Wearing Red for Christmastide
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You’ve found my website. You are probably looking for a language teacher, someone to teach you English.
You have come to the right place: I’ve been teaching English and French for many years. I can help you if that’s what you’re looking for.
Go to another page in this website to see what some of my students have said: CLICK HERE.
I’ve taught French and English to the following age groups:
- children
- adolescents
- adults
I’ve taught in every possible setting:
- elementary schools
- secondary schools
- numerous post-secondary settings
including:
- language schools
- colleges
- universities
Materials I like to use:
- digital materials (DVDs, CDs, MP3s, Internet videos)
Areas of focus:
1 accent reduction
After years of experience I have developed a 5-Step method that is especially effective for Chinese speakers. Some day I will patent this method. Improving pronunciation, especially in adults, is a meticulous and time-consuming exercise
2 fluency development
I use DVDs and video materials to engage the student in conversation.
3 job interview simulations
The student should provide his or her CV, which I can help the student prepare. We then find some job announcements and extract the key points. We make up a simili-script based on these materials. I have also accumulated a large number of audio video materials showing good interviews and bad.
4 writing
This is particularly important for the students who need to write compositions or dissertations.
One-on-One teaching only: After many trials and errors, I have concluded that teaching pairs of students or small groups gives mediocre results.
Rates / fees: very low. For me teaching is not a business.
My strengths: acute sensitivity to the phonetic components that second language speakers need to acquire in order to approach native-like pronunciation. I am a specialist in the phonetic features of English.
My weaknesses: tendency to assume that all subjects are suitable for conversation
Here’s my online calendar. Look it over. Find a time that suits you; send me an e-mail.
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Wait a moment!
Not so fast!
What is the meaning of the rather strange name of my website?
The address of my website, “gladly would he learn and gladly teach” is a well-known line from a well-known poem by the father of English poetry: Geoffrey Chaucer. Let me explain. Chaucer wrote a long poem entitled The Canterbury Tales. In that poem he describes a wide variety of people, some of whom are good, some of whom are not so good – but all of whom he embraces with his well-known universal humor and spirit. One of the admirable fellows is The Clerk, who is a student and a teacher and a philosopher. When I was in high school, I identified with this fellow. I still do. Here’s the original poem and a modernization: The Clerk.
Now because I have given you a photo of myself, I want to give you a drawing of this estimable fellow, The Clerk:
Building Bridges 