Kostas B.

Private tutor in Athens, Greece

Education

Harvard University - MA English Literature (Present) Oxford University - MSc Teacher Education - Distinction Athens Business University - PG Dip Negotiations - Distinction Deree College-The American College of Greece - BA English Literature - First Class Chartered Institute of Linguists - PG Dip Translation - Pass-Pass-Distinction RSA CELTA

Experience

EXCLUSIVE ENGLISH SUPERTUTOR EXTREMELY STRUCTURED, METHODICAL & EXAM/TARGET ORIENTED. KEY INFORMATION: • CHARTERED FELLOW LINGUIST • British born and raised • Independent schooling • Studied at Oxford & Harvard University • Oxford University Lecturer (Former) • IELTS examiner, IB examiner, GCE examiner, Cambridge ESOL examiner • Owned an Exclusive IELTS and Business English school for adults • Module Leader for English for Academic Purposes and Coordinator for Business English at The American College of Greece TEACHING EXPERIENCE Oxford University - EAP & Public Speaking Lecturer Open University - Associate Lecturer Deree College – The American College of Greece - Adjunct Preceptor in EAP & Writing Programme University of Portsmouth - EAP & IELTS University Of Surrey - EAP & IELTS Oxford Brookes University - EAP & IELTS Aston University - EAP & IELTS Lycee Franco Hellenique - English Literature MANAGEMENT Bokos Exclusive IELTS Language Institute - Owner & Director Deree College – The American College of Greece - Module Leader & Business English Coordinator School of Foreign Languages: S. Kiriazopoulou (150 students) - Director of Studies chers EXAMINING EXPERIENCE Cambridge ESOL IELTS Writing & Speaking IB - International Baccalaureate Organization University of Michigan EFL Exams Chartered Institute of Linguists Diploma in Public Service Interpreting AQA - England STUDENT FEEDBACK ON WHY MY TEACHING IS DIFFERENT 1. I help students get great results as my expectations are high and my classes demanding. 2. I am extremely structured and can easily adapt a course programme to the student's needs. 3. I teach INTENSIVELY to help students improve quickly. 4. I convey information in a highly understandable way. 5. I use a unique brand of humour. 6. I offer students opportunities to open their minds to new ideas, gain insights into diverse fields of knowledge, and make associations between all these. KEY PROFESSIONAL & PERSONALITY FREATURES * I enjoy studying constantly, developing my interests, evolving and setting new personal targets. I have a growth mindset and seek to achieve through being determined and disciplined. As a result, I am devoted to showing my students that if you want to be at the top of your game, you must never stop exercising your mind and learning new things. My courses are extremely structured and I know exactly what techniques to use with students in order to bring quick results. * Being involved in diverse activities, including professional communication, negotiations, interior design, and traditional dancing, has helped me provide my students with a highly stimulating and aspirational educational experience. * At the American College of Greece, I overhauled the curriculum by introducing the themed EAP course approach, based on language immersion and projects through a particular theme that each lecturer was to choose. I also led the whole department to a new assessment model, wrote the assessment criteria, created the Department Blackboard container, mentored the teachers through a series of CPD workshops that I run along with another lecturer, and developed a bank of materials and exam items. Significantly, as the college was to offer teacher-training courses to the wider public, I took the initiative to strengthen the college library’s teacher education section by ordering approximately 300 books and a comprehensive teacher training media set.

Subject Expertise

British Literature, College Essays, English, ESL/ELL, Essay Editing, Expository Writing, GMAT Verbal, IB Language A: Language and Literature HL, IB Language A: Language and Literature SL, IB Language A: Literature HL, IB Language A: Literature SL, IB Language B HL, IB Language B SL, SAT Critical Reading, SAT Verbal, SAT Writing, TOEFL, World Literature, Writing

Availability

Any day

Can Meet

Up to 5 minutes away for no additional charge

Hobbies

Being involved in diverse activities, including professional communication, negotiations, interior design, and traditional dancing, has helped me provide my students with a highly stimulating and aspirational educational experience. TUTORING PHILOSOPHY My approach relies on language immersion. Students learn by reading from original sources i.e. newspapers, BBC radio, and novels and following that with discussions, summaries, essays, and presentations. The aim is to read what they are interested in; as a result, vocabulary, fluency, and grammar will naturally improve significantly. Being highly sociable, I am very interested in getting to know my students’ background, ambitions and aspirations as well as strengths and areas for improvement from the beginning. I care for my students and try to mentor them. Most frequently students complain that they have not been able to connect to their teachers because of the boring, grammar-led lessons they give. I have changed that as I believe that my own personality and interests can give the lesson a very different colour. Continuing education defines my life. Since the age of 18 I have never stopped attending courses and seminars in many different fields and subjects. For me, these courses complement my teaching as they inspire me to use different ways to help students improve their English but at the same time teach them other skills such as analyzing, arguing, writing for business, and negotiating. Design, traditional dances, and tennis constitute three important hobbies for me and they all inform my lessons as I use interesting material that encourages students to explore human nature and critically think about the world around them. A sense of humour is key to my establishing a solid rapport with the students. It also helps me to structure the lesson tightly and have high expectations from students without starting a rebellion! This attitude along with my strong knowledge of what I teach inspires respect in my students who become willing to work very hard to achieve their goals. Thus, I pay attention to how I hold the ground and present myself as well as the material I have to teach.