facebook
favorite button
dot icon
Recently active
super instructor icon
Vertrauter Lehrer
Dieser Lehrer hat eine schnelle Reaktionszeit, was eine hohe Servicequalität für seine Schüler beweist.
member since icon
Seit September 2020
Lehrer seit September 2020
Linguistics: Chomskian grammar, universal theory, XP theory (trees)
course price icon
Von 84.5 Fr /Std
arrow icon
For Linguistics and Phonetics you will go through your university course assignments with me, we shall do "Chomskian trees" and we shall discuss theoretical points (eg GB theory, minimalist program). For Phonetics, IPA symbols and phonetic structures and theories (auto-segmental phonology and optimality theory). WARNING: there are many approaches to these theories, we shall go by what has been adopted at your university. Also: AI over-generates syntactic trees. They are not to be used for essays or to understand the underlying theories (right now, 2026).
Zusätzliche Informationen
We shall work in accordance to what you were taught at your university course, as standard approaches vary - as you will know.
Ort
green drop pin icon
|
Use Ctrl + wheel to zoom!
zoom in iconzoom out icon
location type icon
Beim Schüler zu Hause :
  • In der Umgebung von London, Vereinigtes Königreich
location type icon
Online aus Vereinigtes Königreich
Über mich
I have been working as an independent tutor since 2005, for Linguistics and Modern Foreign Languages (Spanish, French and Italian).

The courses showcased on Apprentus can be tailor-made (adapted) to your personal needs.

Please note that I tutor one-to-one, and not in pairs or groups.

I tutor mainly students in London, both secondary and university level, having been engaged by top London tutorial agencies in the course of my professional life as a tutor. My main cohort of students come from private schools in London and the home counties. None of my students has ever failed to be accepted by the university of their choice, and all of my 13 plus or 16 plus students have also passed their highly selective entrance exams (French, Spanish and Latin for the 13 plus entrance). I am aware that tutoring involves a different set of skills but I also have experience of group teaching and observation undertaken at different stages of my professional life. I have carried out short teaching assignments before, namely for ENSSIB in Lyon (two sessions of four weeks and one week courses) for the masters in library management in 2004 for two groups of around 30 students (English) and at Queen Mary University of London (evening revision class for A level French, in the Widening Participation Programme, 2007).

I have taught all ages and levels, as well as multi-level classes (as it was the case at the higher education establishments in France and Poland). While there is expected homogeneity in a regular class, I respect the individuality of each student and adapt to their needs, ranging from their first exam preparation for 11+ or 13+ (mainly French and Latin) to students needing help at university with their degree language modules, in particular when linguistics is involved (as students have less contact time with university teachers than they might need or wish). In addition, I taught EFL classes of average 20 students both in Buenos Aires (1980-1981), Oxford and Reading (1982-1988) and at UCL as a subject librarian (Romance Languages) I carried out staff and student training in IT skills and information literacy. I have a good selection of educational materials and visual prompts from cultural centres (Spain and South American countries) to help students with their literature and cultural essays. My ambition is to inspire students not only to succeed but to want to take their Spanish knowledge and skills to the next academic level and excel as scholars at university or in their chosen profession.
Bildung
I have a BA from Reading University in Linguistic Science (2:1) and from UCL, an MPhil in Linguistics (Romance languages syntax) as well as an MA in Electronic Communication and Publishing. While I was working at UCL Institute of Education, I completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Higher and Professional Education. I am now a Research Associate at King's College London in the Department of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies, where I do research for bibliographies.

In addition, I have received scholarships from ARELS/British Council (1981), I completed my year abroad at Aix en Provence (as a regular student within my Reading degree, 1987-1988) and was a postgraduate exchange student at the Freie Univ. Berlin, 1992. I have worked in Buenos Aires, France (Paris, Lyon). Poland (Bielsko Biala), and carried out a project for libraries in New York (2006) and attended (on a scholarship) a summer school at ELTE, Budapest (2006).
Erfahrung / Qualifikationen
Spanish, French and Linguistics tutor. Typical tasks involve intensive revision tutorials in exam periods (Easter revision in particular) as well as year-long support for regular students. Most of my GCSE students have progressed to A level study of Spanish and French. Tuition for the typical tutee means that they are able to improve their grades, which is crucial for university entrance (usually those Bs must be turned into As for Russell Group universities). I also coach and tutor for Common Entrance and own school’s entrance exams, both at 13 plus and 16 entry points. None of my students have ever failed to get into the school of their choice at these two levels.


