Khaled

I was born in Amman, Jordan, and grew up between Jordan and Cyprus, where I attended American schools before moving back to Lebanon after the Civil War ended in 1990. I graduated with distinction at A.U.B., in Beirut, before moving to Paris, where I lived for a roughly a decade, while teaching ESL and working on my first novel. Five years ago, wanting a change, I moved to London, after signing up with Susanna Lea Literary Agency. Since then, I have worked for Figtree Learning, teaching 11+ English, with a focus on creative writing.

Willing to travel: Home Only

Experience: At Figtree, I founded the first creative writing workshop and specialise in teaching English comprehension, French and Creative Writing. Over the past five years, I`ve acquired a wealth of experience helping pupils prepare for 11+ and GCSE exams, and have helped students get into Kingston Grammar (ISEB), St. Edmunds (Non-verbal), St. Dunstan`s College (ISEB), among others.

I am very skilled at teaching ESL, English Literature and Creative Writing. Over the years I spent teaching ESL in Paris, to both children and adults, I was able to incorporate much of the grammar into the discussion, so as to allow students to practice speaking and build their confidence expressing themselves. For my comprehension and creative writing classes at Figtree, the approach varied depending on the age. I have taught everything from 7+ to university students. What all my classes have in common is an attempt on my part to develop the student`s interest in the material organically, basically getting them to love reading and writing. I do this by selecting short stories and assignments which challenge them and require them to meet the different benchmarks required by all schools, i.e: strong vocabulary, good use of metaphors, similes, descri ptive language, etc. I will sometimes use my drawing skills to incentivise younger students to write, either to illustrate different ideas or to collaborate with them on a comic book that they write and I draw. This often gets even the most reluctant among them to write, and to learn to visualise plot.