Find English as a foreign language tutors

EFL means English as a foreign language. A useful starting point is a situation you want to handle: following a conversation, understanding a text, writing a message or explaining an idea. Choose a tutor whose experience fits that task and your age.

The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) describes proficiency from A1 to C2. It is a guide to what you can do with a language, rather than one fixed EFL syllabus. The following examples show how learning demands change; you do not need a level label before enquiring.

Grammar feedback is more useful when the correction explains your meaning. Consider this illustrative sentence from someone who moved in 2023 and still lives in the same place: “I live here since 2023.”

A correct version is “I have lived here since 2023.” Here, “have lived” links the earlier start to the situation now. “Since 2023” tells us when it began. For a length of time, use “for”: “I have lived here for three years.” This is a separate example; the important distinction is starting point versus duration.

For a finished situation, you could say: “I lived there for three years before I moved.” That is the past simple. Notice that “for” can appear in this sentence too; it does not belong only to the present perfect.

Try these: “I have worked here ___ January” and “I have worked here ___ six months.” The answers are since January, a starting point, and for six months, a duration. A useful next step is to write one true sentence about your own experience and explain the time phrase.

For a child at a school where lessons are taught in English, the goal may be understanding lessons as well as learning everyday English. This is often described as English as an additional language (EAL). The Bell Foundation’s school guidance distinguishes English proficiency from academic ability: difficulty expressing an answer in English does not, by itself, show a lack of subject understanding.

Bring a piece of classwork and explain the child’s previous schooling, languages and reading experience. In a task asking the learner to “compare” two things, for example, a tutor could first explain that instruction, then model “Both …, but …”. The child can use that sentence frame to express their own subject knowledge. The support should make the language clearer while preserving the thinking the task requires.

Tell the tutor if written instructions, visual prompts or more time to respond would help. For school-focused support, discuss how tuition will connect with the work the child is doing in class.

Give the tutor the exact test name and version, your target and any recent marked work. General English practice and test preparation can overlap, but the task demands need separate attention. IELTS Writing illustrates why this matters.

Latimer provides one-to-one tuition and is online-first. Tutors set their own rates, and standard lesson billing is pay-as-you-go. Check the rate on the tutor’s profile and agree the session length before booking.

Price is one part of the choice. Compare it with how well the tutor understands your goal, the lesson plan and the feedback you will receive. A realistic schedule also leaves time to use the English you are learning between sessions.