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Panagiota Spanish teacher in London

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To begin with, I obtain the IH Certificate in Spanish Language Teaching to Adults (CLTA), and I have interacted with students from diverse cultural backgrounds and various age groups (including children and adults). I have experience in both group and private classes. I have worked in a language school for two years and I have also been a private tutor for the past four years.

What is your teaching style?

I am quite creative when it comes to preparing classes and most of all at motivating my students. I encourage active class participation and use group activities to develop social and interpersonal skills. In addition, I can easily adapt to new methods and books, and I am comfortable working with DVDs, computers, and other teaching materials.
An other privilege for me is my character. I am always in a good mood, including my working hours since teaching is something I really enjoy. I am out-going and friendly and because of these qualities that I possess, my students are always really comfortable around me. That makes them participate more willingly in class, with no sense of fear or shame.
My teaching style is interactive. I teach classes based on “guided discovery technique” of learning, also known as an Inductive approach. This technique allows the students to understand the use of the language by themselves, while the teacher is just the guide who helps them, by giving examples, to figure out why or when each tense, word or expression should be used.
My classes are conducted in Spanish only, encouraging students to really learn rapidly.

Nadine Experienced German Teacher in London

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I have been teaching German in London since 2003, also in Switzerland between 2008 and 2011. Main focus is on one-to-one tuition but also do group tuition.

I have been teaching at companies such as Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, Barclays, JP Morgan, Bank of America, Nomura, Herbert Smith, Taylor Wessing, Moody’s etc. I also have been teaching adult group classes at International House which is also the language school where I did my teacher training course back in 2002.
I used to teach children (privately), too, however, this is not my main focus.
I usually follow a course book (“Willkommen”/”Passwort”) when I teach a complete beginner focusing on grammar and pronunciation but from higher levels (Mid/Upper A2) I prefer using my own material and the main focus is on speaking and writing.
Occasionally I also teach business German.

Italian Teacher in South London

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Teacher name: Alessia 

I possess language teaching experience in a range of environments. In 2007, I spent three months in India working at the Italian Consulate of Kolkata where I organised and held an Italian language course for beginners. Additionally, in 2009, I was appointed by the Italian Ministry of Education to serve as an Italian language assistant in three Austrian high schools. On that occasion, I delivered Italian classes at various levels, from beginners to intermediate and advanced; I also planned teaching units and collaborated with Head Teachers. I assessed students during exams and requested feedback. Moreover, in 2012, I participated in the organisation of language classes as part of a project to teach Italian to a group of asylum seekers from Africa whose first language was French. I currently teach Italian to children and adults through various agencies in London. Finally, in March 2014 I completed the accredited DITALS II training course to teach Italian as a Foreign Language and in October 2014 I obtained the DITALS II qualification to teach Italian as a foreign language. My experience ranges from children to teenagers and adults. I have experience teaching to groups of people and on a 1:1 basis and I also used online platform to share teaching materials with students and for students’ self assessment. My approach to language teaching is mostly communicative with the creation of communicative situations where students can use their language skills in context and in real-life situations. With young children, I tend to integrate this method with a Total Physical Response approach.

I have been a language student myself in the first place, therefore I am aware of the needs of students of foreign languages. I have a strong background in language acquisition and a strong knowledge of new technologies to make language learning an enjoyable process. I have a deep knowledge of the Italian culture, having been born and brought up in the South, but having studied in the North. I bring a lot of culture into the class, including books or movies or news and information about society in order to make language a less abstract entity for my students.

 

Chinese Mandarin Teacher in London

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Teacher name: Valeria

Teachers share a significant responsibility in shaping students’ long-life learning approach. Although my teaching is eclectic and resist a clear philosophical classification, however it is possible to identify some fundamental values I always attempt to rely on; first of all conveying contents in an attractive way in order to keep students’ attention. Based on my experience, the constant search for new teaching materials together with the support of new technologies is a powerful combination to stimulate young people’s curiosity. Secondly, another important theme of my teaching I will emphasize is student autonomy. The teacher should provide students with learning skills needed to create independent study and research methodologies. I think that the best way to achieve this is to offer a wide range of academic contributions to a specific subject and encourage students in their own research papers to move beyond the mere description and make constructive suggestions.

