Photo: Jessica Austin
“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn” – Bejamin Franklin
A graduate of Psychology and former professional actor, Michael was born, raised and educated in England from elementary school to university graduation.
With a Cambridge University Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA) and over four years teaching experience, he has a proven ability to teach, motivate and direct students to maximum performance, regardless of their background or level of proficiency. As well as teaching English to young learners, teenagers and adults, his customer service background in the UK financial sector and the airline, hospitality and leisure industries has provided him with a solid basis for teaching business English. He did this with a good deal of success in Indonesia, to the employees of Glaxo-Smith-Kline, Permata Bank, TNS, Bank Mandiri, Ecco shoes, and the Indonesian Ministry of Industry, among others, and more recently National Instruments in Penang, Malaysia.
In addition to the above, Michael is a former IELTS speaking examiner and, having been a professional actor and entertainer, he brings many transferable skills from his theatrical background to his teaching, such as an intrinsic awareness of how to use the voice expressively through tonality, rhythm, facial expression and body language.
Providing customer service at American Express (2008)
A firm believer in the communicative approach to language teaching and the philosophy of ‘learning by doing’, he places a high value on promoting the verbal expression of the English language; fully appreciating that it is not enough for a student to be capable of explaining grammar rules and the correct conjugation of verbs, if they are ultimately unable to successfully interact or express their ideas and needs through English to a foreigner.
His academic background in Psychology and additional ‘Counselling Skills’ qualification have proved invaluable in feeding his awareness of the cognitive processes behind language learning and providing the necessary abilities to listen attentively and provide assistance and support to his students when needed.
A committed and dedicated professional, he prides himself on building a good rapport with his students, focusing on their learning needs and producing motivating and interesting lessons. To this end, he will always exploit technology in the classroom, whenever possible and appropriate, to enhance the learning process.
Michael is fully DBS/CRB checked, possessing a clean police record supported by a current ‘Enhanced DBS Certificate’. More information about this can be found on the ‘DBS Status Check‘ page.
How it all began
“My interest in teaching English was initially stimulated whilst helping a Malaysian friend with his English whenever we met socially. Many times, during our meetings, he would stumble on the pronunciation of certain words or make grammatical errors in his speech, such as placing an ‘s’ sound at the end of uncountable nouns to express their plural form e.g. ‘informations’. Being an avid fan of the popular American TV series ‘Sex & the City’, he would also hear colloquial expressions, which he did not understand, and write them down in a notepad to clarify their meaning next time we met. Though I was not solely responsible for his progress, I nevertheless found it very rewarding to hear his English language use and comprehension improving over time. Knowing that I had played some small part in this seeded my interest in becoming a teacher of English.”
