Elodie

Dear parents and students,

My name is Elodie. I am a native French speaker. I have been living and studying in Paris, London, and I am now based in Oxford, where I am completing my Phd. My background is in linguistics and I have been tutoring French privately for children and adult learners for many years. The time that I invest in each student has meant that their grades and overall confidence have systematically gone up, allowing them to move on to good schools, universities or to work abroad with a positive mindset. I teach French extensively in Oxford and to adult learners internationally as well. I consistently receive outstanding feedback for how I structure and approach each lesson, always striving to impart knowledge whilst enhancing my students' understanding and confidence along the way.

I formerly obtained a Bachelor’s degree at the Paris Sorbonne with honours, in French and English literature, history and linguistics, which gave me a thorough understanding from the inside out on how these two languages work and how they ultimately differ. I have also been living in England for the last 15 years, almost just as much as my time growing up in France. From this experience alone, I have undoubtedly gained a very rich perspective on the nature of these two countries and their respective languages.

I have been teaching French for over 10 years. In my time in Oxford, I have taught to a vast array of young students, coming from every background and from a large spectrum of schools, public and private. My students' grades and confidence have always improved significantly, and I take immense pleasure in witnessing and being a part of their academic and personal growth. For my older students, I also frequently organise visits and talks on Renaissance and Baroque art in French and in English at the Ashmolean, as a way to ground the language in material culture. I am also currently learning Italian for my doctorate, which I have had to learn from scratch with a teacher, a necessity which has also given me a unique chance to fill the shoes of my students, as I myself experience once again the many challenges, struggles but also breakthroughs that they themselves face on their journey towards French fluency.

I hope that I have given you all the information that you may need for now, but do not hesitate to reach out again if you have more questions.

Tutoring Experience

I am fun, enthusiastic and creative and my approach to learning a language follows these principles - it should be a positive and exciting experience, not a a painful task!

I am very organised and dedicated to my students who all receive an all-rounded service from me, in and outside of the classroom. My classes are not ‘pre-packaged’, they are all prepared and structured around the current knowledge, rhythm and need of each student. In my opinion it is really what makes lessons with a private tutor so much more valuable and rewarding in the long run for a student. Everything in my classes is very personalised and I really care about working around the specific interests and specificity of each student too when I prepare exercises, homework or give a book or article recommendation. I prepare all the documents that the student need for each lesson and the process is very organic, smooth yet very structured.

I try to keep myself quite flexible to suit my students' schedules and I am available online to meet you if you wish. The first introductory meeting is always free, it is mainly for us to get to know each other a little and for me to come up with a suitable program of classes for you, if you would like to start working with me. But this initial meeting in no way forces you to book subsequent classes with me.

Tutoring Approach

My approach to learning a language is focused on positivity, the time spent together should be an exciting and immersive experience, not a painful task!

Every tutoring lesson has three parts:

• Pre- tutoring homework: generally sent by email, marked and examined during lessons
• Tutoring: step by step analysis of any questions that you might be struggling with, focusing on isolating and correcting the part of the process which you are struggling with.
• Homework: generally given afterwards by email, after being adjusted to suit the student's needs.