Avtor: LOUISE WINTER

A bit about me; I was born in the UK but have dual nationality and I’m proud to say that I’m also half-Slovene. The city I’m from is called Sunderland. If, like most people, you’ve never heard of it, it’s beside Newcastle. 😉 People from Sunderland are known as ‘mackems’ and I enjoy introducing my students to some of the nuances of the mackem dialect. I’m also an artist working with sculpture, video and installation and write reviews for a number of online contemporary art magazines. Here’s one of my most recent projects in the UK:

I’ve always been passionate about education and the English language so teaching seemed like a natural choice for me. Before I came to Slovenia, I completed a TEFL course to gain experience of teaching English as a foreign language. I had a fantastic teacher. One time she gave a lesson entirely in Japanese, and somehow, we were able to follow her instructions and learn new Japanese words and phrases. It made me realise the importance of speaking in the target language and that anything is possible if you have the right skills and techniques to engage your students. Teaching is a gift and I enjoy empowering students by developing their language ability. 

A phrase I’d like to teach you is ‘think on your feet’.  For example, ‘she had to use a lot of initiative and think on her feet’. ‘To think on your feet’ means to be able to think of ideas and make decisions very quickly. For me this is very pertinent in the context of language learning as it’s something you have to do a lot when you’re speaking and making conversation.

I’ve been working as a language trainer with LanguageSitter® for a few months. I really wanted to join LanguageSitter® as they seemed different to all the other language schools. They had a unique approach to language learning that was completely student centric (courses fit the student and not the other way round) with an emphasis on learning in context through speaking and conversation, which is the most natural way to learn a language. As language trainers we prepare individual lessons for each student or class as opposed to teaching from a textbook. For me this method has much more integrity and heart, your students are always at the centre of everything you do and lessons are tailored to meet each of your student’s needs. I really enjoy this approach as it enables me to use my creativity to come up with ideas and new games and activities to motivate and engage students.

I think learning English is essential as it’s spoken by 400 million people across the globe. Speaking English isn’t just about being able to communicate with native English speakers-it’s the most common second language in the world. So, if you want to speak to someone from another country, the chances are you’ll be using English to do it. English is also the dominant business language and many international companies expect employees to be fluent in English. Not to mention, many of the world’s top films, books and songs are published and produced in English!
 
I like to make lessons fun, exciting and challenging. The rapport I have with my students is at the core of everything I do. I really enjoy getting to know my students, their interests and goals and developing a learning program to support and develop their needs.