I am a modern languages teacher from the UK. I am a qualified teacher (BA, PGCE, CELTA) with experience of 1-to-1 tutoring, small-group teaching, online teaching and classroom teaching. I have taught in private languages schools in France and Italy, as well as secondary schools in England.

I learned French in school and then afterwards by living and working in France. I firmly believe that proficiency in a language is best achieved by a communicative approach. This means that learning to speak, write and understand the language as it is used by natives should come before the study of grammar. Whilst the study of grammar has its place in language learning, we all know that as children we learned our native language by interacting with others who used it.

Language learning is like music or sports: we need to repeat and practise vocabulary and structures so that they become second-nature to us, as a music student or athlete repeats and practises pieces of music or certain sequences of play. My lessons are influenced by the work of Gianfranco Conti and therefore focus on building fluency through interacting with chunks of language until they are automatic.

If you have ever been put off learning a language because of long lists of vocabulary items or verb tables, then be assured that there is another way. It is through reading, speaking, writing and listening to the language that you will learn best - and, it will be far more enjoyable along the way!