Bonjour et bienvenue!
Je m’appelle Phillipa.

Discover why I love French, why I’m qualified to tutor you, and what my students and their parents think of my service.

DBS certificate no: 001090775812

I am a qualified teacher and have been teaching for over 20 years in several different countries. I have been lucky enough to live in France several times and am fluent in French.  I have a first class honours degree and a PhD in French from Durham University and a Masters in Education from Boston University.  Over the years I have taught in businesses, language schools and government programmes but more recently have been tutoring one-to-one in person and on-line.

I started my career working in book publishing in New York City while also volunteering as an ESL and literacy teacher for newly arrived immigrants. However I gradually realized that I enjoyed teaching more than book publishing and decided to return to university to get a teaching qualification. It was a good decision as I absolutely love being a teacher.

I am a dynamic, dedicated and enthusiastic teacher and get great pleasure from helping my students achieve their goals. Language learning should be fun and I try to make my students feel completely at ease.

Every student is different and the starting point of lessons is to find out where most help is needed and then to tailor lessons to a student’s needs and goals. From there I work with students to help them gain confidence, achieve the result they hope for and, perhaps most importantly, to enjoy this lovely language!

I fell in love with France when I was a young teenager and used to go there with my family every summer on camping trips.  These trips inspired me to take French at university. During a gap year, I worked as an au pair for a family living in a 16th century château! This was quite an experience. I learnt a lot that year including the lyrics to many French nursery rhymes!

 My first teaching experience was as an English assistant in two French “collèges” in the suburbs of Toulouse.  Toulouse, known as “la ville rose” (the pink city) of France, was a magical place to live and a place where I started to love French cinema, music and theatre.    

Some years later I moved to Paris while doing research for my PhD. I managed to get a library card that gave me access to the rare book collections at the beautiful Bibliothèque Nationale.  Precious books were brought to me on velvet cushions and could only be touched once I had put on a pair of special gloves!

 After university, I was very lucky to get a job working on a research project in the Bibliothèque municipale in Versailles.  During the French Revolution books were confiscated from the libraries of the French monarchy and placed in Versailles public library but, surprisingly, were not catalogued. For a year I worked in the library examining priceless 16th century books which had possibly been in hands of Louis XIV! Since then I have returned to France many times and lived in Paris for a while with my own children. France is, and always will be, a very special place for me and speaking French one of my greatest joys.

5 Stars! Fun, Engaging and Rewarding

Phillipa tutored my son in French online when he was preparing for his GCSE exams. Her lessons were always engaging, motivating and thoroughly enjoyable. She encouraged him to speak in French right from the start, prompting him whenever needed, which gave him a real sense of achievement. Her knowledge of the exams was extremely thorough, so she could prepare him for exactly what would be required in order to achieve an excellent grade. After finishing his exams, he chose to continue with French lessons online just for fun. Phillipa ensured that the topics they covered were of direct interest to him, and tasks ranged from listening to songs to reading comics. I would recommend Phillipa as a tutor without any hesitation. Her passion for French language and culture, and her sensitivity when working with students, combined with her many years of teaching experience, mean that lessons are always extremely useful and hugely rewarding. Thank you, Phillipa! 

Building Confidence

We would highly recommend French tuition with Phillipa, my son finds her very  friendly and approachable and his confidence in speaking and writing French has increased significantly since starting his lessons.  Matt now demonstrably enjoys learning a language and has turned a corner in his motivation and attitude to learning French.  Matt has now been moved from the Foundation to the Higher tier paper and is increasingly confident of his abilities to tackle the different aspects of the exam. I also better understand as a parent how I can support my child in his exam preparations.
 
More importantly my son now seems to really enjoy learning a foreign language and is starting to realise the benefit of this on trips abroad.  It is fair to say before his tuition with Phillipa he was a somewhat reluctant student and had kept requesting to drop taking French GCSE all together!  Thank you Phillipa!
Virginia L

Enjoying French

Phillipa is a great teacher and is patient and kind.  I went from disliking GCSE French and not getting good grades to enjoying it and even achieving some grade 9s in my recent mocks!!  I feel supported and welcomed in all her sessions and she has been super-helpful in developing my skills and knowledge of the French language.
Laura B

Understanding the Student’s needs

I am dyslexic and really never could get French at all. I have had French tutoring and done lots of clinics at school before but I never made any progress. This is different – I feel so much more confident, have really understood how to use the tenses and am now on track for my GCSE.
Ollie, Year 11

A happy parent

Phillipa has taken a student who was overwhelmed by a lack of confidence and confusion and in a very short space of time has helped him form the building blocks in grammar, vocab and fluency he needs for GCSE. A complete transformation!
Ollie’s Mum

An invaluable tutor

Phillipa’s knowledge and experience as well as her comprehensive yet clear approach to teaching make her an invaluable tutor to anyone looking to effectively increase their knowledge and understanding of the French language, I personally had Phillipa tutor me with only a few months before I sat my GCSE higher French exams and she successfully turned me from hopeless to achieving a grade exceeding everyone’s expectations about what I could achieve, even my own.
Harry L

Keen focus

I would like to add that I found you a very helpful and eager person to deal with, who really knew her stuff and could assess with laser precision exactly the areas best to focus on.
Helen L