During my Ph.D course I gave lectures on Chinese language and literature as Assistant Professor and worked for a project of e-learning Chinese lessons in order to provide courses with innovative tools. Both the two experiences have contributed to improve my teaching skills and methods and a deeper knowledge about modern and contemporary Chinese literature.
My work experience as Italian teacher and tutor in China from 2010 to 2013 allowed me to improve my knowledge of teaching and research methodologies as well as linguistic and literary analysis with focus on contemporary society and culture, language learning and comparative studies including Asian-European studies.
From September 2013 to July 2014 I worked as Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature at Sichuan University of Chengdu giving lectures in both Chinese and English. I was also responsible for the coordination of the Institute’s Comparative Literature programme organising lessons about Chinese and Western Literature and Cultures with a comparativistic approach.
When I taught at “L’Orientale” University I was part of a teacher teamwork responsible of developing an e-learning course on modern and contemporary Chinese literature. The team goal was to create an interactive context on Chinese history and society, including art, cinema and literature, which could provide the literary subject of greater depth and complexity and encourage a multidisciplinary approach. As a result, we had some success in creating a learning environment in which students could improve their synthesis capabilities and critical opinion.
Interaction with students is also essential to my approach; I tend to encourage informal discussion and I use to consider eventual learning problems as important feedbacks for my teaching. When planning a curriculum I am always aware of their different learning needs and styles, what they have already learned and what they will need to learn in the future. Listen to students has been crucial to improve myself as a teacher.
As for this issue, my experience as teacher of Comparative Literature at Sichuan University has been crucial; listening to students’ feedbacks has helped me to adapt my course according to their specific learning modes which, of course, were in part determined by their cultural background. When developing a seminar on the function of myth in literature I attempted to integrate it with some discussions about the use of myth in ancient Greek and Latin literature which have been useful not only to a deeper understanding of modern and contemporary Western authors, but have also provided students with hints about new research interests.

Qualified Italian Teacher in London

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Name of the teacher: Martina 

I’m a qualified Italian Teacher and I have recently completed my teacher training at the Italian Cultural Institute in London.
I’ve always been interested in other cultures, languages and countries that’s the reason why I have decided to take my graduation in Linguistic and Cultural Mediation, studying French, English and Arabic.
I think that my enthusiasm in teaching Italian comes from the love for my country and the need to spread the main sides of our beautiful culture to people from different part of the world.
The student during each lesson has to be actively involved in the process of learning through the use of authentic sources like songs, audio, video, games, etc.. in order to enjoy himself while learning.

I’ve always had the idea that each student has to feel confident during the learning process and one of the most important things that a teacher has to do is to build with his students a sort of friendship in which they are not afraid to ask or make mistakes, they have to relax and don’t feel any kind of pressure.

Russian, Chinese and Serbo Croat teachers in London

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Elana Stojkov – Polish and Russian

Hi everyone. I’m Elana, originally from The Ukraine and I teach Polish and Russian to anyone who wants to learn. I’ve been teaching adults for about four years here, but I was a teacher of children in middle school in The Ukraine, ages 9 to 11. I am a very patient teacher and I know that Eastern Bloc languages are very difficult to learn, but I really believe that with hard work and a positive attitude, anyone can become a perfect speaker. Spaseeba (Thank you in Russian) for reading about me and I hope to see you in my classes. Do widzenia (Polish for goodbye).

Li Min Lao – Chinese Mandarin

Nee how students. I am teacher Li Min Lao from the Beijing Province in China. I came to this country to help people learn about the culture of my country, and the beautiful and musical language that I speak. I hold a degree in Chinese cultural studies and am currently working towards getting my Masters degree. I hope to teach everyone about all of the history of China, and we can even learn about Chinese food together. I hope you will join my class, from the youngest student to the oldest, and we can all become lovers of China together.

Adrijana Kajkavian – Serbo Croat

Zdravo, kako ste vi danas? Welcome to my teacher profile. My name is Adrijana – pronounced: ahd-ree-ah-nah – from beautiful Croatia. I only came to this country recently but I have already met many students who want to learn to speak in Serbo-Croat. I was a teacher of geography in my country, and I love to explain how beautiful Croatia is, and the deep and rich history is has built over many thousands of years. I hope you will join to my class, even if you already speak the language, because I have many things to teach you that you maybe don’t already know. Good to you in your studies and I hope vidimo se uskoro, which means, I will see you soon.

