My name is Ciske /sis/kah/
I am the founder of The Effective Collective, and your teacher throughout The Effective IELTS course.
I started the effective IELTS service in 2020 after years of teaching English and thousands of hours of helping students pass the exam and helping them through their journey of learning English.
I am CELTA qualified and I specialize in Adult Education, Digital Technology and Curriculum Development.
I have taught students all over the world, both online and in person. I’ve lived in China, Russia, Austria and South Africa teaching and learning about the most effective ways to help students remember.
Games. Yes.
Fun conversations. Yes.
Making it personal to your own life. Yes yes.
YOU need to talk about who YOU are and YOUR thoughts to really engage with what you are learning. And, make it fun!
That’s my job.
Join me on the course and subscribe to the newsletter.
So, where are you from?
I grew up in Pretoria, South Africa. Pretoria is the one of three Capital Cities and famous for our purple flowering Jacaranda trees. In the spring, the entire city is coated in purple. It’s honestly so beautiful.
Pretoria is located in the the North East part of the country. After years of teaching English abroad, I moved back to South Africa but I relocated to the coastal city of Durban. It has a temperate climate and a lot of tropical vegetation. I have banana trees and other fruit trees growing in my garden! When I drive to the Effective Collective Office in the mornings I have glimpses of the sea. Durban’s winters are very forgiving with temperatures usually ranging between 10 and 25 degrees Celsius. I’m definitely a summer baby so this climate definitely suits me.
How would you describe where you are from?
Comment below.
Why do I teach English, and especially IELTS?
Well, I have always been a deep thinker and a big fan of great conversations. In my personal life, I surround myself with people who like to talk about life, love, history, politics, movies, music and philosophy.
I fell in love with teaching English because I get to help people express their thoughts and ideas in another language. I love helping people express themselves.
With the IELTS exam, not only do my students practice talking about a variety of interesting topics but also are given the opportunity to express themselves, their thoughts on various topics such as culture, technology, food, modern day issues and past experiences. It’s incredible to learn about other cultures and be a part of people’s language learning journey. I can’t think of a better job. I truly love what I do.
I am a language learner myself. I grew up bilingual, speaking Afrikaans to my father (a language similar to Dutch) and English to my mother. I attended English schools and university and probably to my fathers distaste - my whole world is in English. Sometimes my Afrikaans can be a little rusty!
I have also been studying Chinese since 2016. After living in China and studying Chinese for 2 years and completing HSK 4, I had a high enough level to qualify for credits towards my Bachelors Degree and Honours Degree in Chinese Studies. In 2019, I graduated cum laude and I passed HSK 5 (finally!)
(To those who don’t know - HSK is the IELTS of Chinese, a similar standardized International Language Level Testing System, at the time it consisted of 6 levels, 6 being the highest)
I know how great it feels when you manage to explain to someone who is working in a post office that you would like to deliver a package or explain some of the history of your country or describe aspects of your culture. I also know how it feels when you are frustrated with yourself when you can’t remember a word, embarrassed because you used the wrong one. (The other day I said xiangbi 相比 (meaning - to compare) instead of qianbi 铅笔 （meaning - pencil). I mean, how silly.
And last but not least, I know how it feels to be unmotivated to learn or when you feel overwhelmed by HOW MUCH you need to learn.
The IELTS exam can be overwhelming.
That’s why, after spending almost two years putting the course together with the Effective Collective team - We’ve created the Effective IELTS Course.
