Del

 How I Started

Born and raised in Manchester, I teach English 1:1 online via Skype/Zoom or other VoIPs and have been teaching for over 15 years.

I focus on English pronunciation and accent reduction mainly because I’ve found this is the most important aspect of being understood for most English learners. Most of my English students tend to be higher level or advanced and get frustrated when they aren’t understood properly or don’t understand native English speakers.

After getting my teaching qualification from Cambridge University, I focused on teaching English. I’ve been specializing in English training for 7 years, whilst working in the UK and Spain. I’ve also been teaching online now for over 7 years.

I’ve also delivered courses, presentations and have been speaking publicly for over 15 years. During this time I have spoken regularly at public events ranging from 50 to 700.

Contact me if you’re fed up of grammar and boring books and want to learn ‘real’ English. Or if you need to nail that presentation, job interview, meeting or you just want to improve your English.

Why I Went Solo

After working at a couple of major English language schools in Manchester, I concluded that a formalistic way of teaching is not the most beneficial or quickest way to learn a language. Many of my students could understand the tutors, each other and the recordings on the CDs, but once they left the college and entered the real world, they were frustrated with not being understood and struggled with people who ‘don’t speak English properly’ and ‘eat their words’! Most students found that the ‘English’ they learned in their own countries wasn’t the English spoken by native speakers.

Is 1 to 1 Best?

If you’re looking at this page, then you have probably worked out by now that the best way to learn English is with a specialized, one to one English tutor. Hence, Simple English uses a variety of methods that allow students to understand and be understood by general native English speakers. We’re not talking about the ‘Queen’s English’, but the kind of English that’s spoken outside of Buckingham Palace, by over 95% of native English people!

What I Do

I specialize in improving spoken English, with a focus on pronunciation, intonation and rhythm, including slang and common phrases, therefore helping you to communicate in day to day life.

Harmer (2001, The Practice of English Language Teaching. London) expressed that the first thing that native English speakers notice during a conversation is pronunciation. He went on to say that, Grammar and vocabulary are important elements of language but they can be useless if the speakers cannot pronounce those elements or words accurately. Native speakers can understand people, despite their grammatical errors, if they use accurate English pronunciation. Communicative efficiency can be guaranteed by correct English pronunciation.

In a nutshell – pronunciation is crucial. It doesn’t matter how good your English grammar and vocabulary are if people keep saying, ‘what?’ or ‘pardon, can you repeat that?’

Also, many non-native English speakers have learned a lot of vocabulary that isn’t in common use by native speakers and yet struggle with phrasal verbs and English idioms which are used regularly. This can be a major confidence blow and lead to the student not wanting to speak much, which hampers progress. I can help you to build your confidence and speak more like a native English speaker in an easy and relaxed way.

If that sounds good then phone Simple English today and we can have a chat to find out how to move you forward with your English learning.

My Method

The Simple English approach is a communicative and direct method, as I believe (and research has shown) that the most effective way to learn a language is to actually speak it. We will use a lot of media, such as TV clips and newspaper articles.

Listening and practical speaking exercises to help you make English consonant and vowel sounds accurately.
Linking – I’ll help you link your words together more smoothly to create more fluent, natural-sounding English speech. You’ll also learn the rhythm and musical tone of English (sentence stress and intonation)

English grammatical rules are learned indirectly by the learner figuring out correct grammatical sequences and verbally producing the language themselves through interactions on created situations and roleplay.

We will do a lot of talking, so as to build your confidence and help you to become more fluent in English. I like to use shadowing to embed correct English pronunciation as well as rhythm and intonation.

I’m flexible and can discuss and help you build vocabulary in any area you like, as well as helping with job interviews, work projects, exam preparation (FCE/IELTS) and business English.

Lessons

My English lessons are relaxed and fun, as I feel students learn better this way and feel more confident to use the language, leading to quicker progress. More importantly, I like to have a laugh ; )

Other Services

I also provide other services, such as a proofreading and content writing service. Up till now, I’ve proofread hundreds of websites, including one of Europe’s largest printing company websites, as well as written the content for Australia’s most bespoke designer furniture store.
Drop me an email for a free quote. I can help you with essays/dissertations, coursework, web marketing content, websites/blogs and much more.

Web Design

And last but not least, I design professional but economical WordPress sites (such as this one) and can provide cheap hosting and SEO.