Bio Funda Halloran

Merhaba! I am Funda. I am a native of Istanbul. I am normally based in London, but I currently live in Abu Dhabi.

I am a fully qualified and experienced teacher of both Turkish and English. I have been teaching for over 30 years now. For eight years I worked in High Schools in Istanbul. More recently I taught younger children as Turkish lead for the 'mother tongue' programme at a school in Moscow.

I am currently teaching adults and children both online and face to face on a freelance basis. Many of my students are based around the world from the United Arab Emirates to the Caribbean.

I know that learning languages should be fun and I always vary interaction patterns in my lessons. This makes the class more interesting and encourages real word communication (especially speaking and listening skills) and boost my students' confidence. Please see just a few examples of the feedback I have received:

"I am really enjoying the course. We have a lovely atmosphere in class and Funda is superb. This course is great value for money!''

"I am continuing to enjoy my lessons with Funda. The class atmosphere is very supportive and Funda is a very conscientious teacher"

"Funda continues to give over and above by working with us outside of the lessons. The content is rightly becoming more challenging but I do feel that I am making progress"

I understand that students can have a different preferred learning style and motivations I strive to use various methods and materials in the tailor lesson to the student's needs.

I also believe it is very important to learn about the target language's people and culture as this can help students to understand some of the language usage, such as idioms. To achieve better understanding of the language and the culture I draw on topics from current events through to ancient folkloric tales. As well as improving their core skills, my students gain the ability to connect with native speakers and their culture.