Adults · Mazamet
English for adults
Speaking English without translating in your head.
You’re not short of vocabulary. What holds you back is being afraid to speak. That’s where we start.
Helen Phillips
01What gets in the way
Most of the adults who call me are not short of vocabulary. They are embarrassed. Embarrassed by their accent, by hunting for words in front of a colleague, by not understanding the answer after they’ve managed the question. My job is to make that go away, and the vocabulary follows. We speak from the first hour, in English, about what concerns you: your work, your travels, your reasons for learning.
02In practice
How it works
At 4 Boulevard Soult in Mazamet. One-to-one, or in a small group of three to six. We set the rhythm together in the first lesson; an hour a week is a good place to start. Between lessons I send you something to practise with, and I correct what you send back.
03The levels
The levels, plainly
I measure progress against the CEFR, the Common European Framework. Six levels: at A1 and A2 you manage simple situations; at B1 and B2 you hold a conversation and work in English; at C1 and C2 you are comfortable anywhere, humour included. In the first lesson I tell you where you are. After that, I tell you when you’ve crossed a level. No vague impressions: a level and a date.
04And apps?
Why not an app?
Honestly, use one as well. Ten minutes a day on an app is vocabulary going in, and it costs next to nothing. What an app will never do is answer you. Let you hunt for a word, prompt you, correct what you just said, laugh with you when it comes out sideways. That is what speaking a language is. My €40 an hour buys a conversation with a person, in a room, who builds every lesson for you. It is different, and it is complementary.
05Tuesday evenings
English conversation, every other Tuesday
Ninety minutes of talking, and nothing else. A small group of adults at the shop, on subjects that change every time: travel, culture, ideas, whatever happened that week. No lesson and no textbook. Practical English, the kind that is useful on holiday, at work and in everyday life.
Different people, richer conversations. It is pitched at intermediate level, and everyone is welcome.
- When
- Every other Tuesday, 7pm to 8.30pm
- Where
- At the shop, 4 Boulevard Soult, Mazamet
- Level
- Intermediate
- Price
- €20 per person
- First session
- Tuesday 29 September 2026
06The price
The price
€40 an hour one-to-one, €20 an hour in a group of three to six. Per person, tax included, no paperwork and no minimum term.