I was born in London. I lived in the UK until I was 36. I am 47 and have been teaching English in Italy for 11 years. I grew up in a French family so I was bilingual from the beginning of my life

I am a friendly and sociable person. I enjoy nature and animals of all types. In my youth I enjoyed horse riding in all types of weather. I believe that improving foreign languages, especially English, is essential today. Not only for the purpose of business and travel, but to be able to communicate better with people of all countries.

I believe that anyone can learn a foreign language. There is no such thing as a 'bad' student, only bad teachers.

I have a degree in French and Italian. (university of Sussex). I went on to do a post graduate certificate in education in modern languages. During the course I taught French and elementary German at high school. In 2003 I did a TESOL certificate. (Teaching English for Speakers of Other Languages).

My main experience teaching English as a modern language has been been in courses carried out in schools, leading to Trinity exams. I have had 95% success with my students. I also taught the first year at the University of Palermo. It gave me the experience of teaching in front of 150 students, carrying out oral exams and marking written exams.

My experience also includes adults of varying levels learning for different reasons, as well as for professional exams, university exams, business English and also for those wishing to improve fluency.

Finally, I would like to add that teaching languages, and especially English is the job I enjoy most in in the world. Having studied foreign languages myself, like Italian and German, I attempt to put myself in the students' shoes, as if I too were a foreigner.

I believe that learning a language is predominantly to communicate effectively and clearly. That is the aim. I encourage a communicative approach from the beginning. I would start with short simple dialogues from day one, accompanied by grammar and vocabulary.

Many foreigners are afraid to make mistakes. I try to encourage them to speak up anyway and I don't correct every single mistake and hence prevent fluency.

With my students I have a sense of humour. In younger groups I make use of communicative games to practise grammar points and constructions. I give an explanation for why things are said a certain way to give students a reference point for the future. I encourage reading just a little in English regularly on what they're interested in, or watch of a few minutes of a film in the original language. That is my teaching approach.