Stowe School
French and Spanish Teacher
2016 - 2020

Bradfield College
French and Spanish Teacher
2016

St John's International School, Sidmouth
French and Spanish Teacher
2013 - 2015

Languages have very much been a part of my life since the age of eight when I started learning French and Latin at prep school. They immediately 'clicked' with me and their utility was apparent right from the beginning. I always imagined that I'd use languages in my daily life (and I have, almost from that day forward!) but I didn't necessarily fully appreciate how much pleasure I would derive in the future from sharing and conveying my passion for languages with others who wanted to learn. Perhaps it is the fact that I truly believe anyone can learn a language that makes it such a unique area of study; those who are more artistically minded can use their creative flair to progress, whilst those who are more mathematically confident can find an almost immediate sense of achievement by studying the 'rules' and grammar of the language closely. It is all about connecting with a pupil and opening a door; it doesn't matter which door, as the important thing is for them to realise that the seemingly impossible task of learning an entirely new language isn't so daunting after all. My teaching, then, has come to be focused, amongst other things, on the removal of fear. There is a time and a place for grammatical perfection (and trust me, given that I very much came from the mathematically brained side, that has always been my favourite aspect) but it needs to dovetail effectively with a desire to communicate without fear of errors. An overall mindset that is open to new people, traditions, cultures and outlooks can then be more easily developed, and a pupil can more rapidly reach that longed-for 'launchpad' position, where they feel they understand the language well enough to be able to go away and improve on it themselves.

With that approach in mind, I have spent the last seven years attempting to streamline the learning process as much as possible and have outlined my conclusions on how to do so in a book I wrote, which came out earlier this year. Also, this year, seven of the top eight results across year 11 were from students in my class.

So here I am: making the transition to online learning and looking to take on pupils who want a positive, energetic, caring and knowledgeable languages educator. The last term of school was exclusively online and so I am already very much used to conducting lessons from my laptop, and I am excited at the prospect of getting started as soon as possible!