Christopher Proctor Proctor

Introduction

I'm a professional, TEFL and CELTA qualified ESOL teacher with over 13 years experience in a broad range of teaching situations and curriculum, working in China for over two years (2011 – 2013), and then in the UK until the present.

My particular expertise is providing highly effective preparation tuition and support for candidates taking the IELTS, OET (Occupational English Test) or Cambridge ESOL exams such as the B2 First for higher education entry, immigration and /or career opportunities. However, I also have extensive experience in teaching all aspects of general English for all levels, ages and nationalities as well as other aspects such as business English coaching and accent reduction. For example, I'm presently giving online lessons to some groups of young Chinese children focussing on topical vocabulary, phonetic pronunciation and simple sentence contexts.

Some Recent Work History

I've previously been employed in a full-time role by a large recruitment company where I provided tuition and ‘mentoring’ to groups of nurses in India and the Philippines and also Spain and Italy. I was a member of a team charged with the goal of facilitating these candidates’ success in IELTS (achieving a minimum of band 7 in all four sub-tests) or OET to enable them to come work in the NHS. This process was done through a busy weekly programme of scheduled one-to-one Skype sessions with up to 50 candidates per week and a series of scheduled, 1-2 hour group webinars with up to 100 attendees for which I personally produced many PPTs.

My Teaching

My chief aim in any teaching situation is to make the best contribution possible to the learning process and experience of the students. My personal style is friendly, supportive, encouraging and very positive!

I base my teaching approach entirely around the learner’s needs and expectations. I focus on what they need and I let that guide what I teach and how I teach it. I discover what they already know and understand, then I build from there using many different learning materials and activities.

I use an easy, communicative approach with clear, attainable goals for each lesson. Firstly, I present the new material, we practice it together in various ways, and then finally they can produce the new language. I assess how well then learners did and give positive feedback, any constructive criticisms i.e. in what things they might improve and how, and I always give lots of encouragement.

We may focus on a particular skill that the learner needs to develop more than others, for example speaking fluency, vocabulary, pronunciation or presentation skills. Learning should be mostly fun, and I always encourage learners to do as much speaking as possible.

Whatever the level, age or nationality, I always do my best to help develop the learner’s English language skills while making it fun, engaging and very rewarding. Over the years, I have amassed a large amount of excellent learning and practice resources of my own (some put together myself) which have proved very effective in instructing and training all my students, along with a host of practical tips to help them perform at their best whilst under examination conditions.

Feedback has consistently confirmed that I am a highly personable, focused and committed teacher with a facilitative and collaborative style that is very popular among learners.

My Reason To Teach

I have always had an interest in languages, especially the technical aspects, and English and French were throughout my secondary education two of the most enjoyable subjects for me to study. As an English language teacher to speakers of other languages as well as a 'people person', I really enjoy helping motivated learners to improve their linguistic skills in various ways to achieve their particular goals in life: higher education and career progression or immigration to another country, or any combination of these. Being an educator is all about helping people and having the knowledge that you are equipped with the skills to do this gives a sense of pride followed by an immensely satisfying reward in affecting positive results and changes in other people's lives.

My Spanish

I lived and ran a business in the Valencia region of Spain for 8 years, and I became reasonably fluent in the Spanish language. It has been 10 years now since I returned to live in my native country (UK), but I'm confident that I'd be able to pick it up again in a short while once I am immersed in a Spanish speaking environment.