Monica

I am an artist and language teacher. I was born in Italy but lived most of my life in the UK. I came to study English having an interest in the language (I have studied English literature in Italy and I love Shakespeare).
I have a passion for reading, writing, languages and travelling. In particular, I have a strong interest in Japanese culture and art , and I have studied Japanese. I like gardens, parks and nature in general and I am a creative person. I enjoy sharing my skills and knowledge with other people, learning from them as well and I am very enthusiastic about my interests.

Tutoring Experience

I have experience teaching in Italy first and then in London.
In Italy I used to teach art, design and history of art in secondary schools and colleges. I also had some experience teaching in community groups with children and adults.
In London I started as a volunteer art teacher in Brixton during art clubs. Then I had experience teaching origami in various places and in 2005 I started to work as a supply teacher. After that I worked as a support teacher for an autistic boy and at the same time as an art lecturer at the Barking College. In the last two years I have been working as an art teacher and art coordinator in a primary school in North London.
Regarding Italian teaching I had some experience with children in private home and with adults in groups and individually as well.

Tutoring Approach

My approach is always friendly and I try to use simple but interesting exercises to teach.
In my experience i noticed that the use of a clear but creative approach helps people to understand and learn more without the fear of making mistakes, which I always say to my student they are part of the learning process. I try to relax my students asking what they like and use their interest as an input to plan the lesson. I noticed it is very helpful, expecially at the beginning when you have to gain confidence with the subject. I often prepare study materials myself because books are useful and important but with some subjects such as art or Italian being creative is essential. For instance charts or images are very useful to memorize and it is more interesting.