1st lesson free
Melissa
- Rate $55
- Response 1h
$55/hr
Contact
1st lesson free
- ESOL
- English speaking
- English vocabulary
- English writing
- Business English
I Learned My Best English Sitting in Hostels Not Classrooms Five Years Teaching Eighty Students the Kind of English You Actually Use While Traveling
- ESOL
- English speaking
- English vocabulary
- English writing
- Business English
Lesson location
About Melissa
I spent several years backpacking and living abroad picking up language skills the hard way, through actual conversation, confusion, and plenty of awkward moments rather than formal classroom study. Five years into teaching now, I've worked with about eighty students, mostly people planning travel or already living somewhere new who want practical, real-world English fast. I never trained formally as a teacher, and I'm upfront about that, because my real strength is understanding exactly what a nervous traveler actually needs to survive and thrive in daily conversation. I connect particularly well with students who felt bored or discouraged by traditional classroom English, since I learned everything the unconventional way myself and genuinely understand that frustration. My teaching style is relaxed, conversational, and a bit unstructured compared to more formal programs, built entirely around real usage rather than exam preparation. I care far more about a student confidently ordering dinner or chatting with a new neighbor than about grammatical perfection on paper somewhere. Watching a nervous student successfully hold their first real conversation with a native speaker remains genuinely the best part of this whole job for me. If you want English for actually living your life, not just passing a test, I think we'll get along well.
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About the lesson
- Primary
- High School
- NCEA Level 1
- +17
levels :
Primary
High School
NCEA Level 1
NCEA Level 2
NCEA Level 3
Adult education
Masters
Doctorate
A1
A2
B1
B2
C1
C2
Other
Beginner
Intermediate
Advanced
Professional
Kids
- English
All languages in which the lesson is available :
English
I picked up most of my own language skills backpacking for years, not sitting in classrooms, so my lessons lean heavily toward real, usable conversation rather than textbook formality nobody actually speaks. We start talking from lesson one, genuinely talking, because I remember how useless years of grammar drills felt compared to a single real conversation with a stranger in a hostel kitchen. Grammar still gets covered, don't worry, but I introduce it as it comes up naturally in conversation rather than front-loading a wall of rules before anyone's said a single sentence. Vocabulary focuses on the stuff you'd genuinely need traveling, ordering food, asking directions, making small talk with strangers, chatting with locals, rather than obscure formal terms you'll likely never use. I use a lot of roleplay, pretending we're at a market, an airport, a bar, because that pressure of "figuring it out live" is exactly how I actually learned myself. Mistakes are treated as completely normal here, genuinely no big deal, since I made hundreds of embarrassing ones myself while learning and turned out fine regardless. I keep lessons loose and conversational rather than rigidly structured, adjusting constantly based on what a student actually wants to talk about that day. This is English for living life, not English for passing a test.
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Rates
Rate
- $55
Pack prices
- 5h: $275
- 10h: $550
online
- $55/h
free lessons
The first lesson with Melissa will allow you to get to know each other and discuss your needs for future lessons.
- 1hr
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