A bit about Laurence

I am a French national living in London, a translator and proofreader in both English and French. I have extensive experience in private tuition, for children of all ages, all exams, 13+, GCSEs, A-levels, university degrees… (my forte 100% top mark on GCSE). I'm also great at teaching people from scratch… I love my job! French from scratch, all exams 13+, GCSEs A-levels, university degrees, French citizenship exams, conversation skills… My GCSE students all achieved the top mark, even those who were really behind… I assess my students first, their goals, their weak and strong points. I then apply good methodology, often need to get back to good grammar, logic and rules that often got lost in regular school education. I use great books and material, send pdfs and we work on those. I had experience of teaching English for foreigners in Japan, I was a translator and interpreter, but I have been tutoring French only full time since 2016. I have a lot of experience, references and reviews available. I love teaching and making people love my language even if they didn’t get a good start… I am social and get on with everyone. I find my job so fulfilling, and have made amazing life-long friends along the way, adults who learned French with me and parents of children I taught. I really adapt to my students’ ability, their needs, likes and dislikes, I think my students also have a fun time with me, that’s so important, can’t be boring and tedious, I just want to make them love my language, so although I am strong on grammar, I will lighten it with fun quotes, examples and word games depending on the age… I get to know my students so I can make them relate, easy with adults. I have common ground with everyone, but I am also an expert on Pokémon because of a few of my younger students. I always wanted to be a teacher, but I found running big classes was not for me. I taught 3 of my 4 children at home until GCSE, this showed me how much better one to one tuition can be, it was so satisfying, the 3 home-taught achieved so much more and faster than they would have in a whole year in school! I love seeing the results, I love seeing my students finally understanding what eluded them for so long… They love my organised methodology, the way I clarify grammar that was never taught properly, even in private schools, and they see how l work on their weak points, and I prove them so quickly… They also think it’s fun, I taught some very reluctant teenagers, and finally made them love French… Teaching people from scratch always rewarding, or refreshing long lost French, but concretely, my GCSEs students all got A* or 9 the last few years. One student had to catch up 4 years of French which he had never done , he ended up getting 9 and being so far ahead of any of his school friends (st Paul’s school) Baccalauréat lettres, and Nice université languages degré English French Spanish, been working for tutoring agencies for 8 years I always did want to be a teacher, it’s in me, but a big class is daunting, noisy and not personal enough. I home taught 3 of my 4 children, this was so satisfying and rewarding, I then decided to turn to teaching instead of lonely translation work. I love my job it’s so fulfilling I wish I had started earlier. I love good healthy food, keen cook, love all world cuisine which I can make from scratch, travelled quite a bit, lived in Japan for example, l am into natural remedies and processes such as making kefir… I worked on tv and modelling in past so I am still into photography, films, specially European art house, I am very sporty, working out and cycling everywhere to lessons, with music in my ears … I teach all levels all ages and all exams I have extensive experience in all primary, 13+, GCSEs A levels university degrees and even the very difficult French citizenship exam which even some French people would fail! Lots of adults have learned with me to be able to enjoy their property in France.