iI have tutored children in top private schools, Eton, Harrow and Winchester in particular, which has been intellectually rewarding and inspiring. For the lesser gifted, I have based the lessons on carefully graded advancement, in order not to discourage the student and create confidence in their abilities. Tutees return to me for their university support, as they are likely to be inspired to continue with their languages in Higher Education.
Alter
Erwachsene (18-64 Jahre alt)
Seniorinnen und Senioren (65+ Jahre alt)
Unterrichtsniveau
Anfänger
Mittel
Fortgeschritten
Dauer
60 Minuten
Unterrichtet in
Spanisch
Französisch
Englisch
Latein
Italienisch
Verfügbarkeit einer typischen Woche
(GMT -05:00)
New York
at teacher icon
Online via Webcam
at home icon
Beim Schüler zu Hause
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
00-04
04-08
08-12
12-16
16-20
20-24
In these neuro-divergent times, the binary division of "one language or two" in bilinguals is perhaps due some contestation, which students are capable of providing. I have always found bilingual production models (and the ubiquitous Powerpoint slide) that university teachers provide a hindrance because of their lack of explicitness and discussion - they are just not relatable as presented nor do they provide much information or examples for monolingual students.

Code-switching, a by-product of bilingualism, is now a term that is even found in minority-ethnic neighbourhood grafitti ("can white people code-switch" a found example). Please note that this is a linguistic term, used for switching between two languages, and not between local or social varieties of English.

My personal position is that there is no such thing as bilingualism: there is always a language that suffers attrition, and one language that prevails, mostly because of its prestigious standing over the other language. On the other hand, a child exposed to more than one language cannot be truly monolingual.

For this course (very popular at universities around Europe both at undergraduate and postgraduate level) we shall go through the terms used to discuss bilingualism, in detail, and then discuss, with the help of published books and articles, who can be considered bilingual (or are we all, one other language lying dormant?). Can bilingualism be defined by the speaker, instead of the "community"? Can it be imposed by the State? Does a bilingual brain function in the same manner as a monolingual brain? These are research questions that emerge as dissertation or thesis topics both at undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
Mehr lesen
In this course, you will learn a range of linguistic methods and learn the terms used for describing a specific aspect of language or phenomenon (lexis, morphemes, and 'telegraphic stage' to give a few examples). The course requires you to explore your own data using quantitative and qualitative analysis (eg: how frequently are slang phrases used? Are there new auxiliaries being created?). No historical linguistics or literature is involved, but language change or specific traits will be sampled via your own data collection (if this is what is demanded in your course).

As many students need to present a "year abroad" dissertation at University level (3rd year in the UK of a Modern Languages or Linguistics Undergraduate course) I can help you to research and structure your year abroad work, both in English (Linguistics) and Romance languages (French, Italian, Spanish). The topics that have arisen from recent discussions with students relate to French Caribbean writing, Italian resistance and reprisals in Rome (Fosse Ardiatine), and Spanish Etica franquista in films (among others).
Mehr lesen
Show more
arrow icon
Ähnliche Kursen
arrow icon previousarrow icon next
verified badge
Kevin
I offer you a new learning experience.

The focus is on practical application and theory is only introduced where intuition reaches its limits.

Whether you are a beginner or an advanced learner, my tailor-made lessons will accelerate your language acquisition in a positive learning environment.

You can book a complete course with regular sessions or individual lessons to overcome a specific problem, such as pronunciation or a particular point in grammar.

Learning a foreign language is not a linear process that consists of memorising a list of words, and speaking a foreign language is not an oral translation exercise.

There are two types of approaches to acquiring knowledge:

When asked what year follows 1999, you can immediately answer 2000 without having to think for a long time and, above all, without having memorised each number individually, starting with 1, 2, 3 ... You know that numbers are formed according to a certain pattern. With only ten digits, you can form an infinite number of numbers and always know which number comes next.

When it comes to the alphabet, words and sentences, it's more or less the same, but school pedagogy, school textbooks and regular lessons still follow the rote learning approach. In the lessons I propose, you will learn to use patterns because this is more efficient and faster.

Learning is easy, but unlearning bad habits is extremely difficult. This makes it all the more important to learn the right reflexes as early as possible.

My offer is aimed at both young people and adults who want to learn German or improve their knowledge without wasting time on nonsensical school methods.

I offer individual or group lessons for German. The methods are based on cognitive science and, in particular, comparative linguistics. My flexible programme can be tailored to your individual needs. The programme focuses on your independence in spontaneous conversations in real life.

What is particularly important to me:

motivating my students and help them establish a learning rhythm;
encouraging their creativity;
helping them become more familiar with the language;
teaching them the letters and their sounds;
strengthening their memory by training their phonological loop;
teaching sentence building plans instead of memorising sentences;
explaining how language works so that my students can become independent as quickly as possible.


