TEACHER CASE STUDIES

Listen & Learn: Good afternoon, George. Thank you for agreeing to this short interview.
George: Good afternoon! Thanks for having me!

Listen & Learn: Please begin by telling us about your teaching history and qualifications.
George: Okay, great. Well, I got into teaching because I’m a huge language nerd and my foreign friends, who I’d helped with their English, urged me to do it! So, now, I teach English, French, German and Spanish. I hold a CELTA certificate in teaching English to adults at grade A which I got training at Oxford House College in London, and a PGCE certificate in teaching German and French at secondary level at grade 1A, from Newcastle University. I’ve been teaching languages since 2016, and also hold an MChem in chemistry from the University of York. Meanwhile, in my own time, I’m constantly studying new languages.

Listen & Learn: And how did you end up working with Listen & Learn? Do you have any favorite things about working the company? Any fond memories?
George: I wanted to work with Listen & Learn because it encourages flexible working and provides teachers with a consistent source of students. I always have a lot of fun had chatting with students while I teach them. As for memorable moments, I always love the first lesson with a new student, when we make lots of progress with the quick fixes; seeing their eyes light up as they finally understand those big bugbears that have been confusing them in the language.

Listen & Learn: So, you like your new students to bring enthusiasm to your classes. Anything else?
George: A willingness to improve, enjoying taking feedback in vocabulary, grammar or pronunciation, and making an effort to find opportunities to apply what they’ve learned. It’s no good being uninterested in a language if you want to improve! You have to enjoy seeking out knowledge.

Listen & Learn: That makes sense! And do you try and make lessons fun? Can you tell us a fun English expression that you ask your students to learn?
George: I love hearing British idioms from my students! One of my students loves the expression I taught her, “I just wanted the ground to swallow me up”, and now includes it in an anecdote in every lesson, without fail!

Listen & Learn: [Laughs] How nice! And what else do you like to bring to your lessons, as the teacher?
George: Energy, flexibility and pace as we tackle whatever comes up in the lessons, and a deep knowledge of how languages work, from small verb irregularities to broad trends in modern vocabulary.

Listen & Learn: Wonderful! Finally, why should students enroll in a language course with Listen and Learn?
George: To get one-to-one feedback from a teacher who understands all their strengths, weaknesses and interests.