Andrew

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Descripción

I feel I have been fortunate to have lived and worked all over the world initially with my parents as a young child, [they worked throughout Asia]. I followed their 'nomadic' lifestyle myself as an adult working all over the world as an architect. I now have seven driving licences...!
Seeing, and in particular living in so many countries with diversely different cultures has, I feel, helped me to have a better understanding of people in general and their different ways of life.
I also taught English as a second language for 7 years and was fortunate to have worked for a school on the Gold Coast in Australia that was rated, one year, as the best in the southern hemisphere.

Both my children did gap years overseas. My daughter went to Wales to work in a boarding school and my son went through the 'Rotary Club' to Oaxaca in Mexico for a year back in 2002. Part of that 'deal' was to host other Rotary students ourselves. We have been doing that now, off and on since then, hosting dozens of students from South America, Canada, Europe and more recently from Asia, mainly Hong Kong, Japan & China.

I think it was seeing a 74 year old man from Chile, who had sadly just lost his wife, come to our school with absolutely no English at all and to see what he achieved in just 3 months that really inspired me to learn a language.

You ask me what I love and I would have to say in my younger days it was sports but now it has to be travel and ... learning a language. I found the Colombian students at the school to be some of the most friendly and carefree people I have ever met and I have now had two 3 month stints in Colombia trying to learn & improve my Spanish ... and salsa!

About 8 years ago I eventually persuaded my wife to travel to Spain & France. We ended up there for 20 months, including 61 weeks of house-sitting through a company called trustedhousesitters.com. I also taught English voluntarily in a language school whilst in SE Spain.
We took our dog too [from Australia] so you will note we are animal lovers too! In hindsight, we were so lucky to do our 'walkabout' [as the Aussies call it] because a few years later both Brexit & Covid made that 'dream' an impossible one for any Brit...! Thank you Brexit !!

I also love sports and in my youth played cricket, rugby, football, golf &tennis. Nowadays, I swim for exercise and have taken up pickleball.

So my dream for now, whilst healthy [touch-wood] is to continue to meet people, enjoy the history, architecture and culture of Europe with the goal of also trying to improve my Spanish whilst helping others improve their English. Sounds like a good dream to me!

Intereses

Mascotas

Dibujo y pintura

Fotografía

Idiomas

Animales

Deportes de aventura

Deportes de equipo

Baile

Arte y diseño

Arquitectura

Idiomas

Idiomas hablados
Inglés: Fluido
Español: Intermedio
Francés: Principiante

Más información sobre tus intereses idiomáticos
Very much so ... I would say this is my strength. As noted in my previous profile description, I have a TESOL certificate and taught at a very well reputed language school as a Senior teacher for 7-8 years in Australia. I am also trying to learn/improve my Spanish. I put my Spanish level as 'intermediate'. To be honest, I feel it is 'pre-intermediate' but didn't want to put beginner, as that often seems to say ... "he can't say a thing!". I am presently having weekly online lessons with a Nicaraguan teacher and she says my vocab is very good but my grammar is weak and I am the first to admit that..... too many verb endings!

Buscar un colega de idioma

Habilidades y conocimientos que quiero compartir o aprender

Me interesa:  

Cuidado de casas

Proyectos artísticos

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Puedo enseñar:  

Enseñanza

Idiomas

Que habilidades tienes?

I am a retired Architect. I qualified from the University of Brighton many moons ago!

I also have a TESOL teaching qualification and as a Senior teacher at the school was also responsible for organizing activities, including games, bingo, quizes etc
As well as teaching all levels I also taught the Business English class for many years.

I have/had a grade 1 football goalkeeping coaching certificate from the USA.
I was also a competitive swimmer at school, having learnt growing up in Asia. As an adult, I helped coach the swimming team both my children swam for in Bermuda.
I would be very comfortable passing on my skills in both those sports plus golf [I had a handicap of 8 back in the day] and tennis to learners of these sports.

Edad

66

Algo más...

Enjoy all board games, scrabble, ludo, bingo, cards, outdoor made-up fun games etc.. Even used to play some mayhjong as a teenager!

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