Teaching

When I’m feeling brave, I teach. Or more officially, I lecture.  I prefer the word teaching however, as for me lecturing conjures up pictures of someone droning on about something boring, and not listening to students at all.  Words matter.

There are a couple of reasons I teach.  The first is because like everyone else, I have to pay the bills, but the second is because it’s a real pleasure discovering creative potential and encouraging it in other human beings.  In fact, I’d recommend at least a bit of teaching to anyone who thinks they’re able. We live in a world where there seem to be more people who want attention than who want to give it but in my experience, when you pay attention to others and their work, you become better at your own.

Teaching never fails to humble me. As the French moralist Joseph Joubert wrote, “Enseigner, c’est apprendre deux fois.” (To teach is to learn twice.)

My areas of expertise as an educator are English and Creative Writing with particular emphasis on Screenwriting.  I’m also TEFL qualified, although I don’t teach English Language right now, as my schedule won’t allow for it.  At the moment, I can be found tutoring online and occasionally lecturing, most recently at the Northern Film School in Leeds.  I mainly teach adults at university level, although I do have a PGCE and used to teach English to children from 11 to 18, in UK secondary schools.