Meet Sarah Nazar from Evergreen English
Abigail Fulbrook: Okay, welcome back to the Elevate blog. I’m here with Sarah today. Sarah’s an English teacher. I think you’re in the UK. Is that right, Sarah?
Sarah Nazar: That’s right. Yeah. I live in a small village in Mid Wales close to the English border.
Abigail Fulbrook: I see. So, you’re an English teacher. Does that mean you’re mostly doing online lessons?
Sarah Nazar: Yes, I do all online lessons, mostly with adults.
Abigail Fulbrook: I see. And what kind of adults do you teach?
Sarah Nazar: So I usually teach um students who are working at B2 to C2 level, but mostly C1 or C2 level. And uh most of my students are looking to improve their English to pass an exam. So we often focus on looking at the Cambridge exams, the C1 or the proficiency but I also do IELTS, and then I have a lot of students who are either working on their English as part of their job because they want to feel more confident and more competent in their jobs or it’s something that they’re doing just to really help boost their English. Maybe they were students, they had done a degree in English and want to enhance their skills.
Abigail Fulbrook: I see quite a variety of learners. What do you think when somebody is at that high level, advanced level what kind of help can you give in that situation?
Sarah Nazar: I think there are a number of different ways in which you can give help. I think one of the best ways is to help them to reactivate the language that they have and that they maybe haven’t been thinking about or using actively for a long time. So I’m really keen on doing feedback during the lesson and at the end. And I helped try to help learners to draw out what they do already know and then of course we can boost that and add to it. So that’s one of the ways. Another way is to point out what they’re doing well because I think students can sometimes get stuck and think I’m not good enough. I’m not as good as I used to be. And then when they are reminded of how fluent they are or what they’ve just been able to communicate to you without even thinking. I think that can be a really good skill that a teacher can have. So those are the main ways I was boosting confidence in the skills you already have and reactivating language that you might not have used for a long time.
Abigail Fulbrook: I guess they’ve started learning in school, if they’re adults now it’s been a long time, I come across learners as well who, it’s been years and years, and they feel like they still are low, I’m not good enough not good enough, but actually you’re really, you’re really good.
Sarah Nazar: Yes. And in terms of pronunciation as well, I think that’s a really good thing to point out is look look how you connected that and this is where we can do it in other places as well.
Abigail Fulbrook: It’s nice. It’s good to have that reminder that that’s what human teachers can do. AI doesn’t really pick up, I think. It’s good to have that human contact with teachers as well.
Sarah Nazar: Yeah. And I think sometimes one of the great things about lessons because I myself have language lessons online and it’s a great thing sometimes to make your teacher laugh. I mean, I’m constantly laughing, sometimes crying with my students because and I think it’s that’s something you get from a human is knowing that you’ve made them feel something or you given them a giggle.
Abigail Fulbrook: Yep, that’s right. Okay. So, do you have any memorable moments from your learning or from your teaching?
Sarah Nazar: I think every time a student phones you and says, “This is the score I got in my exam.” Even, and sometimes it might not be the score that they wanted, but they’re still aware of how far they’ve come. Those kind of moments are really, really special. I’ve also had some memorable silly moments like when students turned up for a Halloween lesson in costumes, for example, as a pumpkin. Those moments are really special, but those moments when you have a kind of breakthrough. That can sometimes take a really long time when you’re doing practicing for the Cambridge exams, for example. There can be some particular question types that take a while to sink in and to get used to, but when that happens, that’s really, really special.
Abigail Fulbrook: Yeah, it is, isn’t it? It’s nice to hear you’ve got lots of moments like that. And I was going to ask you the next question is why are you a teacher? Why do you keep coming back to teaching? But I think I can see that it’s the human contact, isn’t it?
Sarah Nazar: Yeah, I think so. I can’t really imagine doing anything else, but yeah, I think that’s what it is, that interaction with people and helping to see them progress.
Abigail Fulbrook: Yeah, especially when you’re doing sort of exam focus and exam preparation, it can be a bit it seems a bit dry and a bit, you know, heavy going sometimes. But how do you get through that with your students if they feel like it’s too much pressure?
Sarah Nazar: I suppose it’s like focusing on those small victories that’s really important. At the proficiency level, I try and do the exam papers as well, and I’m very honest. So, there are times when I have to say, I got two of those answers wrong. Let’s look at why these are hard and go through them together. And I think that’s important to really focus on, you know, on the on the the the human aspect of it. The fact that it’s a really tough exam and you have to be incredibly focused and have a really good technique and prioritize what you’re going to do in the exam. So we tried to look at that but… I try to relate to my students because I think we all know that these are exams that are designed to test not just your English but also your ability to keep cool and to do things in a structured way.
Abigail Fulbrook: Exactly. Great. Oh, thank you Sarah. It was really good to talk to you today.
Sarah Nazar: Thank you very much. Thank you. It’s nice to have this chat.
Get in contact with Sarah about lessons here
