Crepes at your place!

Sunday 18 July 2010

French Teaching References ... Ouilafrance rocks!

Do you want to learn French? Stop here and contact me via email: vpollacs@yahoo.co.uk! Below are a few references:

What do the students say?

09/08/2011 Matt, Solihull

As I am setting up my company providing language tutoring (French, Spanish, ..) on line through videos I called up on Veronique's expertise to support French tutoring videos. Her enthusiasm, tutoring competencies and presentation skills are brilliant! We were able to shoot outstanding clear tutoring video after video around varied learning topics with almost no edit. I am now looking forward to hearing feedback from the students when I formally launch the company!

02/02/2010, Simon, Burnley
As French beginners we were looking for a course that was flexible enough to fit around a busy work schedule and someone who would work with us closely on a one to one basis. We looked at several evening classes at local colleges, but the courses weren't exactly what we were after. Following a search on the internet Veronique's web site came up so we quickly looked her up and made contact. She was quick to respond, in fact I got an e-mail within an hour of contacting her and she was immediately speaking French to me and drawing us into our first French conversation. My wife and I have always wanted to learn a language and had visited friends in the French speaking part of Switzerland several times which has now become a yearly event so we decided why not learn French.
Veronique's method was ideal for us, lessons via Skype (web video), followed up by phone calls in the week just to check up on us and help us through the lesson earlier in the week, fitted in well with us and she gently but firmly led us on, helping us correct our pronunciation very importantly through French grammar. Slowly but surely we've picked up a tremendous amount in a relatively short period. I think we started in May 2009 and by January 2010 I've felt more and more confident in conversation, can understand questions form answers and converse to a level I didn't think I would be at within such a short time. I even bought a copy of La Monde the other day just to test myself and found that with most of the articles I could make out the general gist of the story. Veronique has been fantastic with prompt calls on agreed dates, flexible and understanding so that if we couldn't make a date fitting us in elsewhere and really tailoring the course to suite us. Its been great that we have not only learnt a lot about French culture as well, but we have been able at times to suggest subject matter and Veronique has built a lesson around our interests. We look forward to our Monday evening Skype lesson every week, and we are continuing to build our knowledge of French grammar, vocabulary and sentence structure. As a beginner we have been amazed at our progress and by regularly going back over old ground with Veronique things have moved on at a manageable pace. I would definitely recommend Veronique's teaching method. She's been gentle with us but when we have needed it she's helped us through the things we've struggled with to keep us moving along at a steady and realistic pace. Thanks Veronique


05/06/2009 - Daisy, Stockport - "I am a student at Xaverian College in Manchester and I was desperate to get the best grade possible in French to go to University. Veronique turned my French subject around into a successful learning path! She not only coached me during the year to improve my conversational skills to pass the exam but also advised me an original essay topic "Les Ch'tis" and she empowered me to write a quality paper on it.

02/01/2009 - Eirini, Manchester -"Casually Learning French with structured lessons around a coffee in a pub and phone calls at random times during the week": I found this course very appealing and efficient! I went through a series of customized lessons with Veronique where we met in a quiet place . These lessons gave me more confidence in progressing with the language learning and met with my priorities of the moment.

02/08/2008 - Neil & Dianne, Sale - We are a couple and here we are, we decided to spend some time this year in France. We also took the resolution to learn and/ or improve our French. One of us does not know any and the other has some rusty remembrance from school. Veronique came to our place on a weekly or bi-weekly basis and tailored the lessons to our needs. We are now ready to go and enjoy good food and wine and confident we will say more than "Bonjour" in France!

27/03/2008 – Helene & Ann, South Manchester -We are two friends willing to improve our conversational French and were hoping to find a course suitable for both of us only! We found it with Veronique’s flexibility and enthusiasm to teach! She adapted the course for us two as she is able to provide as much attention to one than the other and she is sending us comprehensive notes from the lessons, phone calls and regular exercises. Veronique selects actual topics that we relate to and can reuse for conversations.. She gives us regular phone calls between the lessons to practice listening and remote language communication skills. Keep it up!

10/02/2008 - Magali, Sale - I am a pensioner and I am keen to take on the challenge to study for and pass my GCSE in French. I talked to Veronique and decided to take regular lessons. Veronique turned my regular reading and study into powerful learning method where I gained time to grasp much quicker the grammar and some lists of vocabulary. She is boosting my confidence in speaking and analysing more difficult texts towards the exam preparation!.

06/12/2007 - Richard, Manchester - I have always liked France and the French language and wanted to refresh my knowledge from University and build on it to develop it to the next level. Namely competent conversational and business French. I am glad I can leverage Veronique’s great teaching skills to assist me! Veronique uses a combination of techniques including face to face teaching, interesting and relevant exercises, video watching and regular telephone calls to enable me to practice and use the recently learned concepts

05/11/2007 - Tony, Partington - "Bonjour, I am Tony. As I wanted to learn French from scratch to use it for my work in France I called for Veronique’s services as French teacher. Veronique is giving me face to face lessons and is completing the lessons by phone calls and exercises on an adhoc basis. She shows flexibility while adapting the pace and content of the lessons to my learning style. This combined method allowed me to make a good amount of progress without even realising it!"

14/09/2007 - Rachel, Fallowfield - I am a student in Manchester University (MMU) I had a punctual need of refreshing and improving fast my French knowledge so that I could be confident with passing the French exam. This exam was crucial in the final global mark and I had to overcome some weaknesses in grammar and had to brush up on various lexicon themes. I asked Veronique to help me. After 4 intensive lessons and phone calls + regular exercise to practice specific points I gained tremendous confidence in using the grammar and vocabulary for the exam. I am now sharing the good news with you and Veronique that I passed my French exams: I had a good mark for both the essay and written exam!

17/08/2007 - Barry, Sale - Bonjour, I was just looking for a native French-speaking teacher in the Manchester area to improve my conversational level. Fortunately I found Véronique with whom I am effectively keeping up to speed. My vocabulary and fluency have increased and I have also consolidated my previous knowledge. This is done in a practical way through a conversational course and, outside of the course, with some arranged practice exercises ."

13/09/2006 - Charlene, Stretford - As a professional looking to move to France I have been calling on Véronique's teaching methods to improve my conversational level and be ready for the move! Veronique boosted my French speaking confidence to prepare my new life in the country of "art de vivre"!