Hello, I’m Sneha

A TEFL-certified English teacher from Chennai who has spent more than a decade in one-to-one lessons — because that is where the interesting teaching happens.

The short version

Twelve years, one student at a time

I started out teaching a class of thirty-two nine-year-olds and discovered something inconvenient: in a group of thirty-two, roughly four children speak. The rest wait. So I moved to one-to-one teaching and never went back.

Since then I have taught learners from five to fifty-five: children preparing for school in English, university students fighting with academic writing, engineers who can debug anything but freeze in a stand-up, and adults quietly rebuilding an education they never got the chance to finish.

What has stayed constant is the method. Find out precisely where the student is. Pick one thing to improve. Give enough speaking time that improvement is inevitable. Write it down so we both know whether it worked.

  • TEFL certified (120 hours)
  • CEFR-aligned planning
  • IELTS & TOEFL trained
  • Young-learner specialist
  • English & Tamil
Illustration of an online English lesson: a video call window with a teacher and a student, and a notebook beside it
How I teach

Four principles behind every lesson

Warmth before correction

A student who feels safe will speak. A student who feels tested will hide. Corrections come after the idea is finished, never in the middle of it.

One goal at a time

Trying to fix grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary and confidence in the same lesson fixes none of them. We pick one and finish it.

Evidence, not vibes

Progress is written down: your error log, your vocabulary sets, your mock band scores. You should be able to see the change, not just feel it.

Lessons you look forward to

Consistency beats intensity. If the lesson is something you enjoy, you keep coming — and that is the whole trick.

A typical lesson

Sixty minutes, planned to the minute

Structure is what makes a lesson feel effortless. Here is the shape most of mine take.

Warm-up · 5 min

Two or three questions in English about your week. No correction — this is to switch your brain into the language.

Review · 8 min

Last lesson’s error log and vocabulary set, used actively rather than re-read.

Core focus · 25 min

One skill: a grammar point, an exam task, a presentation rehearsal. Explanation stays short; practice takes the time.

Free production · 15 min

You use the new language in unscripted speech or writing. I note errors silently.

Feedback & plan · 7 min

We go through the log together and agree the fifteen-minute homework.

Journey

How I got here

2013

First classroom

Started teaching English to primary-school children in Chennai, quickly learning that attention, not curriculum, is the real constraint.

2015

TEFL certification

Completed a 120-hour TEFL course and moved fully into one-to-one teaching, where progress could actually be measured.

2017

Exam specialisation

Trained on the IELTS and TOEFL band descriptors and began preparing candidates for study and migration.

2019

Business English

Started working with engineers, analysts and managers on the English their careers were being judged on.

2021

teachersneha.com

Opened online enrolment so students in other time zones could book directly.

2026

Today

Teaching learners from five to fifty-five across fourteen countries — still one student at a time.

“Fluency is not a talent. It is a habit with good feedback attached.”

— the sentence I repeat most often in first lessons

Credentials

Qualifications & specialisms

TEFL, 120 hours

Teaching English as a Foreign Language, including a specialised module on young learners and classroom management for online delivery.

Exam preparation

Trained on the public IELTS band descriptors and the TOEFL iBT scoring rubrics; regular calibration against sample answers.

Languages

English (native-level, taught professionally since 2013) and Tamil. Lessons are conducted entirely in English from A2 upwards.

Curious whether we would work well together?

The introductory session is thirty minutes, free, and there is no expectation that you book anything afterwards.