Simon
Visited a day ago
Simon
Professional Teacher
Teaches
English
Native
Speaks
French
Japanese
Spanish
Teaches
English
Native
Speaks
French
Japanese
Spanish
From United KingdomLiving in Other, France (18:31 UTC+02:00)
About Me
italki teacher since Oct 13, 2015Interest topicSports & FitnessWritingTravel
Hi, my name’s Simon! I am British and I like travelling! I have been to around 40 countries and I lived in Japan for 20 years. Now I live in France so I can understand what people learning a language are going through as I learned Japanese and I am currently studying French and Spanish.
I like hiking, camping and bushcraft. When I was younger I spent two years backpacking in Asia so I have tramped the Annapurna Circuit twice and climbed Mount Kinabalu twice! During that journey, I came across scuba diving and yoga, two pursuits I continue to this day. I have been a scuba diving instructor since 2002.
Also, I dabble with writing, meditation, poetry, chess and other things besides.Me as a Teacher
I have been teaching English for 30 years and I have a Certificate in TEFLA (CELTA), an Advanced Certificate in TESOL and an MA in Applied Linguistics and TESOL. I was the editor of a Teacher Education journal in Japan for eight years and I taught at universities there for 15 years.
I taught pre-sessional courses at the University of Glasgow from 2015 to 2020, completing 13 in all, so I have a lot of experience in preparing students for the cultural and academic expectations in an English-speaking university setting. The goal of the pre-sessional courses was for the students to attain an IELTS-equivalent score of 6.5 or 7.
Also, I have been teaching scuba diving and first aid since 2002.My lessons & teaching style
It is difficult to describe a specific style as each student is different and one of the greatest strengths of the Italki platform is the one-to-one nature of the classes. Consequently, I adapt my style to suit the situation and the student, and I like to use humour and fun when at all possible.My teaching material
- PDF file
- Text Documents
- Audio files
- Video files
- Flashcards
- Articles and news
- Quizzes
- Test templates and examples
- Graphs and charts
- Homework Assignments
Certificates
Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics and TESOL - University of Leicester - 2002
Certificate uploaded
Education
1999 - 2002
Master's - Applied Linguistics and TESOLMA
Work Experience
2001 - 2015
Teacher
2005 - 2015
Teacher
2015 - Current
TeacherVia Veritas Vita
4.9
Rating
739
Students
3,474
Lessons
100%
Attendance
100%
Response
English Lessons
Trial Lesson
478 lessons completed
USD 5.00+
English for Studying at an English-speaking University
B1 - C2General388 lessons completed
USD 12.00+
Package with 10% off
English Conversation with help on pronunciation and grammar
A2 - C2Conversation Practice1,397 lessons completed
USD 12.00+
Package with 10% off
Proofreading/Essay Correction
A2 - C2General179 lessons completed
USD 14.00+
Exam Preparation
B1 - C2Test Preparation707 lessons completed
USD 12.00+
Package with 10% off
Interview and/or Presentation Preparation
B1 - C1Business98 lessons completed
USD 12.00+
Package with 9% off
Lesson for students who have completed more than 20 lessons!
A1 - C2Conversation Practice221 lessons completed
USD 10.00+
Package with 11% off
Availability
Based on your timezone (UTC+00:00)
645 Reviews
SIKA
3 English lessons
Teacher’s pick
Super premier contact avec ce professeur. Il vous mets tout de suite à l’aise et sait entretenir une conversation.
J’ai hâte de passer aux cours suivants.
Jan 25, 2019
Tanya
16 English lessons
Teacher’s pick
In our lessons, we have combined both interview preparation and general conversations.
Simon is an excellent teacher and an amazing person. He is confident, intelligent, knowledgeable and capable to listen to me as a student. He has reacted to my needs, be they help, guidance or further explanation, adopting a supportive and an encouraging approach. He always gives honest feedback and challenges with (unexpected) questions that make me think. Being a linguist, he understands what intercultural communication is. Last but not least, he has a good sense of humor, which adds to the whole experience. Although I still can't articulate my thoughts in English as fluently as I would like to, I feel I've been making some progress. Thank you for that, Simon! And let me highly recommend you!
Jan 18, 2019
Joayeon
13 English lessons
Teacher’s pick
For an immigration purpose, I had to get IELTS 7.0 (each band), and looked for the qualified English teacher who has many years of experience in teaching. Now that I got my desired scores (actually higher than that - L 9, R 8.5 S&W 7), I feel so grateful that I met Simon!
He helped me a lot during my IELTS journey especially for my writing score to increase from 6.5 to 7. For the last three months, he motivated me to write more essays and gave me excellent feedbacks and estimated my possible score for every writing piece that I produced. The classes always went smooth, in an interactive and fun way, so I never got bored. I really admired his long teaching experience and ability to attend in details!
Apart from that, he has collected very useful and hands-on information about IELTS and how the scoring system work, and he never minded sharing this valuable information with me.
If you need IELTS score and find a qualified teacher, I do recommend Simon as your English teacher!!!
Sep 7, 2017
Cinzia
200 English lessons
Another interesting lesson with Simon. Thanks a lot.
Apr 15, 2024
Cinzia
200 English lessons
It's always a pleasure to have a lesson with Simon. Thanks a lot.
Apr 8, 2024
Cinzia
200 English lessons
Thanks a lot for your wonderful lesson. I wish you a good "Camino de Santiago de Compostela". I can't wait to listening about your journey!
Feb 19, 2024
Trial Lesson
USD 5.00
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