Around half of my students are between 11-16 years old and attend most of our local schools, both state and private.
Many children struggle with languages at school and, sadly after an initial enthusiasm, develop a dislike for them. Unlike other subjects where missing one section of the course may have little impact on another, in a language, everything is connected. Once you start to get behind it is very difficult to keep up. Parents may be at a loss when it comes to helping because they are not familiar with the language themselves. I compare learning a language to building a house - weak points early on cannot create a strong structure later on. In language, structure = grammar. Very little grammar is taught in most schools nowadays and in my opinion this is the route of the problem for most youngsters. The senior school children I teach are strongly encouraged to learn the structure of verbs and usually a large proportion of time is spent on this. I do this in as fun a way as possible and it is always geared to the examination course. My students often report an improvement in their school work due to greater clarity after a few weeks. The great majority of my students achieve the top grades in their GCSE exams.
In addition, I teach youngsters who have a special interest in or talent for a language. They may wish to take a GCSE early or in addition to their other school subjects. These students also achieve excellent results.
I also teach primary school children privately (as well as running language clubs in local primary schools). My aim is for every child – whether 6 or 16 - to learn to see languages as fun and useful because they start to put their knowledge to good use. I want the children to shine in their school classes rather than dread them.
Please feel free to call to discuss any specifics before booking.
Many children struggle with languages at school and, sadly after an initial enthusiasm, develop a dislike for them. Unlike other subjects where missing one section of the course may have little impact on another, in a language, everything is connected. Once you start to get behind it is very difficult to keep up. Parents may be at a loss when it comes to helping because they are not familiar with the language themselves. I compare learning a language to building a house - weak points early on cannot create a strong structure later on. In language, structure = grammar. Very little grammar is taught in most schools nowadays and in my opinion this is the route of the problem for most youngsters. The senior school children I teach are strongly encouraged to learn the structure of verbs and usually a large proportion of time is spent on this. I do this in as fun a way as possible and it is always geared to the examination course. My students often report an improvement in their school work due to greater clarity after a few weeks. The great majority of my students achieve the top grades in their GCSE exams.
In addition, I teach youngsters who have a special interest in or talent for a language. They may wish to take a GCSE early or in addition to their other school subjects. These students also achieve excellent results.
I also teach primary school children privately (as well as running language clubs in local primary schools). My aim is for every child – whether 6 or 16 - to learn to see languages as fun and useful because they start to put their knowledge to good use. I want the children to shine in their school classes rather than dread them.
Please feel free to call to discuss any specifics before booking.