Karen

I’m a friendly, experienced and encouraging English language tutor, happy to help with all aspects of the language, from exam English to business English or for general English. I encourage and allow learners to express themselves as much as possible, while offering feedback on grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. What keeps me motivated is seeing my learners’ language improve.

Tutoring Experience

I’ve been teaching for over 30 years, mostly in private language schools both abroad and in the UK. I’ve also been a teacher trainer.

Tutoring Approach

My lessons are simply based on what the learners need and enjoy. A typical lesson contains a focus on speaking and listening, with vocabulary building and a review of any new or problematic grammatical areas. I also use authentic sources of material and texts to help with reading and listening comprehension and always include time to look at issues with pronunciation, such as problem sounds or intonation.
I have a very flexible approach but at all times I make sure that there’s time for the learners to communicate and express themselves freely, as well as giving the learners personalised and focussed feedback on both positive aspects of their English and areas for improvement in the future.
After each meeting, I send learners a written record of the lesson which shows the new language that we’ve looked at and also shows examples of errors that were made, as well as a corrected version. This means that the learners don’t have to make notes during the lesson, leaving them better able to concentrate on the lesson itself. The written records also show the learners the progress they’ve made.
Above all, I try to personalise the lesson content as much as possible, making sure that the content is meaningful and memorable. What works well for one individual might not work well for someone else, so my approach to teaching always takes this into account. My lessons are designed to maximise the learners’ time so that each lesson makes a clear difference to their learning experience.