Julie Rickaby

When I was 30 I finally decided to do a gap year. I know rather late, but better late than never! Having done some travelling when I was at University I found that I met other travellers from all over the world, which was great, but didnt allow me to get to know the people in the country I was visiting. And so my plan was to work for a year in a country I wanted to learn more about. And teaching English as a foreign language was the perfect match. It allowed me to immerse myself in getting to know the culture and the people, and the country I chose was Japan.
What was supposed to be a year turned into 7! And I loved it.

My experience as a teacher included kindergarten to retirees, 1 to 1 and group sessions, business English and conversational, private and company lessons.

For me the first step when working with a new student is to understand where they are at with their English and where they want to be. This gives a plan to work from. My style is to use as much 'real' world material as possible and social media has expanded access to a rich source of materials.

Based in the historical city of York, I host people from all over the world exploring Yorks history and my online classes fi taround supporting foreign visitors to the city.