At Wimbledon for the webcast in 2006
Before I joined the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ I was an English language teacher and teacher trainer for many years. I taught English in Japan, Denmark, China and here in London. My radio career began in 1998 when I wrote and presented a series called 'English in Question'.
What do you do when you're not working?
I like to play racquet sports, particularly badminton and squash. I'm a keen scuba diver and I play guitar in a band - but I also watch too much television and spend too long in front of my mac.
What's your best tip for learners?
Every learner is different so it's hard to give a specific tip. However in general, practise, practise, practise! Learning a language is like learning any new skill - the more you do it, the better you get! It also takes hard work - so learn the irregular verb tables, study the tenses and how they are used in real English.
I also think it's an excellent idea to have an effective method of recording vocabulary. You can arrange vocabulary alphabetically, by word grammar, by topic and so on. Whichever way you decide, remember that words often occur in similar patterns and with the same other words. This is known as collocation so when you note down a word, try to find out what it collocates with and write those words down as well.
If pronunciation is important to you then it's a very good idea to learn the phonemic alphabet. You can find out more
One of the other resources that is very useful is a good dictionary.
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