i used to work at a web development company until 2003 when i got deployed. never went back coz i realized i hated web design.
tables are pretty easy to do, and if using plain html4 its pretty much how pages are laid out these days (again, if not using server side technologies).
if he doesnt show you, then I'll help ya out.
what web design tool are you using? if you can get your hands on it, try using Dreamweaver, even an older version. its pretty kick ass. i know there are also free tools that can easily create tables, but their names escape me at the moment.