About WHO’S YAN?

Now let me tell you a bit about myself ; My name is Yan-Brian, I was born in Nancy which is a medium-sized town in the north-east of France and I’m an EFL/ESL teacher, EFL standing for English as a Foreign Language, ESL standing for English as a Second Language.

A little bit of history:

The reason I chose this job is quite simple ; as soon as I started learning English at school, and above all as soon as I set foot in England for the first time in 1985, I became fascinated with the language, and I’ve been spending nearly every school holiday in England since. The elderly couple I had picked to stay with eventually became my adopted grandparents. I studied English in Nancy at the university and I got two degrees of the University of Cambridge including the ‘Advanced Level’ certificate. However, I consider myself self-taught in many ways (most of the job was done in England, by speaking, listening and practising over the years). Indeed, My learning experience was exactly the same as for any other foreign child settling in and gradually learning. Therefore, the least I can do is share with you my deep interest in the language.The little village I have been to so many times is called Mundesley, it is situated on the north Norfolk coast of England in East Anglia.

My goals:

I teach English to those who need it for various reasons. My students are mainly adults and their level can go from elementary to advanced. I teach small groups of people but I also give private lessons either working for training companies or responding to a personal request.
My goal is to deliver high quality lessons based on whatever the learner needs to know or practice. I am keen on analysing the English language and explaining in a simple way how it works to my students, indeed, a lot of them still struggle with basic grammar rules or vocabulary which should have been understood and well practised before moving on to further language skills. I tend to share with my students a profound and lively learning experience. For this, I use some of the best English methods around to insure a sensible structure which I can stick to, along with my own resources which I keep building in a rather captivating way and on a daily basis. But most important of all, I make sure that my audience practise their speaking skills by focusing on role play type of exercises allowing them to efficiently rehearse the theory.

The students’ goals:

First of all, it definitely requires some skills to be a learner ; patience, self-helping capabilities, and of course self-discipline. If a person needs English for travelling, then the teaching methodology should not be the same as for somebody who needs it at work.
One golden tip I would like to share with you is to read English aloud. This will improve both your reading and speaking skills in one go, indeed, as long as you understand what you are reading, you are actually speaking good English as you read it.

That’s it, I wish you ‘bonne chance’ and I hope that some day I will have you as a student.

Until then, take care!

Yan-Brian.