George Brookshaw

I’m a student in my second year of university, currently studying Spanish and Arabic at the University of Oxford (although that may change to Persian and Arabic next academic year!). I have a real passion for languages and language learning having previously studied French up to A-Level (as well as Italian and Latin at a lower level) and am currently on my year abroad studying Arabic in Jordan. This experience studying languages up to a high level, as well as experience gained from volunteering to teach French at a school in Manchester, and the skills I learnt doing my TEFL qualification, all put me in a good position in terms of language teaching, specifically for young people. Coming towards the end of my second year at university, I feel like I have acquired the necessary skills to teach students going through these tough GCSE and A-Level periods, as I have had the time to really refine and solidify my revision techniques. Valuable lessons learnt from teaching, as well as football coaching I used to do at my local club, and growing up with younger siblings, all mean that working with young people is something that I am both very comfortable doing and very much enjoy.

Through listening to my students and understanding their concerns and what they want to work on is, I feel, the most beneficial way to plan lessons and achieve progress. However, for a general plan of how I help my students progress, I would say that on the language side of the things, I use translation to practice grammar, while also putting emphasis on verb tables, as I think is they’re really important in building up a solid foundation for any language. Speaking and listening are two other very key skills which I focus on, generally through conversation practice.