Who am I to be telling you…?
Hello I’m Kathi, I’ve been communicating French to the English and English to the French for most of my professional life and I really enjoy the rapport I establish with my students. Organised and enthusiastic about my subject, I write a lot of my own material which includes tips that I’ve gleaned over years of understanding why English speakers make such and such errors. I research and update my vast library of sheets, texts, suitable podcasts etc every week – all good qualities in a freelance teacher to be sure.
But over and above this, I love teaching French: I love language and in particular the French language and how it relates to English. In short, I love what I do, I really want my students to succeed and it makes me very happy to nurture and share a love of this language and to pass all my knowledge and pointers onto you.
My qualifications to teach you French
As part of my ongoing quest to remain on top of my game and to gain a teaching qualification that I felt might come in useful if I wanted to teach English more often, I completed the Cambridge CELTA course, training as teacher of English as a foreign or second language to adults, a qualification that informs and complements my teaching of French to teenagers and adults. I came first in my College, gained a grade A with a mark of 99% overall.
My first degree is a BA Hons in French with Italian, 2:1 from Leicester University, I went on to become one of the first few English mother-tongue students to succeed at the DESS ILTS at Paris VII University. This is a prestigious specialised translation post-grad course which led to happy years working as a scientific translator and terminologist specialising in biotechnologies at the French National Institute for Agricultural Research, INRA, now INRAe, in Jouy-en-Josas just outside Paris. After finishing my first degree I also taught English for a year at the Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour.
Two decades of teaching French
Moving back from south-west France, I’ve now notched up nearly 20 years of experience teaching English mother-tongue adults both young and old. I have been working as a self-employed tutor since 2004 and have run 3 levels of French groups and am always willing to set up a new one – just ask! I have experience working with a local international company since 2017 both teaching French on a 1-2-1 basis and to two different levels of groups for the staff and directors there. During lockdown lessons went online and I started up the Balades Bavardes and also used my French for teaching English to a French national new to that company.
I got DBS clearance back in 2013 as part of my role of Captain of Sutton Womens Cricket Club where in addition to setting up and running the Women’s Section and taking command on the field, I took on responsibility for engaging teenage and mature players.
Why learn with an English mother-tongue French teacher?
If your French teacher keeps her French up-to-date watching French TV series, listens regularly to French radio (see my Students’ tips blog on this), updates her library of French language texts and worksheets every week, listens to French language podcasts most schooldays, peruses Le Figaro before teaching and counts as many foreign nationals as British among her friends it’s quite possible your teacher not only knows how to explain French to you but can put her finger on exactly why you are finding it tricky – as she’s trodden that path before you! Some students will prefer to learn a language from a mother-tongue speaker of that language; I teach in French or in English as my students prefer – and often find a combination of both works pretty well!
See France from my garden…
It’s no surprise that I live just 10 minutes from the Tunnel so I can pop over to France regularly and explore the regions I didn’t get to visit when I lived over there. A recent long weekend in Rouen confirmed it makes for a great city break for anyone driving over from Hythe or Folkestone. It’s a great base for trips out to discover such sites as the magnificent ruins of Jumièges abbey pictured below. A longer trip to discover hidden Brittany stole my heart, I have plans to return! I often pop back to the lovely Montreuil-sur-Mer, which is easily possible during a day trip. Or why not follow in my steps and go walking in the area around Munster in eastern France? Sampling some absolutely amazing cheeses does count as learning…!
