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Information About Vanessa:

Personal Description:

Hi. I'm a native Portuguese speaker from Portugal. I've been teaching European Portuguese in the UK for over 15 years, and for seven years at UK universities. I am a fully qualified Portuguese teacher (U. do Porto). I have a PhD in Portuguese studies. I was the main Portuguese language lecturer at the U. of Manchester for five years full-time, where I taught all levels of Portuguese language (A1/A2 - Beginners; B1/B2 - Intermediate; C1/C2 - advanced). I love teaching and I will make the grammar work for you! My students progress quickly, and see results from day 1 and learn something new every single lesson. I have trialed and tested all the most widely used Portuguese language learning methods and materials and use the most effective ones.

- My lessons are the full hour (60 minutes or more, but never less!).

-I provide email support to my students and original class materials (pronunciation and grammar) for free.

-If you require a teacher to speak Portuguese in Portugal, choose a qualified, experienced teacher from Portugal. Portuguese from Brazil is very different (especially when it comes to pronunciation: phonetics/sounds, the most difficult aspect of the language).

- A native speaker is not a teacher. A language teaching qualification is a proper five years higher education degree, in the theory and practice of language teaching. Think about it, would you ask a driver to fix your car?

- I'm a fully qualified Portuguese teacher. I have a languages degree, a postgraduate teaching qualification and teacher training from Universidade do Porto.

- I'm a very experienced teacher. I have been teaching Portuguese all levels and skills (speaking, listening, reading comprehension, writing, grammar) for 15 years.

- For 7 years, I was the main full-time Portuguese Language Lecturer at several UK universities. I was responsible for getting undergraduates from beginners' Portuguese to fluent.

- I'm fully flexible, and happy to change lessons at any point. This is 1-2-1 private tuition online. I work around your availability and your learning needs. I do pay-as-you-go lessons.

Teaching Experience:

I have 7 years full-time teaching experience of Portuguese at U.K. Russell Group Universities. I worked full-time for 5 years at the University of Manchester where I was the only full-time Portuguese language lecturer (16 weekly contact hours with language-specialist students), having left my teaching position to commence my fully-funded PhD studies. I have also taught in the evening and during lunch hours for a Beginners' Portuguese course in the University's Language Centre which targeted a wide range of students, including adult learners and students with no previous language learning and/or higher education experience. I have carried out all of my students' formative assessment which included weekly written tasks and independent language learning portfolios. I have also marked my students' yearly exams, periodic written tests, essays and oral and listening exams. Over the years I have attended induction courses on a variety of subjects besides being invited to deliver my own language methodology sessions such as 'first lesson and lesson planning'. I have experience of on-line teaching and learning platforms such as Blackboard. I am experienced in private tutoring in all ages and abilities and one-to-one is my preferred way of teaching.

Tutoring Approach:

I have a thorough understanding and interest in grammar and I will pass this on to my students while teaching. I prepare all of my individual lesson plans and I have in the past assessed and delivered all of my courses. I have created many of my own class materials using 'realia' such as newspaper articles, theatre programmes, reproductions of paintings, popular music, film-based activities and art craft. During all these years of teaching I have become familiar with the handbooks available to students and I am able to comment on the advantages and drawbacks of each one. When teaching I work on each language skill (listening, speaking, writing and reading comprehension) with every content unit by using a variety of related exercises. I prepare classes using a thematic approach (holidays, work, family etc.) and work suitable grammatical points with each unit (e.g. introducing continuous past in Portuguese when talking about childhood). In my teaching of advanced and expert levels I also acknowledge the oral and written differences between European and Brazilian Portuguese. One of the main reasons why I prefer one-to-one teaching is because it allows me to cater each class for each student according to their own interests and specific language requirements. It allows for a more in depth learning and relational process which I find a more rewarding professional context than large multi-ability groups.

Qualifications:

• PhD
• PGCE
• MA
• BA

Further Information:

Availability:	Weekends / Weekdays (all times)
Types of Tutoring:	From their home / Online
References Supplied?	Yes
Additional Languages Spoken:	Spanish, French