Virginia

Teaching Style

I am highly qualified in teaching adults who already have a grasp of the English language and who would like to A) become more fluent B) Emigrate to an English speaking country C) Attend an English speaking University. I can help students prepare for the IELTS or CELPIP exams or simply follow the platform to become a better speaker, writer, listener and reader. I am very practical in my style of teaching and cater to the needs and wants of the student. I sometimes assign homework at the student's request. I often assign Engoo articles that are to be read and interpreted to the best of your ability and then answer some or all of the discussion questions. This helps me evaluate your reading comprehension, ability to write and your ability to converse in the English language. I also provide tools that will help you to better understand the nuances of speaking and writing in English. I am very flexible and we will sometimes veer off course depending on what crops up at the moment. Don't worry, we will always find our way back to the initial lesson. CELPIP is the Canadian immigration exam for entering into Canada. IELTS is specifically designed for higher education admission. CELPIP PREPARATION: CELPIP provides official practice materials, including free practice tests and study resources. Reading: Complete the official CELPIP reading exercises before your lesson and bring the questions you got wrong, guessed, or didn't understand. Your tutor can then help you with scanning, finding evidence in the passage, vocabulary, inference, and understanding why one answer is better than another. Listening: Complete the official CELPIP listening exercises on your own and note any questions you got wrong or were unsure about. During your lesson, you and your tutor can listen again to the difficult sections and work out what you missed and why. Writing: Practise the two CELPIP writing tasks—writing an email and responding to a survey question. Complete a response before your lesson and then go through it with your tutor, concentrating on organization, answering all parts of the question, vocabulary, grammar and clarity. Speaking: Make sure you practise all eight CELPIP speaking task types: giving advice, talking about a personal experience, describing a scene, making predictions, comparing and persuading, dealing with a difficult situation, expressing an opinion, and describing an unusual situation. Your tutor should give you CELPIP-style prompts, allow you the appropriate preparation time, and then let you give a timed response without interruption. Afterwards, the tutor can give you feedback and have you try the response again. That should give you a much more structured way of preparing specifically for CELPIP IELTS PREPARATION: We can use Cambly's IELTS materials to practice the specific format and task types of the exam. Lessons can focus on the areas where you need the most improvement, including speaking practice, writing organization and correction, reading strategies, vacabulary, listening comprehension and test-taking techniques. Whichever exam you choose, please be prepared to do some independent practice between lessons. This allows us to use our time together effectively-reviewing your work, discussing areas of difficulty, correcting mistakes, practising speaking, and developing strategies to help you improve. Of course, you don't have to be preparing for an exam! I'm also happy to have relaxed, casual conversations if your goal is simply to become more comfortable and confident speaking English. We can talk about topics that interest you, and I can gently correct your grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation as we go. Come and say hello- I'd love to meet you and help you feel more confident using English!

Preferred Levels

Language Skills Focus

Standardized Test Familiarity