English is full of grammatical quirks and non phonetical spellings. Don’t let this put you off! - Flora Fergusson

Can you tell us about your English teacher career journey?

After graduating with a Masters’ in English Literature from the University of Edinburgh, I started out over 15 years ago as a Native English Tutor at a secondary school in Hong Kong. focusing on boosting students’ spoken English. This sparked an interest in teaching so I then took a CELTA and worked in a London language school teaching students from all over the world.

This in turn led to me taking a PGCE at the University of Oxford, and teaching English Language and Literature in secondary schools in the UK for a number of years.

Many of my students were multi lingual, leading me to specialise as an EAL (English as an Additional Language) teacher and work with students in both UK and International School settings. 

What are the key challenges you see English learners facing?

English is full of grammatical quirks and has plenty of non phonetical spellings. Don’t let this put you off! 

What advice do you have for English learners? How can they improve their English?

Try not to worry about making mistakes, especially when practising spoken English. Whether to prioritise fluency or accuracy will depend on the situation, but remember to embrace mistakes and see them as a learning opportunity. Try to make learning English a fun experience!

How important is the student—teacher relationship in language learning?

Very important. Share your goals with your teacher so they can help plan a pathway with you. If you’re in a classroom setting, your fellow classmates can be a nice source of motivation as you help each other learn.