Charlie Collard

My name is Charlie and I'm a marketing professional during the day, working across European banks and businesses in a variety of languages. I hold a first class degree in European Studies and German from King's College London, where I was the highest scoring graduate in spoken German. Additionally, I have been a fluent speaker of French for over 20 years (having been taught when I was very very young!). I want to pass on my knowledge of the language, having taught classes previously and helped family and friends in aid of their exams and professional goals. Depending on your needs, I can design a block of six to twelve sessions, or we can roll from week to week if you are looking for more ad hoc help.

My number one priority is helping you reach your goals! I understand that these are personal and I offer a safe space to learn the language, make mistakes (this is absolutely crucial - you learn a lot more from messing up!!) and help get you to where you want to be. We can define the desired outcome for the lessons together when we first meet. Typically, we will spend the first session defining areas of strength/focus areas, and you can pursue in-depth and exam-orientated programmes, or looser and more conversational, learn-as-you-go sessions - whatever works for you.

For exams, I work from GCSE and A Level standard, all the way up to first year of university. We will work closely to the exam syllabus, helping you to master the reading, writing and speaking techniques in a way that maximises your ability to get the best grade possible (and help you become a more independent user of the language)! I work through case studies, set written tasks, listening and recall sessions, and 'surgery' style hours where areas of focus can be brought to class and we can focus intensively on a particular problem (e.g. a point of grammar, a particular skill, or key vocab).

Outside of exams, I offer conversation and grammar classes, looking more generally at the important building blocks of the language. I typically set some ongoing tasks between each lesson to help embed the concepts we look at in class and raise further questions, but you can let me know if you'd rather I didn't.