Michael

Mother Tongue: English
Second Languages: German (C1), French (B2/C1) Strengths in teaching:

I focus on my students’ interests and needs. For general classes, most students want to practice speaking and that’s what I allow them to do. We talk about what is interesting for them and I listen and give them feedback. I’m relaxed and friendly in class and can

talk about just about anything. If I don’t always fully understand the technical complexities of my students’ work, I can at least follow it well enough to ask useful questions. Above all, students want someone they can be comfortable with, and with one or two rare exceptions, they have been with me. The rest, knowing about exams, when and how to give feedback, what homework to give and how to mark it, is merely a question of experience!

About me

About me:

I’m originally from Edinburgh in Scotland though I now live in Montréal in Canada. I’ve been involved with English Language Teaching for over thirty years, mainly as a teacher but also as an administrator. These days, I mainly teach Business or Technical English, but over the years I’ve also had a good deal of experience preparing students for exams like IELTS, TOEFL and FCE.

Why I teach online:

I actually love teaching in the classroom! That said, online teaching is easier in the modern world and perhaps also more suited to it. On a one-to-one basis I find that in fact it doesn’t really make a lot of difference. For groups, especially more advanced groups, it’s been surprisingly easy to adapt the lessons to online teaching, and of course it’s so much for convenient for everyone – no-one needs to leave home!