Kevin

I am passionate about languages. Ancient Greek, Latin, German, Welsh, French and English dictionaries, grammars and literary works are scattered all around the home. Links between languages are fascinating, and often crop up during tutorials.

I've two children; one a junior doctor and the other a recent PhD in astrophysics. My wife has recently retired as a secondary school teacher.

I tend to be quite laid back, patient and enjoy the company and stimulation of bright young minds.

Tutoring Experience

I have taught French to Oxbridge, A level, O level, GCSE and (i)GCSE; I have also taught German to GCSE. In recent years I have "informally" tutored pupils from a well known Independent School on the outskirts of Chester, with success.

I read French with Latin at Lancaster University back in the 80s. During that time I spent a year as an assistant in the Lycee Bonaparte, Autun, France.

My teaching career spanned 15 years before I retrained as a registered mental health nurse; the previous very much good experience for the latter. I have now retired although I spend a lot of my time sitting as a magistrate at the local Courts.

Tutoring Approach

My first interest is to find out if you really do wish to be tutored. If you do, then we arrive at an agreement that the progress of the tutoring is reviewed by both of us after the 4th session so that you can easily, without embarrassment, end the tutoring.

I like to find out(in English!) as much as I can about you, your interests, your recent holidays, your family, your school and so on as these individual experiences are often at the core of much that is taught. Framing it from your own perspective makes learning easier, especially the more intricate matters of grammar - tenses too.

I then concentrate on helping you, should you need to, rediscover your self-confidence in your competence in French which I always find is lurking just under the surface. Seeing you develop your confidence is especially rewarding for me, and I am always delighted when I'm informed that a tutee has received praise in school for the improvement in their oral work.

Tutorials tend to last 90* minutes, but you only pay the £25 quoted, although I will occasionally charge £30 if I prepare in greater detail than usual or lessons are longer.