About

Communicate, Connect, Create

On this site, you will find out more about my services as a copyeditor and English tutor. I support you in your ambitions to create awe with your English.

I feel enriched by the contact I have with people who, like the adventurers of centuries ago, step out of their comfort zones to conquer the world, but then by using the power of language. As a native speaker of English and a qualified teacher, I can help you lift your level of English language. As the painting by the Dutch painter Jan van Goyen on my homepage suggests – the sky is not the limit.

My approach

My first priority is to support you in acquiring and using language that communicates what you want it to. It cannot be said often enough, the purpose of language is to communicate, communicate, communicate. This ensures the connection you are seeking with your audience and so, you are creating a dialogue, a text, or a presentation that you can take ownership of and be proud of.

Professional qualifications

I qualified with a Masters degree in English Language and Culture with additional courses in Applied Linguistics from the University of Amsterdam.

A second Masters in Education from Leiden University prepared me for the task of teaching secondary school level and above.

With a CELTA diploma from Cambridge University, I am also a certified teacher of English as an additional language for adults.

I am also fluent in Hindi and Dutch.

I am very curious about the stories we tell about who we are and about the world around us. Culture, in the broadest sense of the term fascinates me.

And so….

On my blog taal-tale, I focus mainly on writing about culture. All aspects of culture fascinate me. Perhaps this has to do with growing up in India, a feast of cultures intertwining, borrowing, lending. The name of my blog ‘Taal-tale’comes from the Dutch word ‘taal’ (language) and the English word ‘tale’. It is the title for a piece I wrote for a competition for the online magazine Expatica for which I won an award. In it I express my relationship to learning the Dutch language as a (then) recent expat.

On taal-tale.com, I express myself through the lens of my South Asian upbringing and background to share the serious and lighter side of culture, with a focus on my two homes – India and the Netherlands. And to celebrate belonging to both.