Inglese | Madrelingua |
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Afrikaans | Madrelingua |
Cinese | Insufficiente |
Tedesco | Insufficiente |
Olandese | Insufficiente |
Hi, my name is George Frederick de Villiers, but everyone calls me Erik. I was born and raised in sunny South Africa. Here, nature is all around you and you can easily find the big five animals. I love health, fitness, and sport. But I am also a bit of a geek, so I either spend my free time at the gym or playing computer games. I enjoy teaching and coaching and I have helped many teams and individuals to reach their personal goals. I have experience teaching students about sports and exercise, health, and languages.
Qualifications
I have a postgraduate degree (Honours) in Psychology from the University of Pretoria, with a focus on Neurocognitive Research Psychology.
I am also a qualified sports coach, strength and conditioning expert, and nutritionist with over 8 years of experience. I have extensive experience in sports coaching, personal training, fitness coaching, and nutritional guidance. Additionally, I am also a qualified trauma counselor, I hold a first aid level 2 certification and I have completed a 150-hour TEFL Course.
As you can see I have tried a LOT of different things throughout my life and I have found my place in teaching, coaching, and helping others reach their goals that may seem out of reach. I believe the combination of my diverse qualifications and my experience in different fields has enabled me to provide assistance to any student in both mental and physical aspects.
Experience
After I finished my studies I spent some time working at a mental hospital, but unfortunately, I found that although I love psychology and find it absolutely fascinating, I did not enjoy the work environment tied to it.
At this point I had been a sports coach for more than six years, so I decided to try another type of teaching. I started teaching English as a foreign language in China, and I absolutely LOVED it. After finishing my contract I moved back to South Africa to be with my family, but I started teaching English online.
Seeing that I enjoyed teaching so much, I decided to try and combine my two biggest passions in life: Teaching and sports/fitness. So I started doing some fitness coaching (Gymnastics, Olympic Lifting, and Strength and Conditioning). To me, this was the perfect mixture of social interaction and teaching in a field that I LOVE.
So this brings us to today, where I am the owner of my own fitness company. I help people reach their fitness and health goals every day. However, I still have some free hours each day. Since I love teaching I thought I could spend some of these free hours helping others reach their goals, follow their dreams, and share any and all knowledge I have gathered.
The teaching and learning process
I believe that everyone learns in a different way. Some people may want drills or exercises, while others need creativity, and some even prefer tests. My job as a teacher and coach is to focus on finding what way works for you and which methods will help you reach success. As soon as we identify the most effective method for each student, I believe we can make quick and efficient progress through almost any material. Luckily, my background in psychology and my knowledge of mental and psychological drivers can help me to identify a student’s learning style quickly and accurately.
When I am working with you, you have my utmost attention. My goal is for you to improve. I want you to see you make progress and get excited. That excitement, the excitement of growth and reaching your goals, is why I do this. Seeing you, as a student, break through barriers that you thought you could not get past is what drives me. You can expect me to do my homework on you and what you need so that I can find the best ways to help you improve as quickly and as effectively as you can. You can expect a crazy amount of enthusiasm, positivity, and energy. Learning should not be boring and dull, it should be fun and exciting! I will always aim to keep things interesting and fun, while still being professional and reaching our goals.
I expect you to simply enter our (virtual) classroom with an open mind. This will most likely not be like any class you have ever had. I expect you to let me know if you don't understand something or if you feel we need to change up our way of teaching. I expect feedback and clear communication. In this way, we can work together to find the perfect way for you to learn and improve as quickly as possible.
I am so incredibly excited to meet you and start our journey. Yes, sometimes we are going to struggle through some work and yes, sometimes we might breeze past some other work. There are always ups and downs in the learning journey, but we will work through it together. I am confident that we are going to be successful, and that you will improve quickly, reach your goals, and reach even higher goals in the future.
(PS. That is my fiancée next to me)
***in_Oriente