Charlie Porte

My lessons will focus on the individual needs of each student to prioritise the area of the language that they feel least confident with. With the GCSE and IB course, the language is divided into the sections of speaking, listening, writing and reading, and I find it tends to be beneficial to dedicate each lesson to a different aspect of the course.

For speaking and listening this will consist of conversation practice with me, and using recordings of native speakers to improve their understanding. For writing, grammar is a key focus, as it is necessary to be accurate with this to achieve a high grade. I will also teach how to structure the answer to a prompt for writing, and place a focus on learning useful vocabulary that can be used in the writing to avoid repeat simple phrases. For reading, grammar is again essential, as are specific reading techniques, such as scanning and inferring synonyms. Practicing by reading native texts is an excellent way to develop these techniques.

I will teach these lessons as in the language as much as possible as this helps improve speaking and listening skills, however, I will use English for key explanations to ensure that the student fully understands. These lessons are intended to be as stress-free as possible, as there is always a lot of other work to during the exam period, however it may be beneficial to do reading and writing practice outside of tutoring times, so lesson time can be spent focusing on things which require more help.

I taught GCSE students throughout my time in sixth-form, and had particular success in improving their grammar, as this is often an area students struggle with. Furthermore, I am a Scout Leader, and have been so for 4 years, so I am experienced teaching in a variety of environments.

I look forward to our first lesson!