Testimonials and student reviews
Below you will find a selection of testimonials from Lucy’s diverse portfolio of French tuition students, ranging from school children to professors.
“A few years ago my sister and I wanted to take our respective husbands to Paris to watch the end of the Tour de France on the Champs-Élysées. However, I did not want to go without being able to at least say “bonjour” and “merci” (which I couldn’t even remember from my school days !!!) So, at the age of 54, I started lessons with the wonderfully talented Lucy Spyrou. That was 6 years ago and the trip to Paris is long gone. There is no need for me to carry on at all, except that I enjoy our lessons together and the feeling that I can ‘do this’. It is definitely a challenge at times; French is not an easy language to learn, but this lady is amazing at teaching.
I am continuing to learn French purely for my own enjoyment and satisfaction. I do not want to pass exams, be taught rote sentences or to be following a specific syllabus. I do not want to be given photocopied sheets from textbooks and told to answer the questions or do the exercises etc.
I want to learn the language and grammar in order to be able to construct my own sentences and communicate with French people in a natural way.
Lucy tailors her lessons to you as an individual and makes them relevant to you, your life and what ‘you’ want to learn in a very fluid and organic way.
I love my lessons with Lucy and look forward to them each week, and thankfully, she has an unending abundance of patience. Oh, and she also has the most amazing French accent which I could listen to all day (not like some other teachers of French that I have been to, whose accents are frankly appalling).
I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending Lucy as a tutor to anyone who wants to learn French.”
— Mrs A. Hennessey, Whistable
“I have had the pleasure of knowing Lucy for ten years. She played such an incredible part in my son’s education. My son was a very bright boy but was not achieving his potential in French and German. Lucy was able to immediately ascertain his gaps and skilfully motivate him to build his knowledge effectively resulting in him achieving an A star in both French and German. Lucy was not only an incredible teacher but also amazing in motivating my son to want to learn and apply his knowledge!
I would highly recommend Lucy as a tutor. She is passionate about her subjects and highly professional going above and beyond in her teaching.”
— Mrs Sealey, Canterbury
“Lucy Spyrou has performed the near miracle of transforming my spoken French from sub-O-level (present tense only) to full conversational level. Her face-to-face lessons, originally across a table, post covid by Skype, are always interesting, challenging, but most important of all, tailored to me. No-one would accuse me of being a natural linguist, and Lucy adjusts to that. Get it first time? That’s good! Need to do it 10 times? Then let’s do it ten times. We all know children only do well at school if their teacher switches them on. In my view adults are the same. Learning need to be enjoyable and stimulating to get results - that’s why my French is transformed. For years I’ve looked forward to my lessons and continue to do so.”
-Nigel Davidson, Faversham
“I live in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium (Flanders), just on the border with the French-speaking part of the country. To find work here, it is therefore a great advantage to be bilingual. School French alone is not enough and when I heard from acquaintances that I could learn French online with Lucy, I contacted her. After a nice introductory talk, during which Lucy tested my language level, I started the course with great pleasure and after a short time, I could stand my ground when I was addressed our other national language. Lucy is a very kind and patient teacher, never boring and she teaches you to think in the foreign language. That way, you can have conversations quickly. I am very satisfied with the result and would like to recommend "love of language" with Lucy to everyone!”
— Tineke Billiau, Landen, Belgium
“Lucy was highly influential in helping me achieve an A* in French GCSE and an A in German GCSE. She has an excellent understanding of what the examiners are looking for, and is very clear at communicating how to achieve the highest marks. Above that, her engaging and personable manner make her lessons a true pleasure to experience.”
— Maxim, Herne
“Sadly, it took the death of my mother at the end of 2011 to galvanise me into taking steps to improve my language skills. I had obtained A-level French, back in the dark ages, but with little conversational fluency and absolutely no understanding of French grammar. That was my level when I saw Lucy’s Love of Language advert online and my old school motto ‘carpe diem’ sprang to mind. So that’s what I did and from the moment Lucy entered my world she infused me with so much enthusiasm and appreciation of the language that I have never looked back.
Her method of teaching is specific, tailored to your individual needs with plenty of reinforcement, repetition and encouragement. Her unique gift is making the lessons fun while we talk about subjects that she knows are of interest to me. This stimulates me to find the words and grammar necessary to progress the conversation. It’s not always pretty or accurate, in my case, but my spoken French has undoubtedly improved to a level of fluency that enables me to speak, understand and be understood by most French people with no knowledge of English.
