Why I love to teach English
I started one-to-one lessons with a Romanian student in November 2018, having met her in 2017 as one of a group of new EU nurses at Chesterfield hospital. I live two hours by car from her, so we decided to do classes by Skype with the occasional face-to-face class at her home.
Although she was a ward sister in Romania, she has been unable to do the same job here because her English was weak. Since 2018 this student has worked tirelessly on her English – often with classes following little sleep due to a string of night shifts.
Just before Christmas she told me that her manager at the hospital asked to see her and asked if she would like the job of ward sister in early 2021. This delightful news is what prompted me to ask her to write a reference describing her journey so far with learning the English language.
Here is what she wrote (I have made three minor corrections to her original);
“When I started my English classes with Gary my English skills were nearly non-existent. I started with a massive wish to improve them but I didn’t know what to expect.
But, Gary with his methods and patience make me feel confident in myself and more than that he made me want to push my limits.
Gary is a very professional, innovative and motivated teacher. Every single course was adapted for my skills and knowledge and also for my profession.
This course increased my confidence in written and spoken English and helped me to build a strong vocabulary.
From my point of view, Gary is the best teacher I could have and I will recommend without hesitation”
In these challenging times this has reminded me why I do what I do.