Visited 3 hours ago
🌟Karen🌟
Community TutorTeaches
English
Native
Speaks
Afrikaans
Spanish
French
Chinese (Mandarin)
German
Italian
Top 1% of English Italki teachers 2022! 10 years teaching English; love painting, outdoors.
Teaches
English
Native
Speaks
Afrikaans
Spanish
French
Chinese (Mandarin)
German
Italian
Top 1% of English Italki teachers 2022! 10 years teaching English; love painting, outdoors.
About Me
Me as a Teacher
My lessons & teaching style
Resume & Certificates
From South AfricaLiving in Johannesburg, South Africa (12:47 UTC+02:00)
About Me
italki teacher since Dec 7, 2018InterestsFoodBusiness & FinanceMedical & HealthcareFilms & TV SeriesTravel
As a seasoned professional with a dual-degree background (BA/BSc) and extensive international experience, I specialize in fostering cross-cultural communication and language confidence.
My expertise lies in Business and in addressing the challenges of cultural adaptation, informed by firsthand experience living and traveling across multiple countries.
I love discussing films and books, and am very good with all ages of adults, from age 18 to 80! I adapt to each age.
With a strong foundation in business, arts, sciences, and social sciences, I engage in intellectually stimulating discussions while helping clients refine their English fluency across professional and academic contexts.Me as a Teacher
Hello. I love meeting new people from around the globe, I enjoy teaching people English using my TEFL qualification, and was in the top 1% of Italki teachers 2022.
I do Business English such as preparation for interviews or presentations, conflict resolution, running meetings. I am specialised in cross-cultural topics. I am good at helping people feel confident in speaking.
I tend to use various English-learning websites, newspaper articles, or slideshow presentations as springboards for discussion. We discuss what you prefer - whether practising idioms; or learning what English people never say. Practising tenses, prepositions or any grammar is worked into our conversations seamlessly. My lessons & teaching style
I adapt my style to the student, and enable everyone at every level to engage, even though the subject-matter may be highly intellectual and demanding. I can teach formally, with goals, objectives and regular feedback. I use websites and presentations, or conversation, depending on your needs. We will use newspaper articles, magazine articles, or topics of relevance, such as resolving workplace conflicts, in order to help you move forward in your language.
I also give homework.
My main aim is to help your fluency and confidence without seeming like it.
I tend to correct your language as we go along, typing both the mistaken and corrected English in the comment section. .My teaching material
- PDF file
- Text Documents
- Presentation slides/PPT
- Audio files
- Image files
- Video files
- Flashcards
- Articles and news
- Quizzes
- Test templates and examples
- Homework Assignments
Teaching experience
2004 - 2024
TeacherI worked with students of English in the UK and in South Africa, both in formal and informal settings. I taught general conversational English and business English, drawing on a wealth of experience in the business arena.
1991 - 2014
Staff Mentor and TrainerI worked in the business arena for many years, training many in soft skills. There after, I started a business of my own, and ran it for three years. It was a holiday company, so I have experience in starting and running a business. What I don't have is specific, high-level IT or accounting experience. However, I can teach Business English from the point of view of experience and further learning.
Education
1987 - 1991
Bachelor’s - BSc (Occupational Therapy)I studied the treatment of people who had physical, mental and perceptual difficulties. Throughout, we had extensive practicals, and much supervision.
1998 - 2001
Bachelor’s - BA (Theol)I studied Greek, Hebrew and the dissection of texts, as well as marketing, philosophy, psychology and counselling and far more.
2006 - 2007
Other - TEFLI took a TEFL certificate through TEFL Training, and gained my certificate after having stated teaching English to others.
4.9
Rating
876
Students
3,902
Lessons
100%
Attendance rate
100%
Response rate
English Lessons
Trial Lesson
521 lessons completed
USD 15.00+
Specialist: Business English, or Medical English, or IELTS
A2 - C2Language Essentials538 lessons completed
USD 19.00+
Package with 14% off
Students who have had more than 20 Conversation lessons with me (not available for those on the Business, Beginners, or specialist programmes
B1 - B2Language Essentials1,151 lessons completed
USD 8.00+
Package with 10% off
Build vocabulary, improve conversational grammar and pronunciation, distinguish word subtleties.
B1 - C2Conversation1,665 lessons completed
USD 10.00+
Package with 17% off
Cultural Expertise
B1 - C2Conversation0 lessons completed
USD 25.00+
Package with 10% off
Beginners English
A1 - A2Language Essentials0 lessons completed
USD 25.00+
Package with 10% off
English Pronuciation (British RP)
A2 - C2Language Essentials0 lessons completed
USD 16.00+
Package with 10% off
Availability
Based on your timezone (UTC+00:00)
My creations
Vocabulary (4)
Podcast (22)
Quiz (286)
530 Reviews
Bo Pang
23 English lessons
Teacher’s pick
In this lesson, Karen helped me with my pronunciation and fluency. I read some articles after her and this helped me improve my awareness of stress and intonation. And then I repeated the sentence that she read without seeing the article, and this is a form of test in PTE, which I'm preparing for. It's an effective lesson.
Oct 10, 2024
Giuseppe
191 English lessons
Teacher’s pick
I did an outstanding conversation with Karen. It was a historical description of Italian economic history. Karen is an amazing teacher who helps me to handle different topics in the right way of speaking. Thank you!
Oct 15, 2021
Gerhard
5 English lessons
If you want to spend your lessons in a relaxed atmosphere, Karen is the perfect person for you. I can talk to her about all sorts of topics. So I really recommend her. Gerhard
Nov 11, 2025
Andrew
336 English lessons
Teacher’s pick
Awesome, I recommend her classes 100%. She offers a kindly and no judgemental environment. Karen is a very intelligent person, so is not only fun but also informative to talk to her. :)
Waiting anxiously for the next lesson
Jan 31, 2023
Odile
6 English lessons
It was nice to speak about South-Africa as I am preparing a trip to this beautiful country.
I booked my first lesson with Karen because she is a star-teacher. After the first lesson, she told me that we will work a little on pronunciation, and on mastering listening to accents and colloquialisms. So I booked a five-lesson package. During the first two lessons we did a bit of reading and watching a South-African comedian but she neither corrected my accent nor told me how to use colloquialisms. Karen was reading messages on her phone during the lessons and was yawning when I was talking.
Dec 14, 2025
Ale
62 English lessons
It is always a good conversation, with interesting topics, new words, and usual expressions.
Nov 1, 2025
Trial Lesson
USD 15.00
Your final payment will be made in USD