Who am I?

My name is Laura Gilkes and I am 19 years old. I am a student studying a Bachelor's Degree in Creative and Professional Writing at the University of the West of England in Bristol, and I was born and raised in Barbados (which is an english-speaking country in the Caribbean), and moved to the UK in 2023 for university.


What are my Qualifications and Skills?

I am a native English speaker, I have excellent communication skills and I get along great with young children from the ages of 4 to 11 years old. In my English CSEC (Caribbean Secondary Examinations Council), which is the Caribbean equivalent of a GCSE, I received a Grade 1 which is the highest grade you can receive. I do not have any serious previous experience tutoring, however, I did tutor some of my friends in English for free when I was in secondary school.


Why should I tutor your child?

In this day and age children tend to have a shorter attention span due to the use of social media which is why my lessons do not go past 1 hour and 30 minutes. The programme I will teach includes activities whereby children will do activities online for a more situational and hands-on approach to learning. Students will be given homework after the majority of lessons which they are required to complete by their next lesson, and will be given a quiz after each topic so that I can measure their progress and adjust my programme accordingly to better suit their individual needs.

Learning a new language can be super difficult!, Which is why I will continuously revisit previous topics to ensure my students fully grasp all concepts and will not move onto the next topic until my student is confident that they understand the concept.


What will the content be like?

In terms of content, it depends on the age of the student and whether or not they can speak any English at all. However, I require a 1-to-1 session at the beginning of the course whereby I can gauge what level of English the student is at and their learning style to build a programme that best suits them so they can learn in the most efficient and effective way possible.