Louis

I am a 24-year-old, newly-graduated Oxford student seeking work as a private tutor for young people preparing for 11+, Common Entrance, school and university entrance, GCSE and A-level exams. I am also happy to teach adult learners. I attended Westminster School then Jesus College, Oxford, where I performed in three plays in Ancient Greek and one in Latin, and won two university prizes for Greek declamation. I also received an Honourable Mention in the Gaisford Greek Prose Competition.

I am especially interested in tutoring in Latin, Ancient Greek, Classical Civilisation, English Language and Literature, Maths and History, and I am happy to teach any subject at primary school level. Through studying Latin, Greek, French, Persian, and through EFL teaching (I am a CELTA-qualified teacher of English as a second language), I have great experience with language learning in particular. I am good at explaining grammar and syntax, and can help students with techniques for learning vocabulary. I lay a particular emphasis on the practice of translating in both directions. This practice, when combined with immediate one-on-one feedback and explanation, is the most important way that a student can progress swiftly.

Essay writing is often a difficult area for students, and it is certainly something that I always found very hard at school. I have developed a number of approaches that helped me, at university, to produce two or three high-quality, 2000-word essays every week, and the same techniques help my tutees to get over writer`s block and issues with structure.

The best schools and universities are the ones that foster a friendly, collegiate atmosphere between teacher and student. Pupils are treated as fellow scholars, embarking with their teacher on a mutual voyage of understanding, and this is the atmosphere I encourage. I always want to hear and respond respectfully to a tutee`s own ideas, rather than dictating my own. I am driven by the genuine desire to see each tutee reach their full potential as a top-achieving student and as a lover of learning.

Availability: I am available until 18 July, and then from 18 August until the beginning of October (and after that during university holidays).

Willing to travel: 5 miles

Experience: I have two years of experience as a private tutor for a number of children aged 8-13 in Latin, Greek and Maths but also in English, French and their other subjects. Lessons were one-on-one, and from 1 to 3 hours long. We would revise and supplement what the tutees had been working on in class, and when appropriate move ahead of the schoolwork. We would also work on areas such as verbal and non-verbal reasoning, which are not usually taught in school but come up in admissions exams. Three of my tutees attempted and passed the Westminster School entrance exam.

EFL teaching: Jeeva Nivas, Pondicherry, India (January-June 2013)
I spent 5 months as a full-time volunteer teacher in Tamil Nadu, India. My main role was to teach English as a Foreign Language to Tamil students of various ages (5-16) and ability levels. I have subsequently taken a 120-hour CELTA course at IH London, where I trained formally as an EFL teacher.