10 reasons to learn German

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Learning a language
  1. Did you know that German is the most extensively spoken language in Europe? Amazingly, the German language is spoken officially not only in Germany but in many other European countries including Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
  2. Knowing that Germany does really good business with Canada as an importer and exporter with earnings of at least EUR 2.409 billion every year, your global career is enhanced further if you know a second language such as German.
  3. Find more business opportunities with the country with the third strongest economy in the world – Germany.
  4. In the field of science, German is the second most used language. This is the reason why many scientists suggest that their students learn German. Germany also ranks third when it comes to contribution to research and development.
  5. Do you like reading books? Then you must be aware that one in ten books published worldwide is in the German language. Aside from that, German speakers generate at least 80,000 brand new titles annually. With the knowledge of German, enjoy more books than ever before.
  6. Germans like to travel a lot. This can be attested to the fact that they are allotted about six weeks of leave per year plus a lot of money to spend. In many cases, they end up travelling. This means it’s highly likely for you to bump into a German tourist to speak German to.
  7. Appreciate German literature, classical music, art and psychology even better if they’re heard or read in German.
  8. As far as internet presence is concerned, the German language bags the top two spot with more than eight million Internet domains with .de. You get to expand your web resources more when you do your research when you can read and understand German.
  9. Improve your language arts skills better by learning a second language such as German. Understand English better, improve your literacy rate and develop your listening skills by studying German.
  10. Consider learning another language such as German as part of your personal development. Boost your self-confidence and achieve a sense of fulfilment when you learn another language.

Interested students either beginners or more advanced levels can learn German in London with the language class. The schools offers private and group lessons in Liverpool street or at the student location, office or home. Call today for a quote or a free consultation.

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The advantages of private language lessons

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The Advantages Of Learning A Language With A Private Tutor

Learning a second or third language can be important in today’s every increasing global world. It is emphasized in schools and in the business arenas that anyone looking to succeed in an international field be sure that they learn at least one language beyond their native tongue. From online tutorials, to books, to software programs, private language lessons rank as the top way to learn a second language. To know why this is the case, the following explains just some of the advantages of learning a language with a private tutor.


Progress Faster

Private language lessonsallow individuals to learn a new language in a one-on-one setting. Often, there are only two individuals involved and this means that the course of learning can be directed quickly and efficiently. As a result of fewer distractions than a group setting, an individual undertaking the foreign language learning course will see themselves progressing faster.

The Student Is In Charge

A second advantage of taking private language lessons is rooted in the benefit it has to the student. Everyone learns in different ways and at a different pace. A group setting such as a classroom can often leave the individual learning style of a student behind as a result of a group approach to learning. When it comes to private language lessons, learning styles can be adapted to the student. This means that the best learning will occur because it is a student directed teaching environment. More information gets to the student and less is lost when compared with a larger classroom.

More Teacher Attention

The teacher, as aforementioned, is solely working with one student when private language lessons are being taken. Though there are clear benefits to the student, there are also great benefits to the teacher. Rather than being distracted by the needs of many, they can focus their skills on only one. This means that teachers can streamline their teaching approaches and see the fruits of their hard work more easily.

Less Intimidating Than Group Classes

A final benefit to the participation of individuals in private language lessons is the fact that intimidation is less of a concern for the student. In group settings, the more quiet or laidback individual can get lost in the muddle. Not only that, but students can become intimidated by the perceived perception of them by other students. This is a frustrating aspect of any group setting, but, with private language lessons, this intimidation factor is removed leaving more learning to take place and less societal pressure.

Learning Italian? How difficult is it?

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Learning Italian Language Guide: Background, Examples & Ease of the Language

The best part of learning Italian is that newcomers generally wish to learn it because they genuinely love the language, the country, and the atmosphere of Italy. No matter if it’s the Italian food, music, or people who entices you to explore, Italian is one language that is learned most of all for the pleasure and feeling to become nearer to the people of the wonderful country known as Italy.

The Italian language is considered by many a pleasure language because it has a much lower economic utility than other languages of Europe such as Dutch, German, or French. Because of this Italian has been referred to as a luxury language, whose users learn mostly for want rather than need. However, now that travel is much more accessible for everyone and learning a new language is as easy as downloading an online language course. The Italian language  is starting to be learned by people of all ages’ groups and social classes. However the main motivation for learning Italian is still mostly because it is a socially attractive language instead of a business language such as English.

Italian is the main language of approximately 65 million people. The vast majority of native Italian speakers are concentrated in Italy. However there are also Italian speakers in San Marino, Vatican City, Switzerland, the Istria region of Croatia, and Slovenia.

