James Oliveira

Hi, I'm James. I'm originally from London and have spent much of my adult life living, studying and teaching internationally, including 8½ years in China. I now live in Barcelona and teach English and Mandarin to children, teenagers and adults.

I've worked in education since 2018 and co-founded an education centre in China that grew to support more than 250 students. Since then, I've worked in schools, with private students and with adult professionals. I'm TEFL qualified and also have experience preparing students for Cambridge KET and PET examinations.

I don't believe good language teaching should feel like sitting through a textbook for an hour. I want to understand why you're learning, what you're struggling with and what you actually want to be able to do with the language. From there, I build lessons around you.

For English students, I can help with everything from conversation, pronunciation and confidence to school support, Cambridge exam preparation and professional English. As a native British English speaker, I can also help students understand the English people actually use — not simply what appears in a textbook.

I also teach Mandarin from complete beginner through HSK 4. I studied Chinese Language at Sichuan University and speak Mandarin at an advanced level (HSK 5). Because I learned Chinese myself, I understand exactly what it feels like to start from zero and gradually become comfortable communicating in another language. Mandarin lessons can be taught in English, Mandarin, or a mixture of both depending on your level.

My teaching style is relaxed and encouraging, but there is always a clear purpose behind what we're doing. I'm interested in building confidence, correcting the things that genuinely matter and helping students become increasingly independent rather than dependent on their teacher.

Most importantly, I want lessons to be something you actually look forward to. We can laugh, talk about things you're genuinely interested in and enjoy the process, while still making measurable progress.

Whether you're a parent looking for the right teacher for your child, preparing for an exam, learning English for work, or you've always wanted to learn Mandarin, feel free to get in touch and tell me what you'd like to achieve.

Let's see what we can do together.