Meet French tutor Melanie
CasaLingua boasts a number of experienced and friendly tutors who deliver language lessons at our County Durham language school and online. So, we thought we’d introduce you to our fantastic team of language teachers.
First, it's our French native, Melanie Cornforth. As you can imagine, being born in Angoulême – which is around 70 miles from Bordeaux – Melanie is the perfect tutor for our French lessons. But she is also a Spanish speaker!
Meet French language tutor, Melanie
Melanie moved to England after gaining her degree in Spanish. Although she wanted to be a primary school teacher (and is qualified to do so), a young Melanie found managing a group of children more challenging than expected!
Unsure of her career path, she thought she would get experience in a different country and she chose England. As a confident English speaker, she thought she would gain experience in a hotel for six months or so, and then head home. And she ended up working in one right in the centre of Newcastle.
And it was while she was in the North East of England, that life changed for the French-born language tutor.
Melanie Q&A
Starting with CasaLingua
Q: How did you end up staying in England?
A: I met my husband, Steven, and although I thought I’d be here for only six months, I ended up staying! Professionally, it was great because with my qualifications, I had lots of options. I first worked at Seven Stories in Newcastle and then became a Teaching Assistant in a North East Primary school, which I’ve now done for 10 years.
Q: How did you get involved with CasaLingua?
A: I sent a message to Kim on Instagram. Two of my colleagues at school knew Kim and came to her Spanish lessons at the weekend. Another teacher also attends lessons Kim runs, so I found her on Instagram and messaged her saying I was interested in working with her. We had a coffee and that was that.
My CasaLingua lessons
Q: You spend most of Monday at CasaLingua. What lessons do you deliver?
A: I do. I teach French at a local nursery near Consett and then I head to CasaLingua French for beginners. I have a more advanced French group later in the evening but also teach Spanish for beginners at 18.45.
Q: Do you teach languages outside CasaLingua?
A: I teach French to my primary school class but on Saturday mornings I work at a French school in Newcastle where I’m the reception teacher. The children are bilingual so it is different to teaching French as a foreign language.
What I love about CasaLingua
Q: What drew you to finding out more about CasaLingua?
A: My colleague said Kim was a very good teacher. I was impressed that she could teach three languages and then there was her passion. She has a love of languages and is very professional and friendly. We now text almost every day as we share many interests. We both have a passion for languages and travelling! We also love teaching languages to children. And like Kim, I love running. I take part in Kim’s new venture, LinguaRun. I did the Great North Run and while I’m not the fastest, LinguaRun is perfect for me as I find someone who runs at my pace.
Q: What about the language school?
A: The language school is very inviting. It’s a lovely, friendly environment that’s perfect for helping make people feel at ease.
Tell us one more thing about you
Well, I have other hobbies but children, teaching and running are pretty much my life. When I had my first son, Elliot, during the pandemic, I found out I had blood cancer. It took a while to rebuild my body and it has been hard, mentally, too!
My biggest victory is having my second son, Leo. I was told after heavy chemo, I wouldn’t be able to have any more children. But then, Leo came along. So, that is my life at the moment. Although I do like board games, reading and travelling. If I had more money I would travel the world!
Contact us
If you would like to join one of Melanie’s Monday classes, then contact us here. And use that link for any other language lessons for adults or children.