Native English speaker with world cultural understanding.

(ONLINE LESSONS ONLY) I am a native English speaker. I was born and raised in New Zealand and English is my first language. I have lived in 5 different countries and travelled all over the world. I spent various stages of my education in those 5 countries, which helped me better understand different cultures, accents and communication styles.

I am very passionate about the English language as I find it a fun language to play with, both in speech and in writing. I love the grammar, punctuation and spelling rules (I know these confuse many people, but this is where I can help!) It is fascinating how words in the English language originate from so many other languages. I love helping professionals and academics from other cultures as I find that their level of English is usually very good and the help they require is more to do with communication skills and cultural references in the workplace.

When I first left NZ and unintentionally picked up another accent is when I realised that I/we had an accent in NZ! I have lived in NZ, India, Qatar, America and England, but have travelled to many more countries - picking up cultural understanding along the way. I also have a background in acting, so I learned quite young, how to speak clearly. Living around the world has also helped me hear and understand other accents (and cultural differences) pretty well. I think my acting skills are why I pick up and drop accents so easily, but as I was last in England (for 15 years) my accent is now British.

I find it very easy to understand people from most countries. Having lived in so many places, I usually easily work out what people are trying to communicate. I've often seen people having problems with communication and/or cultural understanding. I've seen problems in the workplace or frustration with customers/staff who don't speak enough English or good enough English. It isn't a problem for everyone, but I have observed it a lot. I have also seen people who don't speak English fluently enough, feel like an outsider with their colleagues as they (often) don't understand the cultural references. This is where I can also help - especially as I naturally understand the differences between Eastern and Western (or Anglicised) cultures/communication.

I have observed that not understanding cultural differences and cultural references can slow down communication and cause confusion or misunderstanding. I've developed quite a strong intuition regarding cultural differences & gaps, that I can see another area where a person may be able to really improve their progress in English.

My background is in drama/acting, mental health, human rights, nutrition, cooking and communication. I have worked with kids for over 20 years but for several years, I have been working more with adults and teens teaching nutrition, healthy cooking, and communication and confidence skills. I have also been home-educating my two boys for 8 years now.