Farhan Ahmad

I would like to periodically hear from yourself which areas you are struggling with the most so we can address these outside of your school-time education. Once we have figured out which areas to focus on, we would work on the subject until you can answer real past exam questions to high or full marks. Every lesson I would endeavour to have the student attempt an exam style question so we can have as much preparation for the final exam as possible.

In terms of teaching content, I would like to use real-life examples as much as possible. For example if we are learning about composite volcanoes, we will look at real volcanoes to identify their characteristics. If we are learning about earthquakes, we can look at real historical examples to consider their causes and how they affected the population. We will look at multiple examples and focus on whichever the student is able to recall facts upon the best. This way when we come to exam questions, you are able to provide real facts and figures to support your answer for maximum marks. I will also advise students on how to manage their notes to keep their revision as efficient and concise as possible by focusing on the key facts at hand.

Furthermore, I would like to employ a mix of media such as pictures and videos to illustrate the subject in the most stimulating way for the student rather than simply reading and recalling for hours. Geography is a very diverse subject so it makes sense to teach it in the most interactive and entertaining way for students to remember the facts. As mentioned earlier, I will endeavour to communicate with the student often which areas and styles of teaching they find the most useful and we will use regular mock exam questions as a benchmark for how successful our classes have been.

To simplify, a general lesson plan for a subject:
(1) Discuss with a student how comfortable they feel with subject (e.g. earthquakes)
(2) Work with student on basic definitions for area of geography, for example having them explain the cause of earthquakes to their knowledge then improving upon this together
(3) Provide real life examples and decide on favourite to focus on for fact-retention
(4) Attempt to answer a relevant exam question on area from relevant exam-board
(5) Go through the mark scheme to understand where points would be awarded or lost
(6) Perfect the revision notes to keep information as concise and efficient for exams as possible
(7) Continue recapping exam questions to improve marks throughout other lessons


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For Arabic language:
I would also like to engage with the student to understand first what level of Arabic we have and hence how we can start introducing sentences and phrases. Immersion is key to learning and I would like to minimise the use of English wherever possible so the student can pick-up Arabic naturally. This will also help overcome the large grammatical difference between Arabic and English so that students can begin to code-switch without thinking about it.
Exact teaching plan would depend on the student's competence but every lesson would include:
(1) A test of writing by asking a question and receiving a written response
(2) Vice versa to test reading ability
(3) Asking the student about their day or a fictional scenario to test verbal comprehension
(4) Working on the 5 questions (what, who, why, where, how)
(5) If the student is looking for more Quranic-orientated Arabic we can choose an ayah and translate it together
(6) Recapping by having a conversation on today's subject in Arabic
(7) Can also set translation homework for practise