Here's a quick bit of information about me 🙂
I am #cambridgerory and my dream was to travel the world and help as many people as I could to pass the B2 First and C1 Advanced exams. I have been travelling for the last 12 months and if you're reading this article right now, then you are helping make my dream come true! Thank you!
What's your dream?
If you sign up to my free e-book and FCE/CAE exam course, I will email you and you can tell me your dream! You can sign up for the free e-book here, or watch the video below which shows you how to sign up. I apologise for the poor lighting in the video, it was one of my early youtube videos. By the way, if you didn't know about my youtube channel, I'd love it if you subscribe here! Subscribing and watching my videos helps with the youtube algorithm and so you will be helping more students find my work!
Background
If you require online FCE or CAE Practice & Courses .... you have come to the right place! My name is Rory and I am a native English teacher from Cambridgeshire, England. I teach English lessons online. I lived in Milan for 2 years, where I learnt to speak Italian. At the moment I am learning to speak Spanish.
Passions & Hobbies
Travelling is one of my biggest passions. I have been to many places across Europe. I have also travelled to Australia and South East Asia. For this reason I have met and taught many students from around the world.
I like: watching films, reading, listening to music (all varieties), football, golf and fishing.
Teaching Qualifications & Experience
My love for English teaching began in Milan, Italy. This is where I gained my formal qualification, completing my QCF, Ofqual, CEA University of Cambridge Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (CELTA). Subsequently, a globally recognised language centre in London hired me. I joined their team of experienced teachers and taught a variety of English classes. I then moved to Cambridgeshire. This is where I started teaching Cambridge Exam Preparation classes at another language school.
Online FCE/CAE/IELTS/Speaking Practice & Courses
I started my teaching career delivering Cambridge English: First (FCE) and Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE) lessons. Helping students to prepare for and pass the FCE and CAE exams was extremely fulfilling. I enjoy teaching these classes and I like the exam format for these exams. The general FCE and CAE exam structure can be found on these pages: FCE format. CAE format. If you would like to study for either of these exams with me...see our FCE page or CAE page for more details.
The Cambridge exams are well known English examinations globally. Nevertheless, there are not many English language teachers around the world who specialise solely in this area. It is for these reasons why I have now created a B2 First course and a C1 Advanced course online.
I believe that our online courses are more beneficial than face-to-face lessons when preparing for English exams. This is because students can easily and immediately access a large number of learning facilities and materials online. To find out more about online learning, visit our blog or to find out what our students say, you can read our success stories.
If you are unsure which English exam to take, you can find more information in my FREE E-book.
Here is an interview I did recently. You can find a lot of information about me and my services in the answers to the following questions...
What products/services/information do you offer?
I offer free, interesting and useful English language information in the articles on my website.
I offer online English lessons. These mainly focus on Cambridge English exams: FCE, CAE...but students can also request speaking English lessons.
What can people do with the products or information you offer on your website?
People can improve their English skills.
They can learn and be able to understand about how the English language works.
They can get information about topics which they may find confusing and unable to find answers to.
People can also find new and interesting information about English culture.
Here is an example blog post 'why do people fail CAE?'
Blog posts & Lessons
Students can learn exam strategy/tips and techniques to pass Cambridge English exams (FCE, CAE).
They can book crash courses and lessons with me to improve their exam technique.
What makes your products or ideas unique?
Blog posts
I think of and focus on areas of the English language where it is hard to find good explanations online, e.g. collocations.
These topics are generally related to the types of information you need to know in order to pass Cambridge English exams.
Lessons
My lessons are unique because of me.
Firstly, I have learnt another language....so I can understand the types of difficulties that students face.
I also have a lot of experience teaching exam preparation. Most of my students have passed their exams and I have excellent feedback from my students.
Courses
While my courses follow a structure...the class sizes are very small, so lessons can be flexible and tailored to student needs.
Individual lessons
I am experienced and very flexible, so I can focus on any part of the English language that a student wishes to improve.
I can focus on specific areas of the Cambridge exams which students find difficult.
How will your products/services enhance your students’ lives?
My lessons and information on my website will help students pass Cambridge exams. If students pass these exams they have a qualification and proof of their language level. With these qualifications students will be able to get better jobs in their own and English speaking countries. They will be able to study in higher educations and institutions. Perhaps most importantly, they will have a sense of pride in what they have achieved. Exams give students goals and targets to aim for and hopefully achieve. I think this is very important and many of my students take my lessons and sit exams just for their own feeling of accomplishment.
Why should people buy the products/services on your website and not on another (e.g. cheaper or better known) website? Or why should people read your information and take your advice instead of information on another website?
I am very careful whenever I buy anything online.....and I take a lot of time looking at the different options, sellers, reviews etc. Knowing whether to trust what you are buying or not can be a difficult and sometimes frustrating process. What I say to my students is, watch some of my youtube videos. These will firstly give you a good idea of what I am like as a person and how I like to teach.
In summary, I passed one of the best and most well accredited English language teaching/TEFL/TESOL (or whatever you want to call them) courses there is. The name for this course is CELTA and it is run through the University of Cambridge. Since then I have taught Cambridge English preparation classes online and in two language schools in the UK to hundreds of different students from around the world.
What’s the reason you’re offering these products/services or information, besides making money?
There are a number of reasons I can give to answer this question.
Firstly, I would say I am very lucky because I have a job which I love, where I feel I can make a real change to individual people's lives, but also to humanity as a whole.
I offer my services because I see and work with so many intelligent people from around the world who, simply by improving their English and having English exam qualifications as proof, can help the world to keep advancing and improving. These people often need English skills in order to get the jobs or university qualifications that they want or need. Then their lives and the lives of others will improve as a result.
For those people who do not have the money to pay for my lessons, I hope that the free information I offer can provide them with some useful material which they can learn from. I also hope that I can help these people to help themselves. I offer tips and tricks for passing exams but also useful advice in how to effectively learn by yourself.
More selfishly - imparting knowledge is a wonderful feeling!
Positive Aspects Of Group Learning
People often underestimate or don’t think about the positive aspects of group learning. Particularly when learning a language, learning with and from your peers is highly important. Not only for the language benefits, but also in meeting other students pursuing the same goals. Of course adult language learning, when students are often voluntarily joining language classes, is a lot different to forced language learning as part of a school. No doubt for many people from poorer parts of the world, learning English for example, is a necessity.
Positive Aspects of Individual Learning
You get 100% of the teacher's focus. The teacher can help you with any specific language problems you have.