After getting my bachelor’s degree as a teacher of English, I worked in mainstream education for two years. Part of this included tutoring students who needed a bit of extra help in addition to their regular classes. I soon realised that teaching smaller groups or individual students felt much more satisfying than teaching regular classes because it really allowed me to focus on their individual needs.
In 2017, I decided to register as a freelance teacher/trainer and I have been teaching private lessons, workshops and conversation courses ever since. I simply love sharing my knowledge with motivated students and seeing their progress!
Speaking of progress, my wife and I have been speaking English (exclusively, pretty much) to each other since 2013. We started doing this to improve our own language skills but when we were blessed with the birth of our firstborn (2016), we decided to raise our kids bilingually. At home, we still speak English 99% of the time and our eldest son speaks Dutch at day-care or when we are with friends or family. So far, his language skills are very impressive. Even his Dutch is as good as, or better than, some of his peers!
Currently, my main hobbies are playing video games (which is how I picked up most of my English skills in the first place), reading and cycling with the kids. Because of the flexibility that teaching private lessons (and online translation work) offers, I get to spend a lot of time with the kids, so that’s a nice bonus!
When asked for feedback, students/participants/learners (or however you want to call them) usually mention them I am a very enthusiastic and patient teacher and that I always manage to create a safe speaking environment. I like to think that my use of humour has something to do with that. Also, I truly believe that it is fine (and often even a good thing) to make mistakes.
Finally, what I enjoy about teaching individual students or small groups is that I am constantly learning new things as well. It is incredibly motivating, which makes me a better teacher in turn. Either way, I love my job and social constructivism (look it up if you like) is a thing!
“ what I enjoy about teaching individual students or small groups is that I am constantly learning new things as well.”
