About Me
My name is Sarah. I am an English teacher and Language Anxiety Coach and I help people overcome their fear of speaking and using English.
I'm sure you know what an English teacher is. But Language Anxiety Coach? Allow me to explain…..
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I began teaching English over fifteen years ago, completely by accident. I was travelling in Thailand, and needed to earn some extra money. Teaching English was the most obvious way to do this.
Despite the fact that the students preferred sleeping to engaging with any of my lessons, I stayed in Thailand for over a year. After this, I continued travelling around Asia, teaching in a South Korean girls' school and a Chinese university.
As time passed, I got to know my students very well. They told me that they were ashamed of their pronunciation, or that they were so frightened of speaking that sometimes they would not say anything at all, even in important meetings at work.
They compared themselves unfavourably to colleagues who had lived for years in an English speaking country. Or, they went to pieces in exams such as IELTS, repeatedly missing the scores they deserved. And all the time, they blamed themselves.
My mission as a teacher now is to help learners succeed and flourish by not only teaching English, but also by facilitating the growth of a strong, positive mindset to combat the stress, uncertainty and fear that can become so damaging for language learners.
After almost ten years in Asia, I came back to England and found a job in a language school in Brighton.
Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy it; the pay was low, despite the high fees students were paying, and the job took up more of my time than I liked.
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I was stressed out, tired and unhappy. I needed to find a more holistic way of working if I was going to stay in the UK.
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So, three years ago, I quit my job and started teaching online.
Hearing the same story so many times made me wonder whether the biggest challenge my learners were facing wasn't English, but their negative beliefs about themselves and how they used the language.
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I began researching, and discovered that Second Language Anxiety is a genuine issue affecting many language learners across the world.
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"I was always worried about what other people think of me when I speak English. The Confidence Course has helped me to change my attitude towards the process of learning English and my anxiety about my English fluency. I really feel deep pleasure and more positive about my English than I did before the Confidence Course."
Elena Myshkina, Russia
Got a question? Get in touch with me directly.
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