I used to dread French grammar, but with Lucy’s guidance I have learnt to approach it with less horror and more confidence thanks to her many tips for remembering the minefield of rules and all their exceptions. I never forget that this is a language with more exceptions to any given rule than examples of the rule actually being followed!
Lucy is completely fluent with a flawless accent. She assiduously prepares exercises each week on the aspects of grammar that I most need to work on and is always patient, engaging and fun. She is simply the best and I would recommend her without hesitation to anyone aspiring to polish up their spoken French or improve their overall command of the language ... and to have some fun while they learn”.
— Sally H
“My granddaughter is 6 and has just begun to study French with Lucy. She loves it. It is all done online at the moment and Lucy makes it fun with games like cache-cache and guess the animal. My granddaughter doesn’t realise how much she is learning; she can count forwards and backwards in French and impresses passers by in the street by shouting Salut! and Au revoir! Learning French at an early age like this really establishes great patterns of learning for the future. She finds it fun rather than threatening. And her pronunciation is great; it’s much easier for children to get the right sounds than it is for us oldies and establishes a firm basis for further study later on. It does depend on getting the right tutor though and Lucy Spyrou is doing a terrific job! “
— Phil
“I promised myself that I would learn French after I retired. I have always found it a fascinating language. At first, I was nervous and self-conscious. However, Lucy was reassuring and the sessions were informal. I soon relaxed.
As I progressed, Lucy kept me interested with new topics. I have found the balance between studying the language and learning to speak French properly is right for me.
The sessions are fun and a challenge. I can set my own pace and if I want to, can decide on my next goal.
Lucy is a gifted teacher who has endless patience and tact. I would recommend her to anyone who wishes to learn French”.
— Wendy Clarke, Near Herne, Kent
“Several years ago, I enrolled on an Adult Education course in an attempt to improve my schoolboy French. Although the course was entertaining and very sociable, I found that I was learning how to speak bad French very poorly with a terrible English accent; and not learning much at that.
Fortunately, a friend recommended that I try one-to-one private tuition with a local French Teacher, Lucy Spyrou, and I am so very glad that she did. Lucy is a first rate teacher; she prepares the lessons assiduously and is happy to provide examples and exercises to allow me to work on whatever aspects of the language that I need to improve. I have a background in science and find the analytical aspects of the language, i.e. the grammar, far more interesting than the vocabulary. Lucy has spent many hours discussing the subtleties of grammar with me but has somehow managed to improve my grasp of the vocabulary at the same time. She is also able to teach me the “French that the French speak” rather than the “Book French” that you find in formal courses. She has a great sense of humour and is very easy to talk to. She is a very competent teacher and always has an answer to any questions about the language. She is expert in the grammar, has an amazing grasp of vocabulary and has a perfect French accent and knows how to teach it. She also manages to make the lessons great fun. We laugh a lot during them. Maybe the best endorsement I can give is to explain the improvement in my level of spoken French that Lucy has achieved.
When I started to study French in my 60s, I was very nervous of speaking in French to a French person. I now speak pretty fluently and I am confident that I can always find a way to say what I want to say in French. Indeed, I now talk to a French Skype friend in the South of France on a regular basis – and I understand what he says !– even though he speaks French with a very southern accent. You can see from all this that I hold Lucy Spyrou in very high regard and I am delighted that she is my professeur de français. I recommend her without hesitation.”
-Professor Phil Davies, Marshside, Kent
I started French lessons with Lucy at quite a basic level. I have been studying for several years and have now reached an advanced intermediate level, where I am able to converse with native French people. The lessons are varied in the way they are structured. Lucy adapts the lessons to your own needs, the areas you need help in. They are fun and interesting. Lucy gives encouragement and it is exciting to learn. French at school was never like this!
— Chris Sykes, Herne Bay, Kent
“I have been learning French with Lucy for just under a year now. The lessons are tailored to suit my learning style, and each lesson I learn something new. Lucy is so understanding in regards to my shift patterns and I look forward to seeing her every week. She is incredibly patient with me, and having the option of lessons online makes learning a new language so easy. I really enjoy learning French with Lucy, and have no plans on stopping! Thank you Lucy”
— Kate Newman
“For the past 3 months Lucy has been helping my grandaughter, Edie, prepare for her GCSE exams. She has been amazing, very pro-active & built up a great rapport with Edie, who actually enjoyed her sessions! She hated French previously! I would thoroughly recommend Lucy to anyone!”
— Ian, Whitstable
