I have taught both online and in-person with top schools such as Kaplan and IBAT. I love seeing students prosper and building trust and authentic relationships with my students. I have excellent knowledge on English examinations, how to maintain English practice and how to reach the next level with your fluency. Other than teaching, I am a writer, freelance journalist and am also working on my first novel. The intimate relationship I have with writing has instilled in me better teaching skills. I understand that some people who are making the brave step in learning a new language may not have set foot inside a classroom for years. Perhaps they always hated school, or dread the idea of trying to form an opinion in an essay. Part of my role as a teacher is to give students confidence and to guide them along the right path in maintaining steady and worthwhile English practice. Immersing yourself in a language can certainly help in achieving goals quicker, but some people do not have the opportunity to speak English outside of the classroom. For this reason, I always start my classes off with an ice-breaker or conversation starter. For the more advanced learners, I will do this by asking students what they think about a trending news story. I also form debates with students, even at pre-intermediate level, and will ask them to devise opinions based on the argument they need to support. Trying to express ourselves in a second language can be difficult. Some feedback that I have received from students has been “I don’t feel like myself when I speak English. I am not as funny/smart/confident.” In my experience, expression and the ability to allow a student to grow in confidence has a lot to do with the teacher-student relationship. I believe that if a student is getting structured, useful, engaging lessons, they will be more encouraged to ‘try out’ their language skills in social surroundings, or in attempting to apply to a job where English is a necessary skill to have. I have equal experience in creating lesson plans from scratch and going along with a specific school curriculum. I am able to adapt material in order to make sure that it gives the student the necessary practice that they are looking for. Teaching online is the way forward. I have a MacBook Pro, an office, and enough material to support any type of student or lesson.

CELTA Certificate TEFL Certificate Masters in English

Offline teaching experience: 8

Online teaching experience: 3

I have worked as a Business English, IELTS, Cambridge, and Advanced specialist teacher for almost a decade. I hold a Masters in English, as well as a CELTA teaching certificate accredited by Cambridge. Most of my teaching has been conducted online. I am interested in adapting my lessons to suit the individual goals and needs of a student. I create personalised grammar, writing, listening and speaking skills with a focus on practical English and in sounding natural. Learning a new language should be fun and invigorating. My role as a teacher is to build up your confidence levels while still making sure I correct all necessary errors in your speaking and exercises. Want to complete an IELTS or Cambridge exam? I have an entire hard drive dedicated to past sample papers and coursebooks on how to get the perfect IELTS band score. Even if this is not something you are currently looking towards doing, there are still some excellent ways we can use exam material to strengthen your weak points. I first started teaching English directly after completing my Masters. The first school I was hired in was a school named EGAMadrid. Here, I was thrown into the deep end (or classroom, as it were) and had to learn how to swim – fast! This experience, along with the people I met, was unforgettable and although I didn’t yet know how best to teach complex grammar structures or how to form the perfect business English class, I was sure about one thing: I loved teaching. I went back to Ireland to complete a more formal version of the Tefl, CELTA, which is a rigorous assignment-based course run full time over one month. I landed a job in a top Irish school, Infinity. Infinity classes were structured and specific, which suited my teaching habits. I believe that every class should have a focal point. Learning English as a foreign language is not always a straightforward path. English is a complicated languge with some necessary but sometimes confusing structures and rules. Eventually, I was promoted and worked as the ADOS maternity leave cover. This was an excellent experience in terms of understanding visa restrictions for students, how to perform and enhance our level testing system, and how to gain the most out of student feedback. But ultimately, I missed the classroom! I realised that a large part of my enjoyment in the education sector is the relationships that are formed with the students and I. Thereafter, I worked in IBAT, which has a strong focus on conversational English and Business English. Here, I also gained experience as an IELTS speaking examiner. This in turn helped me to perform better as a teacher. I have taught every level, from elementary to advanced. I have also had the experience of teaching students from all over the world: Asia, The Middle East, South America, China, Korea, Japan and more. Every culture is unique and there are certain difficulties that come up for certain cultures, so the experience and wide range of nationalities that I have taught has definitely been a plus. I began teaching online as a freelance tutor and with Kaplan. I have taught children, business men and women, groups of up to 30, and smaller groups of 3-5 people. Ultimately, I prefer teaching online as it gives me more room to be creative and to make the most out of the lesson in the time that has been allocated. I have a fairly flexible schedule and I am open to working around the needs of the students and working towards the same goal of fluency.