Darius

Darius Tutor Interview

Q. According to your profile, not only are you an English tutor but also a professional Jazz pianist! Could you please tell me about your musical career?

A. Sure, I have been playing piano for as long as I remember and I decided this is what I wanted to study at University. After graduating I really wanted to do a lot of travel but I thought it would be a good idea to get an English teaching qualification as well. I had taught English to some friends at University and enjoyed it! So I spent the next few years travelling a lot around Europe and Asia. I performed music in Hotels and bars at night and taught English in the day time. I then got offered a job playing piano on board a cruise ship. This was great fun and I met many interesting people from all walks of life. The other great thing was seeing so many new and different countries and cultures. We travelled a lot and I was lucky to spend time in a variety of places from The Caribbean to South and Central America / The Middle East/ and of course the US, we even went up to Alaska, it was a very interesting experience but I decided I needed to give up the sailor life and put my feet back on dry land again…! So this is when I thought it would be a great experience to live and work in Japan.

Q. Oh great! Tell me about your time in Japan, I remember you said you worked at the English conversational school GABA, how was your life there?

A. Yes, that’s right. I arrived in Japan in 2007 and worked at GABA teaching English for around 1 and a half years. It was great and I met many interesting people. I also developed my ability in teaching Business and Travel English which was also very rewarding. I also managed to make musical contacts in Tokyo and slowly found work, There’s a lot of great musicians in Tokyo! The Japanese really seem to support the arts very well and I didn’t realise how popular Jazz / World music was until I got to Tokyo. I have a lot of great memories from my time in Japan and I met many great people, friends I’m sure I will have for life.

Q. And now you are back in the UK? Your profile says you are living on a farm?

A. Yes that’s right..! I live a more peaceful life now and I spend half my time teaching English through Skype and half my time composing music and working on different musical projects. It’s funny I always thought I was a “City guy”, but now I realise I much prefer country life. I do still love the energy of being in a big city though.

Q. So out of all the different places you have visited can you recommend a place or country to visit?

A. Ahhh, that’s a difficult question..! I think the place that I really have such fond memories of is Nepal. I visited Nepal before I arrived in the UK. It was great to do some simple walks in the Himalayas and travel around. I also had the opportunity to do some extended periods of meditation which I found tremendously insightful. I really hope to go back to Nepal and North India one day and I would recommend this wonderful part of the world to any intrepid traveller!

Q. That’s great. You have a lot of different lessons Darius, Can you tell us a bit more about your lesson named – “Coursebook Focus” what kind of material do you use for that? Also can you tell us more about the lesson “Music lovers and Musicians!” sounds interesting!

A. There are a variety of different English course books I have collected over the years and I have learnt to adapt and try to get the best out of each different coursebook. In these lessons I give my students a link to a webpage when we start the lesson – they will then see all material needed for the lesson within that link and we work through the lesson together.

The ‘Coursebook Focus’ lessons are great to cover many different elements of English such as Reading/Speaking/Pronunciation/Listening in one lesson and I have tried to adapt the lessons so they are always fun, interesting and productive. As for “Music lovers and Musicians!”, well this is one of my new lessons and its aimed at all lovers of music. So if you like Jazz / Classical / World Music / Bossa Nova / Dance/ Pop / Rock / Electronica etc, This lesson is for you! Also if you are a musician and need help with music theory or anything like this, I can help.

Q. Finally, is there anything you would like to share with our students?

A. Yes, when learning English, it’s good to remember the saying -“Rome wasn’t built in a day." I think you do need to be patient with yourself and try to study a little every day, even 5 or 10 minutes of watching an English news channel will keep your momentum and flow alive. It’s always nice to see people improve and progress, and I really look forward to helping any Café Talk students with their English.

Ganbatte!

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Darius

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