Ms Susan
A CELTA-qualified British educator who spent seven years teaching phonics daily in UK primary schools — and trained other educators to do the same.
About Ms Susan
Susan is a British educator based in Cornwall, with a BA (Hons) in English and English Literature and a CELTA — the Cambridge qualification for teaching English.
What makes her unusual on our team is where she spent the last decade. Seven years inside British primary schools, working across Key Stage 1 and 2 as a Higher Level Teaching Assistant — leading classes, assessing pupil progress and reporting it to senior leadership.
And every single day of those seven years, she taught synthetic phonics — the same structured programme British primary schools use to teach reading. She became experienced enough in it to prepare and deliver phonics training sessions for other educators.
That matters here more than it might sound. Our Early Explorers programme is built on exactly that approach — the sounds of English taught in the same sequence a British four-year-old learns them. Susan has taught it, in a British classroom, to hundreds of children.
She has also worked extensively with children learning English as an additional language and children with special educational needs, adapting resources so a lesson works for the child in front of her rather than the child a textbook assumes.
More recently she has taught English online to children aged five to thirteen across Asia and Europe, from complete beginner through to intermediate — so she knows how to hold a young child's attention through a screen, which is a genuinely different skill.
Who Ms Susan Works Best With
Every educator has a strength. These are hers.
Phonics & First Reading
Seven years teaching synthetic phonics daily in British primary schools, and training other educators in it. If your child is starting from the sounds up, this is exactly her ground.
English as an Additional Language
Years adapting British classroom material for children whose first language isn't English — and more recently teaching children across Asia and Europe online, from complete beginner upward.
Children Who Need Adapting For
Experienced in adapting resources and delivering targeted reading interventions for children with additional needs — the ones who need the same lesson taught a different way.
How Ms Susan Teaches
What actually happens in her lessons.
Sounds Before Words
English is taught the way British children learn it — starting with individual sounds in a deliberate order, so a child can build words themselves rather than memorising them one at a time.
The Same Lesson, A Different Way
From years adapting classroom material for children with additional needs and children learning English as a second language. If something isn't landing, she changes the route rather than repeating it louder.
Built for a Screen
Holding a five-year-old's attention through a laptop is a specific skill. Short activities, plenty of movement, and constant back-and-forth — never a child sitting watching an adult talk.
Progress You Can Actually See
From assessing pupil progress in a British school and reporting it upward. You get a clear picture of what your child can do now that they couldn't last month — in plain English, not jargon.
Qualifications & Training
Every qualification below has been verified with the awarding body.
Programmes Ms Susan Teaches
The two stages where phonics and early reading do the most work.
The Early Explorers
First words, phonics, songs and stories. Built on the same sound sequence British primary schools use — the programme Susan has taught daily for years.
View Programme →The Junior Scholars
Grammar, reading comprehension and writing that holds together — with plenty of talking, because that's where confidence comes from.
View Programme →Questions Parents Ask
The things families usually want to know before booking with Ms Susan.
What is phonics, and why does it matter?
My child speaks no English at all. Where do they start?
My child has additional needs. Can she adapt?
How long are lessons, and how often?
Will my four-year-old sit still for a screen lesson?
Will I know how my child is getting on?
What if my child doesn't take to her?
Book a Free Assessment with Ms Susan
A relaxed 20-minute Zoom session — she'll meet your child, find their level, and tell you honestly whether she's the right fit. No card, no obligation.
🎯 Book a Free Assessment