I'm a postgraduate at The University of Oxford, and already hold a Congratulatory First in German (BA) with the best results of the 200 students in the Languages department, as well as the highest grades in Arts subjects at my college.
I also have over four years of tutoring experience, from primary through to GCSE, A Level, and undergraduate. It's a consistent delight to celebrate tutees' successes - be it getting to grips with a thorny bit of grammar, having a 'eureka!' moment with a tricky piece of literature, or passing exams with flying colours.
There can be no one-size-fits-all formula when it comes to a tutoring session. Every tutee has different likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses, and will progress at an individual pace. I can help with anything from oral presentations and spoken fluency, to essays, literature, and grammar (having personally tried all the tips and tricks!).
I've worked successfully as a tutor for GCSE and A-Level students for a number of years now, helping them drastically improve their grades. I've also done considerable work as a university supervisor and mentor for undergraduate, master's, and first-year doctoral students at the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, and other institutions. My approach is mainly trust based, my students are often amazed by just how much they can do for themselves if they're in a learning environment that isn't adversarial, oppressive, or plain dull. Beyond A-Level, I also have teaching experience at the University of Oxford as a tutor and seminar leader for undergraduate history and sociology students, and I have degrees in both Archaeology and History. My background of experience is technological, and I work as a civilian consultant to the NASA Ames Human Factors laboratory in that capacity. Central to my approach is an understanding that my students are people, with their own unique strengths, weaknesses, and abilities, which need to be nurtured and supported in order to get the best possible results.
In this way, learning can, and should be of a reciprocal exchange of ideas, and by embracing this in a more relaxed and curiosity-driven approach, it becomes far easier for many to explore, absorb, and abstract their understanding of both the surface learning of school qualifications, and the deep learning of the concepts behind them crucial to getting the very highest grades.
Over the past two years I have tutored students regularly in Latin, Ancient Greek, Classics, English Literature and Essay writing. I am familiar with the OCR syllabuses for Latin, Greek and Classics both at GCSE and A-level, and have developed my own resources designed to tackle set texts, unseen passages, translation from English into Latin/Greek and to reach the required level of grammatical understanding. I have also tutored a pupil for Latin IB, including the research dossier. During university, I took up Latin and Ancient Greek from scratch, so I can vividly understand the frustrations and difficulties which arise when learning Ancient languages. This has made me explore alternative methods of learning vocabulary and improving grammar through texts, rather than tables.
I have tutored pupils who need to gain top grades to take up their Oxbridge offers, and pupils struggling at school in need of extra support. As such, I develop my resources and teaching methods depending on the individual needs, aims and interests of the students. I am able to provide exam-style passages, vocabulary tests and writing tasks if desired.
During my final year of University, I volunteered in a local primary school on a programme called 'Literacy through Latin', teaching latin to a group of year six pupils, particularly those eligible for pupil premium. The project aims to use Latin to improve literacy, and so I developed latin games, exercises and creative projects. For this project I received training from the Kings College London education department.
In addition to these regular students, I have tutored pupils for competition essays, including those for the St John's College Oxford prize and the Mary Renault Prize, encouraging high-achieving pupils to think creatively and write fluently. I also have experience tutoring a mature graduate Psychology student in essay writing skills, helping them to improve their writing style ahead of a final dissertation.
I have experience of helping people with languages of a variety of ages and standards for both oral and written examinations. Previous students of mine have been very pleased with their results and guidance received which is always tailored to your specific needs. I have lived and worked in Austria to hone my spoken German and spent a year studying in Russia so have very high levels of fluency and knowledge of grammar for both. I can offer more in depth instruction in German and Russian literature or at a more basic introductory level. I am very diligent and reliable.
I'm an enthusiastic teacher with lots of experience working with young people of different ages and abilities. As well as tutoring English, Latin and Classics to students from primary to degree level, I've taught drama to teenagers and English at IB summer schools. I'm familiar with the AQA, OCR, Edexcel and WJEC exam boards. I believe that I've got the creativity, organisation and communication skills that make a good tutor, as well as specialised knowledge and heaps of enthusiasm!
I have tutored GCSE, A-level, Degree and Doctorate-level students on a range of subjects, although my main focus has been Psychology, Sociology, academic writing skills, Business Studies and Research Methods. I have written model essays for exam boards, proofread and edited work to be published, and worked on many dissertations and PhDs with university students.
For Psychology and Sociology, I adopt a systematic approach, and generally like to go over the material thoroughly, testing the student throughout, and spend time on previous exam papers and questions, planning essay answers, discussing how theories relate to real-life situations etc. I sometimes mind-map various themes and ideas with the student, and think outside the box as it were, to make sure that the ideas stem from the student's own work and thinking - so that they can remember it more fully and develop it in future (often students have more knowledge, ideas and insight than they realise, it just needs coaxing out of them!). I often tutor on coursework as well as examination preparation.
I have over 300 hours of history tutoring experience online, and I am particularly well versed on the requirements for the OCR, AQA and Edexcel exam board. My tutoring sessions are tailored towards the specific needs and goals of my students. Whether these are improving grades, keeping on top of homework, preparation for coursework and exams, or simply needing an explanation of specific concepts, I’m here to provide a session that meets your requirements. I will identify both short and long term issues the student may have with their courses, and establish solutions and goals for solving them. I particularly aim to help students improve their writing and exam essay techniques. I use a simple but effective system for this: firstly by using exercises designed to improve understanding and appreciation of the requirements of exam essay questions, followed by introducing skills and techniques for constructing time-efficient essay plans, and finally a rigorous focus on improving writing quality, essay structure, critical analysis and argument development through practice essays with extensive feedback. Using this system I have helped students dramatically improve their exam essay writing techniques and achieve the higher grades they were aiming for.
I have successfully tutored a number of students in mathematics, physics, and computing in the past, at both A-level and GCSE. Among my most notable successes was helping a student who did not have classes in Further Maths available at school to achieve an A (highest grade at the time).
The best tutor will guide the student through a process of self-learning and tailor this skilfully to the individual student. It is paramount to properly motivate the pupil to ask the right questions to himself, whilst instilling an interest in the subject as much as possible. The tutor should generally enhance the learning experience beyond what any textbook or routine exercises can provide. With respect to mistakes, it is always important to be gentle and sympathetic, and encouragement should be given when progress is made, though not to the degree of fostering overconfidence. In brief, I believe in a highly interactive and open dialogue between teacher and student.
I have been teaching & tutoring Psychology, Research Methods & Academic writing (essays and reports) for over 7 years now to students of all ages whether mature students at undergraduate level & masters level; part time & full time students or seminar based and 1-1. This includes the joint UCL-Birkbeck Masters course for Critical Analysis which is a high level, rigorous module that develops the student's understanding in how to critique journal articles, how to remedy their shortcomings and writing future research or research proposals. I have also taught academic writing workshops, general foundations and was an honorary research fellow after graduating which led to the publication of my undergraduate dissertation.
Having trained as an outstanding A-level Psychology teacher with UCL (IOE) I can offer in depth exam technique for the new linear specification as I have worked closely with examiners & key authors of textbooks. I also offer assistance for writing structure, exam technique across degree and A-level.
I have taught everything from music theory to English as far afield as New York and Madagascar, in classrooms, 1-to-1 and online. I have a Congratulatory First in Modern Languages from Oxford and have been tutoring a range of subjects for the last 9 years. I also have experience of living, working and studying in both France and Germany. Although my style of teaching is friendly and laid-back, I take immense pleasure from academic achievement and from inspiring others to achieve their academic goals.
