Information About Craig - Sheffield teacher

Personal Description:

Hi there! My name is Craig and I’m looking forward to helping you on your journey to effective French. I studied joint Biology and French at university as I was always passionate about continuing to develop my language skills, as well as pursuing science. I was keen, too, to use my language skills to travel and so I spent 2 years living in French speaking countries. Now, settled back in the UK, I keep up my French chatting with friends, listening to the news and podcasts, and reading.

Teaching Experience:

I spent 2 academic years as an English language assistant abroad, teaching teenage students my native language. The focus was on speaking and listening rather than reading and writing. I focussed on relevant uses of language based on the interests of my students. My teaching therefore centred on conversation to practice what was being learnt and games to make the repetitive aspects of learning a little lighter.

While in France, I also tutored a private advanced student and finally started a weekly lunchtime English club for students who wanted to practice outside the classroom.

Teaching Approach:

As a native English speaker, I've been in my students' shoes as a modern language learner. I bring my experience of finding new explanations to help make sense of the aspects of French that we often find tricky and counter-intuitive. My approach to teaching is to get students speaking early on. Every time a learner gets something right, it reinforces that skill; every time they make a mistake, they get another oppportunity to learn something new! What matters most is getting the opportunity to use the language.

I love to find out what my students want to talk about the most and make those the key learning points. Creating a context that actually matters to the learner is very important. The essentials are much easier to tackle and master when the motivation to speak is real!

While I like to focus on conversational skills such as accurate pronunciation, fluidity, comprehension, and natural expression, I am happy to work with learners who want to work on their written skills, too.