It ain't what you say it's the way that you say it

I provide one-to-one and group class lessons.

I specialise in helping people at upper-intermediate/advanced level, with a particular focus on spoken language.  Many of my students live in the UK but have found that their language development has stagnated.  They can't seem to improve their fluency and develop into more natural speakers. 

I help by providing a very bespoke service.  My initial assessment isn't just about your level but also HOW you want to learn.  This ensures that you have the lessons in the style that suits you, not anyone else. 

 I find that this approach leads to faster improvement.  Grammar and vocabulary are integrated in lessons where you do most of the talking.  Some students like homework, some to write articles, others simply to talk.  

For many students I act as their language PA.  We work together on emails, letters, text and WatsApp messages, or any of the many types of communications you need in life.  This is a particularly effective way of learning the language that you actually need every day.  

What are those headlines really saying?

Do the newspaper cartoons make you laugh?

Much of the time English is used in unusual or unexpected ways and it is this which makes it such a rich language.  However, this can make it quite confusing for the learner.  English develops all the time and there is a great sense of re-invention – either a new words or new ways of using them.  

Using examples taken from the Web, books, newspapers and magazines, we look at all manner of usages and help you to use them in your everyday language. 

English is a constantly evolving language and it’s important that you try to keep up with new uses of words and, indeed, new words.  

I believe that mis-pronunciation of English is a major barrier to communication.

People make value judgements about us when we speak and a strong accent can sometimes be mistaken for a lower than actual level of language ability. This is hugely frustrating for the speaker.

A strong accent can also prevent the listener from understanding and make the speaker less confident about communicating. You need an honest teacher to point out which mis-pronunciations really matter and then help to overcome them.

Pronunciation is a language skill which needs to be taught and then practised. It needs help as improving your accent requires a different approach to, for example, learning grammar.

My accent is what's described as “Received Pronunciation” which is the pronunciation standard used in EFL teaching in the UK. 

My experience as a communications professional, which included reading the news on the BBC, company spokesperson role for a travel company, presentation training for executives and mediating conferences, brings a wealth of practical experience to this aspect of the language.