British teacher giving private English lessons (tri-language English, Japanese, French) in Lyon

Find out more about Harry

• Parlez-vous couramment cette langue en raison de vos origines ou parce qu’un professeur vous a donné envie de l’apprendre ?

  Yes I grew up in England until the age of 19, studying literature at a college level. I then moved to France to study Japanese at university (as a French student) and continued to teach English during and after my studies where I have now specialised into the role of a translator and consecutive/simultaneous interpreter.

• Citez le personnage vivant, historique ou fictif qui est, selon vous, le représentant emblématique de la culture en question !

  Shakespeare definitely, his large body of work has become the bedrock for all English speakers across the world and his plays continue to be shown to this day.

• Y-a-t-il, dans celle-ci, un mot, une expression, une tradition ou un comportement typique qui vous amuse particulièrement ?

  The meme that’s been passed down from generation to generation of saying ‘Not too bad’ when anyone asks you how you’re doing. You could have had the greatest day of your life or be near death and the answer will remain the same.
  It’s a lesson in resilience and always funny when you hear it 10 times in one day
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7d79Knc8p4&t here’s a little comedy sketch from Bill Bailey on it.

• En quoi savoir parler cette langue est important, que ce soit scolairement, professionnellement ou d’un point de vue plus personnel ?

  Of course the easy answer with English would be to say for business reasons similar to Chinese where it gives access for a lot of people into the international market and a large amount of culture/geo politics.
  For me learning a language is like learning a musical instrument, it gives you a different perspective, it requires you to problem solve and be active, it gets you to interact with so many different people who you work with and learn from. Ultimately it is a personal tool for expression, a lens to see the world through and a skill which connects people… So if I can help people achieve their goals in this endeavour that’s important to me!

• Quelle est la difficulté principale de cette langue et ce qui peut favoriser son apprentissage ?

  The fact that my language was standardised at a time when the spoken language was changing rapidly across what is now my country. This means that our spelling is not really indicative of how things are pronounced. Learners will find themselves having to memorise a lot of irregular pronunciations and spellings which can be a hurdle for some, with time however and regular reading and writing things start to make more sense!

• Une anecdote en rapport avec votre métier ou votre scolarité à nous raconter ?

  I was lucky enough to have taught a video game developer in Lyon which led me to work as the private English teacher and interpreter for Ubisoft Ivory Tower. While working there I had the chance to teach over 200+ students one to one. To help the various teams communicate on the larger projects together with international studios, including any employees whose shared language was English rather than French.
  Thanks to this work I got to meet so many different people in lots of different fields, both in management, technology and art and it meant, for me professionally, I had to create lesson plans for all different types of learners.
  It was a great experience and I feel it’s added to my skills as a teacher greatly.

• Aidez-nous à vous connaître un peu mieux en évoquant vos différents voyages.

  When I was 19 I was fixated on the idea of studying my third language using my second language, so despite only having visited France once or twice with family growing up I moved to Lyon at 19 and have been working in France ever since.
  While studying at university, I became good friends with a cooking teacher in Tokyo who hosted families wanting to visit the city and so I stayed with her family for 3 weeks one summer to try and immerse myself in Japanese culture. It was less of a holiday and more felt like I was roleplaying living in Japan for a month with a home stay family.
  Now I prefer to fly less and so have been trying to visit various places around France and close by in Europe to get to know the country better rather than just the big cities.

• Qu’est-ce qui fait de vous un Superprof, en + de cette capacité à s’exprimer en plusieurs langues ?

  Since I was young I was very lucky to have had the chance to teach a variety of subjects. I did Karate for many years since I was a kid until I was 18 and taught classes ranging from one to ones, small groups, up to entire halls filled with people doing drills.
  I was a music tutor to younger kids learning violin as a teenager and taught English privately to help 16 year olds pass their GCSE exams to get into college.
  I have now been teaching professionally upwards of 10 years roughly. My French is nearing a complete C2 level now which allows me to communicate complex ideas to beginner students with examples they understand.
  My experience interpreting simultaneously for conference events with Ubisoft and other clients means that I can flip between English and French concisely. My translation work and hours of quality assessing work means I can quickly identify mistakes in grammar or choice of language and recommend alternatives to my students no matter their level.
  I feel uniquely that with languages I have built up a real understanding of the different types of language learner, the pitfalls to avoid when starting off and the difficulties that come up depending on a student’s native language. I truly want to see people excel and achieve their goals. I am happy that so far in my career, the feedback I have got from my students has been overwhelming positive. I hope that through Superprof I’ll be able to connect with more students who are looking to learn!