Francois

I'm a linguist and enjoy languages. I speak English, German and French fluently and can do business in Japanese. I have lived in North America, Europe and Asia and enjoy understanding different cultures and languages.

In business I'm an independent consultant, trainer and facilitator, working mainly in the business world. I design and run learning workshops in collaborative decision-making and lean thinking for companies of different sizes. I also run cross-cultural simulations to help people experience and learn how to work in different cultures.

PLEASE NOTE: I only do ONLINE lessons using Zoom or video conference. Location unimportant because online.

Tutoring Experience

Most of my early teaching experience started with 15 years' English teaching to mainly corporate clients in Japan. I consider myself a highly experienced, versatile and resourceful former Language Teacher (TEFL), Tutor and Coach with further background as Intercultural Consultant. I have extensive experience teaching English in Asia, with expertise in accelerated learning techniques (e.g. suggestopedia) and Peer-based learning through Self-Organising Learning Environments.

I have taught classes and individuals at various levels and for various purposes. I have also done a lot of business English and specialised English for professionals. While I have a great deal of experience working with groups, I have also worked in educational learning environments as business coach and corporate tutor working with individuals What is most important, however, is that it is not about teaching, but about the student learning; it is hence imperative to start from the perspective of what the learner actually needs and working from there. I pride myself in being able to design courses and tuition tailor-made to the specific needs of the learners.

I also have a lot of experience teaching other foreign languages, using similar approaches. In particular I have done a lot of work teaching GERMAN and FRENCH, and a little beginner JAPANESE, to adult learners, and of course as a linguist have worked with more academic learning of languages at GCSE level and above. When teaching German or French to adult learners my focus is on giving learners the basic language skills they need to able to get by in the respective country in an enjoyable way.

Tutoring Approach

Unless I am teaching towards academic aims (e.g. GCSE support), I view language as something that is used to communicate with, it is something one does, we do not normally learn a foreign language just for the sake of passive knowledge. To me therefore it is far more important to use the language than just learn it. My approach to tutoring is thus quite action oriented, we do things with language, and just like children (who did not learn their native language from a book) language is always used in a context, so it's important to provide contextual clues when introducing new language.

I emphasize engagement and participation a lot, with a strong focus on real communication (rather than practiced simulation where possible). Very early on I introduce meta-language, which is language about language (e.g. could you repeat that?, What do you mean by....?, Why do I say ... and not ...?), because this the only kind of genuine communication that happens in a language class, and thus it is an opportunity to use real communication. But above all, language should be fun, learn by doing and lively, and my interactive approach always works towards that.