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Catherine

Catherine

A French national, I have been living in Britain since 1989.
I qualified as a teacher in 1998 and since then I have worked as a teacher of French, in secondary schools, in adult education and privately. I have taught Spanish up to KS3 also. I studied German at school for 5 years.
I am an examiner for GCSE French AQA since 2018. I also worked as a AS examiner for AQA for three years a few years ago. Additionally, I teach for the European Framework of Languages diploma (for people seeking to apply for French Nationality or for the equivalent of French Settled Status.

Over the past seven years, I have specialised in teaching GCSE and A-Level with all examination boards. From a learning or teaching point of view, it still means being rigorous with the process, understanding, memorising and practising. It's all much easier with an experienced tutor.

In addition, I am very "au fait" with the British examination system.
On a more personal note, I am friendly, kind, honest and welcoming. Please look below for extra feedback received this year:
By text:
Clare 20/08/2015: Thanks so much for the fantastic help you gaveLuke with his French. He got an A! Totally brilliant as he has always struggled with the subject. Thank you. Clare x

By text:
Ella 13/08/2015
Hi, this is Ella, I just found my A level results, and my French was a very high B!! Merci beaucoup pour votre aide. I needed a B, so I was very pleased, and I’m hoping it might go up to an A with a remark. Overall, I was predicted a C and in my A2 mock I got an E (so I made rather a lot of progress!)

By text:
Libby 23/08/2015
Hi Catherine!
Yes! I got the A in French!! Yay!! And I have you to thank for so thank you so much!

By email:
Emma 18/08/2015
Emma and her French ALevel‏ - Anna

Dear Catherine,

We hope all is well with you.

I just want dot let you know that Emma has a got her A level results and she got A for French which made her accepted to Warwick University.

We are really over the moon about this and wanted to say a big thank you for you for all the help and guidance you gave to Emma. Without your expert support and encouragement this grade would have been much more difficult.

So thanks again and we hope we will hear from you in the future.
Kind regards,
Anna

Hello Catherine (04/09/2015)
Alice got a "B" GRADE in IGCSE although her mark was close to the A grade boundary so it is being re-marked. Thank you for all your help....Alice would never have achieved this without you.
Kind regards
Christine

Tutoring Experience

I have been teaching for 24 years, first in schools, then privately. My students include people of all ages, from zero year (my children!) to over eighty.
I have also worked in adult education for five years and privately for 15 years. I am friendly and patient, I explain things in different ways, as and when necessary, and I am used to students learning in different ways. I give a stong foundation in pronunciation and verbs as they are the most difficult to master at school.

Many students decide to stay with me for over a year and I also regularly get to teach some of their siblings or acquaintances, which is very encouraging and rewarding.

Tutoring Approach

I enjoy teaching very much and sharing the buzz we get when progress is being made.
My approach consists in finding out what people already know, how they enjoy learning and what they wish to learn. It all starts from there.
Together, we work on the skills that need developing, for example, how to pronounce correctly by learning all the pronunciation tricks, how to memorise vocabulary or how to put words in the correct order. I help students to feel confident about themselves in a professional, yet relaxed and fun atmosphere.

LanguagesFrench, English (British), Spanish
AvailabilityWeekdays (all times)
References Available On File

Qualifications

Open university1998PGCETeaching qualification from 11 to 19 years old (A-level) 1998
Swansea university1996OtherBA (Hons) French language, culture, politics and literature from a British perspective
OFQUAL2013ProfessionalOCR Level 3 Award
Qualified Mindfulness trainer2017ProfessionalMindfullness Teacher 1st part of a course

Catherine's Feedback

Feedback
40
Published feedback
37
Unpublished feedback (Usually negative)3
Catherine
Rating from 2 references
Reliability

Trustworthiness

Professionalism
Subjects taught
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