Kelly

I was born near Paris, and I used to live in Normandy for 20 years. In 2014, I decided to move to London as a Foreign Language Assistant, to improve my English and to experience what life in one of my favourite towns in the world is like.

I studied Anglo-Saxon literature and civilisations (LLCE) at Université du Havre for 2 years. I’ve always wanted to teach French to speakers of other languages. So I decided to complete my experience with some courses from Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3 about French as a Foreign Language, in order to teach French to non-native speakers. After those interesting years, I decided to go back to full-time online Anglo-Saxon studies with Université de Lorraine and I graduated in 2019.

I have been working as a Foreign Language Assistant in French in outstanding London Secondary schools for six years and as a private tutor in French since 2017.

As a language enthusiast, I take a great pleasure in teaching my culture and language to English speakers. I try to be inclusive as much as possible by mixing my personality and knowledge to my students’ needs and curriculum.

Tutoring Experience

I have been working as a Foreign Language Assistant in French in outstanding Secondary schools since 2014.
I worked at Drayton Manor High School (Hanwell, London) as a Foreign Language Assistant in French from 2014 to 2016.
After that, I started a new experience in the area of Twickenham in 2017, where I am currently working as the Foreign Language Assistant in French in an outstanding Secondary School.
I also wanted to expand my teaching experience, so I started a private tutor role during the same period, at the end of 2017, with the opportunity to support different types of levels, from Primary students to adult learners. I proudly achieved a 100% pass mark for GCSE (9-5) and A-level students (A*-C).

As a native French speaker and thanks to sound experience in education, I will be able not only to help you learn French language and Francophone culture but also to provide the suitable preparation for your examinations (DELF-DALF, GCSE, A-levels, etc.) in a enjoyable and stimulating way.

I am eager to teach to a broad variety of levels, no matter what your background is (adult learner, beginner, intermediate, etc).

Tutoring Approach

For me, teaching languages shouldn’t be about giving a simple lecture or vocabulary to someone. What I want to achieve in a lesson is to instil my passion for French and my knowledge of the language in my students, always in a creative and encouraging way. I also aim to learn from my students, so I can constantly improve my teaching method. For the first session, I want to know what the student’s level is. So I give a quick spoken and written test, or I can ask some questions about what their main difficulties, qualities and goals are. Then, I tailor each lesson based on that precious information. Depending on my students’ needs, I lead the session either in French (I adapt the speed and words to each student), English or both. When my student needs to do homework for next lesson at school, we complete it together by doing the following steps. First, the students explains what they need to do or learn. Second, I quickly review the grammar/vocabulary points their need to practise before doing the activity by giving some practical examples or fun memory aids. After that, we can complete the homework. In general, I like to explain how to successfully complete a task by giving many examples. For example, for the A-level speaking exam practice, we can work on existing or created speaking cards. I show how to answer by providing a great method and great vocabulary for each question. We can also write answers for potential questions that may be raised by the examiner. When I want to test the students’ knowledge, I intentionally give wrong answers and they need to correct what I didn’t say correctly. I provide enjoyable and stimulating activities for each grammar point. We can use songs, texts or Youtube videos from French-speaking video makers. From those materials, I create activities such as gap filling, summaries, exam-related tasks, true or false, etc. I also love to include traditional games in a grammatical style (Simon says, Hangman, tic-tac-toe, Connect 4, etc.) in my lessons: it always works to remember new vocabulary and grammar points and to use a lot of communication strategies (students learn how to ask or describe things). It allows to work on pronunciation as well. One my favourite materials are my whiteboard with my pens, as it helps the student to form a mental image of what I explained. I also work with a lot of existing books for revision and practice (Collins Easy Learning KS1, KS2, KS3 and GCSE, CGP GCSE, AQA A-level, etc.) and the activities I created. I am open to new materials and creating new tasks. To conclude the session, we go through the most important points of the lesson, to check if everything is clear or if questions are raised. If necessary, I give activities for the following week, so I can track progress.