lessons to a maximum of four a day.