I am an accomplished expert in both English and Drama, with an engaging, fun and accessible tutoring style.
Recent Students: 0 |
Total Hours: 31 |
Last Online: |
All-time Students: 4 |
Total Classes: 32 |
Signed Up: |
Recent Students: 0 | Total Hours: 31 | Last Online: |
All-time Students: 4 | Total Classes: 32 | Signed Up: |
I am a tutor, teacher, writer, performer and director. In my spare time, I also enjoy these things, which all happen to start with an ‘m’: music (I sing, and play drums and mandolin); mentoring (I mentor care-leavers for a charity, and am studying for my Level 3 in Counselling); and movement (I recently took courses in Tumbling at the National Centre for Circus Arts). This doesn't start with an 'm', but I want to mention it because it will keep me motivated; I'm also learning Arabic (quite slowly, but where there's a will there's a way!)
Three fun facts about me:
1) I worked as a Researcher at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre and have performed Shakespeare in Japan!
2) I studied playwrighting at the famous Royal Court Theatre!
3) I am co-creator of a legendary Fringe Festival improvisation show about Sherlock Holmes!
I have more than 6500 hours of tutoring experience, having taught and tutored English and Drama since 2006. I started out as a Drama workshop leader, then taught English to undergraduate students at University, before tutoring many students in both English and Drama from secondary school through to university level, including as a teacher at a top state school in Cambridge.
I have tutored students for A Levels in English and Drama, GCSEs in English and Drama, and I have covered all the major exam boards, particularly AQA. At universities, I have tutored English undergraduates in narratives texts, early modern drama and devised theatre. As an Oxford graduate, I also prepare students for Oxbridge applications, and as an examiner for the English Literature Admissions Test, I specifically coach students for the undergraduate English application to Oxford or Cambridge. As a trained professional writer / performer / director, I also coach students for more creative careers, such as creative writing and drama school, and for skills such as public speaking and improvisation.
The advantages to hiring me as a tutor are that my combination of truly specialist subject knowledge and vast experience of tutoring allow me to unlock students who are struggling to engage or find their next level. Also, my background in performing and story-telling means I know how to make even the most difficult topics fun and memorable.
I am expert in all levels of English and Drama taught in schools, from GCSE through to A Level.
For university admissions, I am knowledgeable about Oxbridge admissions, drama school auditions, and the ELAT test for Oxbridge English candidates.
For university students in English, I am particularly expert in early modern texts, including (of course) Shakespeare and his theatrical colleagues. For more specialised students, I am expert in the interdisciplinary relationship between text and performance.
For university students in Drama, I am expert in improvisation, new writing, early modern drama, devised theatre, community theatre and European theatre history.
For freelance performers and students wishing to gain transferable performance skills, I coach improvisation, reading aloud, voice work, verse acting, comedy and modern text work.
Found the story writing difficult, but Sam was very understanding
Sam was great at helping me get a feel for how an Oxford interview would work. He even ran overtime and we finished later than ought to in order to get more questioning in for me.
Excellent lesson! Really interesting
Sam was very clear in his teaching of the method he uses when analyzing a text. It helped me a lot in my own close-reading of poetry.
Sam was again very helpful in helping me unpack my ideas and making them clearer. He taught me new technique's and further developed my understanding of form and its effects. A fun and engaging lesson yet again!
Sam gives very constructive feedback on tasks he assigns me to find where I most need the help. He’s always prepared for the class and puts in the extra time to make sure the lesson is suited for me. Really happy with the lessons.
"Sam is a truly gifted teacher. This has been evident to me in the 15 years I have known him, and increasingly as his experience in teaching has grown and become more comprehensive, working both in a private capacity and state school. His intellect in relation to the arts and humanities is starry, and he is able to employ it to inspire students of all abilities. This has been particularly apparent at Chesterton in his tutoring of disadvantaged and disaffected students in year 11 who have shown renewed respect and interest in school life as well as their studies of English as a result of Sam's impact and interaction with them. Sam has the capacity to bring focused laughter into the space with the raise of an eye brow. Using his improvisation skills he can lead a workshop in drama with more fun, inclusivity, playful challenge and personal fulfilment than any other practitioner I have come across. Sam can translate these specialist drama expertise into covering the teaching of all subjects, and engaging learners in the breadth of the curriculum, as has been noted in his work as a cover supervisor. Several students at Chesterton have commented to me that Sam is a brilliant teacher, and those students who have made a commitment to acting have cited him as a major, founding influence on their pre-professional lives. Sam is a resilient, positive and reliable professional. He understands fully the need to report safeguarding issues and is an expert at creating a safe, open space within the classroom, or in chaperoning children on school outings (such as when he took 2 students at Chesterton to take part in a BBC Learning film). Sam is able to adapt his personal style to all ages, and I have been lucky enough to witness this in his work with and care of my own younger children. His sense of humour, his discretion, his flexibility, his generosity of spirit and his unceasing energy are all qualities that one rarely comes across as a complete package. Any student or institution lucky enough to work with him will immediately sense the substance of these words."
- Suzanne Marston, Head of Drama
"Sam is an outstanding tutor, he is an asset to any school or private student. They could not be in better hands. Sam is everything you would want in a tutor, his own academic background and impressive subject knowledge speaks for itself but what is even more impressive is his ability to relate to young people and adults in a way which both sets them at ease and inspires confidence. He is creative and innovative in his approach to tutoring which achieves superb progress and outcomes. Sam's commitment and enthusiasm are major motivational forces for the young people that he comes into contact with. He is an absolute joy to be around and learn from and with."
- Donna Hubbard-Young, Headteacher
"The tutor sessions were so beneficial as they went beyond the specifications of my English and Drama courses to truly engage with the subjects themselves. I was challenged to think at a more advanced level which definitely paid off, as I achieved my target grades for GCSEs and Year 12 exams."
- Poppy, tutee in Drama GCSE and English Language A Level
“Sam is a fantastic tutor — the best even! In 2019, he was tutoring me to get into Oxford to study Classics and English, for which I had to take the English Literature Admissions Test (ELAT), which is a notoriously hard and open-ended exam. I was really worried about it. To prepare, Sam taught me to close-read texts and think investigatively about all sorts of interesting pieces of writing. He also gave close attention to the intricacies of answering the exam questions creatively and critically, which is what the ELAT tests. Additionally, Sam did mock interviews with me to practise for my Oxford interviews. There was no better preparation I could have had, and topics we discussed from my personal statement came up in my actual interviews! Our sessions were extremely fun, collaborative and chatty. Sam pushed me to analyse thoroughly, in a relaxed and friendly environment. Now at the end of my second year at Oxford, Sam still advises me frequently on essays and reading, which goes to show there is no limit to his expertise and capability as a tutor!”
- Leo, tutee in Oxford admissions and ELAT; now Oxford undergraduate in English & Classics
“Sam has been a brilliant creative writing tutor. His feedback is so valuable, because he is able to look at writing from a unique perspective that is informed by his vast knowledge of literature. From working with Sam I have gained technical knowledge, of structure and genre, but more than that I have become a more adventurous writer. He gave me more confidence to experiment. There is never a dull moment when working with Sam. He has been an inimitable part of my writing journey.”
- Christopher, tutee in creative writing; now podcaster and published writer
Verified
University College London
MA English (Shakespeare in History) - Distinction
University of Oxford
BA (Hons) English Language and Literature - First Class
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