Italian is  considered a Romance language. This means that it is one of the languages that descend from Latin, which is the language of ancient Rome. Italian belongs to the same language family as Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Catalan. Because of this there are strong similarities between each of these in their structure, sound, and vocabulary terms. However, Italian is the romance language closest to Latin when it comes purely to vocabulary. If you have learned another romance language, or even learned a no longer used language like Latin, then it should be much easier to for you to also learn Italian.

The Italian language we have today was mostly “promoted” by the famous Italian poet Dante Alighieri. Dante used his native Tuscan dialect to write the “Divine Comedy.

Different Types of Italian

As with all languages anyone learning Italian from scratch will find many regional variations within the language relating to special vocabulary, accents, and verb usage. However there are special dialects of Italian that are only spoken in their region and are important to be aware of if you are learning the language for the first time. These dialects are from the Naples and Campania region, the Venice and Veneto region, and the Friuli region. It is also important to be cautious of the island dialects of Sardinian and Sicilian.

Regional dialects are only spoken in their individual regions, and are not official languages. These language dialects tend to be spoken by the older population and only in informal contexts. Younger Italians normally stick to standard Italian which is what a beginner should focus on learning.

Difficulty level of Italian as a new comer

The Italian language isn’t especially difficult to learn, however at first every language can appear to be difficult to pick up. In order to learn Italian you will need to commit to consistently putting in time and practice. The good news is that if you do Italian is actually one of the easier languages to learn when compared to Russian or Chinese.

Italian looks roughly how it sounds so you will not need to learn a new alphabet before you can start learning Italian.

Because Italian has deep roots in Latin, and other Romance languages learning Italian will be much easier if you already know a Romance language like Spanish, French, or Portuguese because many of the words, verbs, and overall structures are similar to each other. Spanish and French happen to be the closest language to Italian out of all of the romance languages.

New comers to Italian should be careful against the misuse of words that seem similar to English words but have completely different meanings in Italian! A good example of a word to watch out for is Sensibile. This in Italian means sensitive, instead of being reasonable like it does in English.

Don’t let mistakes cause fatigue early on in your goal to learn Italian. Mistakes happen no matter what and are part of the learning process when learning a new language. However, if you practice enough your mistakes will lessen greatly with time!

10 reasons for Learning Italian

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Learning a second or third foreign language is very exciting. Italian is among the most popular foreign languages that most people engage in.  Theres a lot to learn about, such as history and culture when a person has some Italian knowledge. The language also allows one to interact with people abroad during visits and holidays in Italy and other places. There exist many other reasons as to why people learn Italian. The following are the top 10 reasons for learning the language.

 

1.      Most people rate Italian language as the most beautiful worldwide spoken language. It is regarded as a language of food and arts. The language is also easy to learn compared to other foreign languages.

 

2.      One improves their cultural and universal speaking skills. The Italian culture dominates in many areas and offers great ways of enjoying it. This is through such aspects as the Italian fashion, designers, gastronomy and architecture among others.

 

3.      It allows one a chance to easily study art history associated with Michelangelos birth land. Most art history books are composed in Italian language thus one needs to be familiar with the language to avoid wasting time with translations.

 

4.      There is no need of following up subtitles when watching prominent Italian language movies. Such movies include the Viscontis, Fellinis and Pasolinis. These movies rate among the top 10s and play in Italian language.

 

5.      Understanding a variety of names to describe food. Compared to any other language, Italian offers the most words to refer to food. This is because Italians love food too much and there are many Italian recipes that one can enjoy from home.

 

6.      It gives one a chance to easily interact with Italians who are best known for their friendliness and accommodative traits. The locals are also talkative and fervent to take visitors through the country. Learning Italian is the only way to get directions when one visits Italy.

 

7.      Italiansongs become entertaining at last. Such include the likes of Luciano Pavarotti, a very popular operatic tenor. Rather than listening, it allows one to learn and practice Italian pop songs.

 

8.      Poets and poem enthusiasts get a smooth time reading La Divina Commedia that was written by the epic poet Dante Alighieri. Written back in the 1300s, the poem is regarded as the finest work in Italian literature.

 

9.      The language is the closest to Latin, an ancestral language common in all romance languages.

 

10.  Eases communication with ones Italian-born grandparents as well as enhancing research on family roots as well as interpreting ancient family documents.