F.A.Q

Yes! I have an Enhanced DBS check which is updated regularly. I also keep up-to-date with Safeguarding Training and best practice for online teaching.

All sessions with me are recorded, without exception, and easily (and only) accessed by parents or guardians and the tutor. They are not deleted until tuition has formally ended.

Spanish Scholars is GDPR compliant. 

I do not have QTS, though I am a qualified teacher. I currently have a Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) certificate, as well as years of experience working in and with primary/secondary schools and universities. 

Not necessarily. Good teachers make good teachers - at least this is what researchers have found.

Native speakers may have certain advantages over non-native speakers, and vice versa, but it is a very popular language myth that native-speakers are always better language teachers.

That said, I would be classified as a "native speaker" of Spanish since I learned it as a child and at home, as well as at school while living in Spain. 

In a word: everything.

My expertise is as deep as it is wide. I have had excellent success teaching very young absolute beginners (ab initio) to leading a Master's Degree course on language teaching for Spanish-speaking trainee teachers.

In this way, the Spanish language experience you can expect at Spanish Scholars is entirely customisable and tailored to your needs.

This includes highly specific and technical training, such as tuition to prepare for GCSE or A-Level exams (international/UK) or official Spanish language exams such as DELE.

Unlike many competitors, Spanish Scholars is uniquely qualified to offer advanced Spanish tuition for undergraduate and postgraduate students reading Modern Foreign Languages (Spanish/Catalan) or Linguistics. 

The simple answer for language learning and ease of mind is: the sooner the better.

Language learning relies on activating and reactivating prior knowledge. This can't be crammed or mastered in a few weeks. Take, for example, the Spanish GCSE exam.

Year 11 students will generally only have 35 sessions before they sit their GCSE exam if they start tutoring at the beginning of the academic year, while those starting tuition at the start of Year 10 will have around 75. That's a huge difference! 

Since Spanish Scholars is an online tuition service and does not offer face-to-face sessions, payment is always collected online and digitally.

I use Stripe to process payments. This can be arranged in multiple ways (invoices, subscriptions, one-off payments, etc) according to your preference. Traditional methods such as a direct bank transfer or setting up a Direct Debit is also an option.

Payment can be taken weekly or monthly. For larger payments up-front or tuition packages, I will apply a discount of 10% or 15%. 

Unlike many of my competitors, Spanish Scholars offers a highly flexible approach to rescheduling booked lessons.

Language learning is a fluid and non-linear process, and this should carry onto the tuition schedule itself. It must fit around the daily lives of the learners and, sometimes, it is simply not possible to attend a session. In these cases, Spanish Scholars will offer an alternative time or to simply postpone the tuition to the next week.

Please note that there is a limit to how often a booked class can be postponed. Pre-purchased packages of multiple sessions will have an expiration date.

Emergency leave will also be granted for emergencies, of course.

Due to incredibly high demand, open slots are typically filled within moments as Spanish Scholars also has an active waiting list for certain hours or times. Please check the Book a Class page for more up-to-date information on my current schedule and offered slots.  

Typically, I am available for tuition throughout the year except:

- Ten days in December for Christmas and New Year
- Five days in February for Spring Festival (Chinese New Year)
- Seven to ten days during the summer (variable)

At present, I am accepting new clients for the UK evening hours (5-9pm). 

Even though I have had great success and have not yet had a student fail a milestone exam, unfortunately I cannot guarantee a pass or specific grade outcome.

Every student is unique and has a different relationship with language (learning). Standardised tests only benefit some types of learners, at the expense of others who can really struggle with them.

It is my role as a tutor to identify these strengths and weaknesses and come up with the best learning plan for the most realistic outcome.

Tutors who offer "guaranteed passes" are not being honest with their learners. 

I am still an academic, but I have chosen to not work within the academy. The UK Higher Education sector is in an interesting position right now. Many Modern Language departments are being closed due to lack of funding and/or support from upper management, and lecturers have little freedom in who, how, and what they teach.

As a tutor, I get to create my own academic experience without the extra hassle. As a tutor, I have the freedom and flexibility to teach more (varied) students.

That said, I do actively publish and present scholarship in my field of expertise - and I frequently collaborate with univerities for non-permanent teaching positions. For example, I am currently teaching on an MA course offered by the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. 

In my experience Google Meet, Zoom, Skype, Microsoft Teams, and other basic platforms are not optimal for online language learning. A great platform should function as a virtual classroom, and unfortunately these apps fall short in one area or another.

In all of my years of online teaching, I have found that ClassIn is the best teaching app for language learning speficially. I have used it for almost three years now in my Spanish and ESL tuition sessions. 

It's an "all-in-one" learning environment which supports multi-interactive teaching with a huge variety of interactive tools, such as an in-class and out-of-class chatroom, a customisable whiteboard, a dedicated homework area, the class schedule, previous class recordings, and a section with all the class resources and materials.

If you are curious about this app, check out this short introduction from the company.