I am a 33-year-old Trinity CertTESOL-qualified freelance English teacher seeking additional work in Berlin. English is my mother tongue, and I have a clear RP (‘standard English’) accent. I am also learning German, currently taking classes here in Germany and having completed one year of German study at the Open University; I am currently an intermediate German speaker. I gained my British Council accredited TESOL certificate at the highly regarded Liverpool School of English in May 2017. I am also a member of ELTABB - the English Language Teachers' Association Berlin-Brandenburg, where I take part in a business-English self-study cours and am currently volunteering as blog editor.
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​Since moving to Berlin, I have taught private lessons both in person and online - I am available to teach all ages and levels of English. In November of 2019 I started teaching at Nativa Akademie in Moabit, working with adults both one-on-one and in groups and I have also been working with The English School in Brandenburg since March 2019. Here I teach adults and children of all levels and through this school, I also teach peripatetically around Brandenburg and Berlin, running after-school conversational classes based on materials I have prepared myself. In the Summer of 2019, I also helped run the school’s ‘summer camp’, involving full-day English activities for ten children aged 5-12, intended to complement their term-time studies in a relaxed and fun atmosphere. I was responsible for the planning and execution of all of the lessons lessons I taught.
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During the Corna Lockdown, I have continued teaching my classes online using Zoom, as well as creating educational slideshows for those children who were too young for live English Lessons.
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In August 2019 I returned to Liverpool to teach for a second time at the Liverpool School of English’s Summer School - details of that are below - and I had been invited to return in 2020 until it was cancelled due to Corona.
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When I first arrived in Berlin in January, I had some supply work with Simmonds English Services, teaching conversational business English to technology industry professionals, where I created my own material to suit the needs of a range of company employees of different levels of fluency.
Between November and May 2019, I taught children between four- and thirteen-years-old with Landi English, a Chinese school with an international employee base. The students were often completely new to the English language and it was my role to provide their first lesson before they decide whether to enrol in regular tuition. This gave me the flexibility to continue my work as I moved from England to Germany, as well as pick up new skills - and have a lot of fun - teaching children. I left with 109 lesson reviews - 105 five-star, 4 four-star.
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Before working for Landi English, I worked for the Liverpool School of English, who hired me after I graduated from their teacher-training course; I was employed there until my move to Berlin. Here, I taught all levels of English from beginner to advanced, using many of the most popular English-teaching books including Outcomes, Cutting Edge, New English File and Move. I taught a range of English, such as morning intensive classes and listening, reading and conversational in the afternoons. I also observed business English sessions, taking on a teaching role when the regular staff member was sick.
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In the course of my teaching at the LSE, I have also worked at two of their intensive summer school for teenagers (11-16 years) in 2018 and 2019, where I was both an English teacher and activity leader, a position I have been invited to return to. This work involved daily lessons in English language and culture, leading afternoon excursions to sights around Liverpool, day trips across the country and participating in English-language evening activities such as film nights and talent shows. This work involved not only my normal teaching responsibilities (though to a younger audience), but coordinating with my line managers, colleagues and the representatives of the international schools present to ensure the excursions ran smoothly, and any problems encountered were resolved quickly, efficiently and with communication between all involved. During my second time working there, I also took on greater responsibilities in assisting the new teaching staff, and leading some of the more difficult excursions, such as that to London. Working with teenagers also taught me the value of adapting lessons plans to different audiences - for example, keeping teenagers involved and interested even during the dryer aspects of English grammar through games, activities and an enthusiastic classroom presence.
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I have experience in a range of classrooms, from simple desks and flip-boards to ones equipped with the latest technology and I am confident both in using interactive whiteboards and modern online teaching methods such as Zoom, and Kahoot.
I have taught both regular classes and emergency supply cover, so I am flexible and adaptable, whether creating detailed and varied lesson plans or having to take classes with very little notice.
As well as my private school teaching, I have worked with the British Red Cross to teach English to asylum seekers, many of whom spoke very limited English. This work involved utilising much more basic facilities - often no more than a flip chart and pens - with a very different audience. My students here needed to learn ‘survival’ English, and many had come from very different backgrounds that had forced them from their home countries, so consideration of the difficulties they faced as residents in an unfamiliar country was essential. Materials were also limited, with no set syllabus and a much greater emphasis on creating my own lesson plans with no text books for guidance, thus developing another aspect of my experience as a teacher.
Prior to teaching English, I managed and ran an independent music shop for seven years, being involved in all aspects of retail including organising stock, supplier interaction, financial management and customer service. This work also led to other opportunities, including graphic design for local bands, organising concerts and teaching the accordion. I have as a result developed many transferable skills, giving me the confidence to feel at ease in many different environments, interacting with a range of people from all backgrounds
I have further experience working for two years in Prescot School, Merseyside, as an administrative assistant, IT helper and multimedia professional. I had to organise the digitisation of many administrative areas, such as school registers and handle the multimedia aspects of school life, including videoing and editing pupil’s projects and fixing the many day-to-day problems that arose from a large, networked computer system. This variety of work was often independent - completing projects to a deadline alone - and sometimes required frequent coordination with students and staff, as I worked with them to resolve computer issues or to create multimedia material that would be satisfactory to the students who created it and to the school it would represent.
I believe that this wide variety of experience across many different fields has trained me to be a committed, enthusiastic and hardworking individual; I can very quickly adapt to a great many different environments and prove to be a professional and reliable teacher, completing whatever task is assigned to me to a high standard.