Hola, Ahlan/أهلاً and  Hello,

 My name is Sarah and 'my languages'  are English, Arabic and Spanish. As a 'pure' South London girl I was born and grew up in Sidcup, spent most of my growing life in and around Bexley, Bexleyheath and Bromley, and then moved to Clapham where I lived for 3 years. Since returning to the UK in 2021, I  lived in Greenwich ( the borough, not the town!) for a year, and  now live in the fabulous South London suburb of Crystal Palace! Best part South of the River, as far as I'm concerned! 

I am a bilingual English-Arabic speaker, and I grew speaking the Egyptian (Amiyya) dialect of Arabic. Spanish is my third language, and because of my fascination with (anything and everything) Arabic and Spanish, I also hold a (BA) Hons in Modern Languages; Spanish and Arabic from the University of Westminster. I could go on about how Arabic and Spanish are very, very closely connected - (Al-Andalus, anyone?), but I would prefer to save this for a face to face discussion or conversation :D 

I have 11-12 years experience in customer service and administration, and worked with various organisations including charities and universities. However, my first exposure to language teaching was in Australia in 2018 - I plucked up enough courage to do an intensive TEFL course - during the training workshop, I found myself teaching the names of countries in Arabic - I kept it basic, using country names such as Australia, Canada and Spain as they are phonetically similar in Arabic, and very close to how they are pronounced even in Spanish! This was by chance, as prior to that, I never really saw myself as a teacher, and never fathomed that I could have any sort of career in the languages and education sectors! Yet, thanks to this opportunity in Australia, I now hold a level 5 certificate in TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language). 

I taught English in Japan, and worked as a school teacher at a private school in Egypt, which really solidified my passion for language education!

Fast forward to now, I am truly excited to have joined Lingotot this summer 2023 and I look forward to working with you, so we can all make language learning fun, funky and joyful for children ( and adults alike!). 

Your local languages ethusiast,

Sarah 

Hasta Luego and Ma' As-salama/مع السلامة!