I have been teaching for around twenty years and have taught English and Creative Writing to a range of different age groups and nationalities including those at colleges, schools and adult education centres.  My oldest student was in her mid -eighties, when she did a poetry course with me in 2008 and and the youngest was only five. I still visit him once a week for tutoring and he is ten years old now. I take students one-to-one for a range of examinations , particularly the IELTS test and English GCSE tutoring.  All lessons are made to suit the student and I give an initial consultation which may include doing some writing, so as to be sure the course is meeting the learner’s needs .  These days many students learn on Skype as it is so easy and convenient. As a keen writer and poet I have written several collections of poems. ‘The Moon The Waves And The Breeze’, published  by Leaf Books, contains poems I wrote during her MA at University College Chichester  and the more recently published ‘The Day Is White’ won Indigo Dreams Summer Collection Competition, 2009.   Last year I published another collection ‘Swans’ on Amazon and a study guide, ‘How to Write a Winning Poem’. ‘Developing  Creative Ideas For Seascape Poems’, a more recent addition, is  also available on Amazon Kindle. In 2012 I set up my first poetry competition and this ran twice a year until November, 2015.  The competition is discontinued at present but I may one day set up further competitions, depending on how much time I have available.  You can see some of the winning entries if you click on the link below. https://maryspoetrycompetitions.wordpress.com/   Skype Lessons Learning on Skype saves time and money. At first this was only popular with younger people but now students of all ages are opting to learn from home using this as it makes lessons so much more accessible. I have students all over the world and enjoy speaking to people from a wide range of backgrounds and cultures.   A bit more about myself – as well as my interest in writing I like visiting art galleries and going to the theatre.  Shakespeare has remained my favourite playwright for many years.  Other interests include animals, especially cats and horses.  I go horse riding sometimes and swim when the weather is good preferring the sea to swimming pools. In the past, I have owned dogs, horses, tortoises and fish.  Now I have two cats.   I like to support animal charities and used to go dog walking at my local RSPCA shelter.  I don’t have time for that at the moment but here is a link to ABA , Anubis Bastet Adoptions, an organisation which homes cats and dogs off the streets of  Egypt.  My second cat was adopted from there.   http://www.facebook.com/AnubisbastetAdoptions

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mary-Charman-Smith/e/B0052XZGU4

I am now the organizer of Hove Poetry Meet Up.  Please click the link for more information.