Alla Garside

Since a young age I have had an affinity for language learning and find great passion in being able to relay my language learning experiences and skills to others who share the same love for languages. I love to travel and for me my travels would not be anywhere as enriching had I not learnt the native language spoken at my destination.

In my 3 years of teaching experience I have worked with children, teens and adults, teaching Russian, German, French and Chinese. I enjoy interactive lessons which are based on relevant content rather than textbook regurgitation. For languages it is especially efficient to learn through active comprehension and not through rote learning or repetition. That is why I employ various different techniques such as dictations, visual learning and contextual learning. I have successfully taken many language exams with the standard exam boards and therefore I am well-versed in the methods and techniques needed. Although alongside learning exam techniques it will be of high value to the student to also develop their own natural understanding of the language so that they can employ it with natural fluency during the exam.

My approach to langauge teaching is flexible and open-minded. My own personal experience of learning languages at school was terrible and convinced me that outdated teaching methods are the root cause of the UK's monolingualism. I do not believe that the UK is inherently monolingual and I am on a mission to change this.