I look forward to meeting you.
verified badge
Ilia
Hi All,
thank you for checking out my course.

This class is open to students of all levels. Whether you are only starting to learn the wild-looking letters of the Cyrillic alphabet, or whether you are looking to practise your written and spoken Russian, I would be delighted to accompany you at any stage of your Russian-learning journey. For more advanced students, I would be happy to help you get to know one of the most defining aspects of the Russian language, namely its novels and poetry, which would be a great way to learn about the 'mysterious' Russian soul.

I believe that studying in three different countries have allowed me to try out and assess various approaches to education in general and teaching languages in particular - from the rigourous Russian system based on ensuring that the students will obtain exceptional spelling, grammar, syntax and punctuation skills, to the more relaxed yet more critical and analytical Western approach, focused on problem-solving and independent work.

You will get the benefit of a vast bank of techniques, methods and learning materials that I have developed and accumulated over the past year will be used in class to pique and maintain your interest. And since I was once a language student too, I would be able to share my personal tips and tricks with you to help you reach whatever goal you have set for yourself - be it being able to wow your friends and family by reciting a poem in the language of Dostoyevski, or impressing your future collegues with the thorough knowledge of Russian current affairs in their mother tongue!
message icon
Emilce kontaktieren
repeat students icon
Der richtige Lehrer Garantie
Ähnliche Kursen
arrow icon previousarrow icon next
verified badge
Kevin
I offer you a new learning experience.

The focus is on practical application and theory is only introduced where intuition reaches its limits.

Whether you are a beginner or an advanced learner, my tailor-made lessons will accelerate your language acquisition in a positive learning environment.

You can book a complete course with regular sessions or individual lessons to overcome a specific problem, such as pronunciation or a particular point in grammar.

Learning a foreign language is not a linear process that consists of memorising a list of words, and speaking a foreign language is not an oral translation exercise.

There are two types of approaches to acquiring knowledge:

When asked what year follows 1999, you can immediately answer 2000 without having to think for a long time and, above all, without having memorised each number individually, starting with 1, 2, 3 ... You know that numbers are formed according to a certain pattern. With only ten digits, you can form an infinite number of numbers and always know which number comes next.

When it comes to the alphabet, words and sentences, it's more or less the same, but school pedagogy, school textbooks and regular lessons still follow the rote learning approach. In the lessons I propose, you will learn to use patterns because this is more efficient and faster.

Learning is easy, but unlearning bad habits is extremely difficult. This makes it all the more important to learn the right reflexes as early as possible.

My offer is aimed at both young people and adults who want to learn German or improve their knowledge without wasting time on nonsensical school methods.

I offer individual or group lessons for German. The methods are based on cognitive science and, in particular, comparative linguistics. My flexible programme can be tailored to your individual needs. The programme focuses on your independence in spontaneous conversations in real life.

What is particularly important to me:

motivating my students and help them establish a learning rhythm;
encouraging their creativity;
helping them become more familiar with the language;
teaching them the letters and their sounds;
strengthening their memory by training their phonological loop;
teaching sentence building plans instead of memorising sentences;
explaining how language works so that my students can become independent as quickly as possible.


I look forward to meeting you.
verified badge
Ilia
Hi All,
thank you for checking out my course.

This class is open to students of all levels. Whether you are only starting to learn the wild-looking letters of the Cyrillic alphabet, or whether you are looking to practise your written and spoken Russian, I would be delighted to accompany you at any stage of your Russian-learning journey. For more advanced students, I would be happy to help you get to know one of the most defining aspects of the Russian language, namely its novels and poetry, which would be a great way to learn about the 'mysterious' Russian soul.

I believe that studying in three different countries have allowed me to try out and assess various approaches to education in general and teaching languages in particular - from the rigourous Russian system based on ensuring that the students will obtain exceptional spelling, grammar, syntax and punctuation skills, to the more relaxed yet more critical and analytical Western approach, focused on problem-solving and independent work.

You will get the benefit of a vast bank of techniques, methods and learning materials that I have developed and accumulated over the past year will be used in class to pique and maintain your interest. And since I was once a language student too, I would be able to share my personal tips and tricks with you to help you reach whatever goal you have set for yourself - be it being able to wow your friends and family by reciting a poem in the language of Dostoyevski, or impressing your future collegues with the thorough knowledge of Russian current affairs in their mother tongue!
Der richtige Lehrer Garantie
favorite button
message icon
Emilce kontaktieren