Rich Damerell

I have been tutoring privately for over 30 years. My specialisations include French language, Russian language and English as a second language.

In August, 2020 I began to teach Russian to a Year 6 student. This tuition was arranged via Home-School Tutoring. The student in question was entirely home-schooled at this point; an arrangement which continued for a further three years and one term. This was primarily due
to the fact that he found experiences in school extremely stressful, which was a consequence, in part, of his Autism Spectrum Disorder. I feel very grateful and privileged to have had the opportunity of working with such a student, and I quickly learned that my approach to interacting with him would need to be tailored quite differently from that which would be effective with many mainstream students. His Russian studies with me, which comprised both language and Soviet history, continued until July 2022, at which point he completed Year 8. Meanwhile, when he was approaching the end of Year 6, in July, 2021, his mother asked me whether I might consider teaching him French as well. As a consequence, he and I worked on French language for two hours per week until December 2023. The following term he was enrolled into a virtual school, which meant that the services of his individual tutors such as myself were no longer needed.
In January, 2022 I began working with a second student online, who was in Year 8 in
a mainstream school. She is now in Year 10, and we continue to work together with positive results, (albeit once a fortnight as opposed to once a week due to her increasing commitments elsewhere).

More recently, in January, 2024 I commenced in-person lessons with a Year 5 student. Once again, I was put in contact with this student via Home-School Tutoring; my work with the Year 5 student is also ongoing. He is on the autistic spectrum, and he has recently been diagnosed with ADHD. Despite the fact that he can, on occasion, display quite challenging behaviour, I feel that I have developed a very constructive working relationship with him, frequently incorporating the use of humour, and that he has been responding very positively to my approach. As it happens, both of his parents speak French, which means that there are frequent opportunities for all four of us to communicate in French when I am present in the home.

I believe passionately in expressing frequent praise to students, as well as the importance of ensuring that positive, encouraging statements significantly outnumber corrections, so as to ensure the fostering of a learning environment which is warm, safe and supportive at all times. It is also essential to provide consistent, thorough feedback to students. I have regularly set vocabulary tests, in both Russian and French; in this context, my regular practice would be to show the student the marked version of the test while working through any corrections in a positive, encouraging, and gentle manner.

I have also found that the use of humour can prove a highly effective means of lifting the mood of a session. In addition, the importance of ‘expecting the unexpected’ should not be underestimated; one student frequently responds to my lesson introductions with statements or questions which are not relevant to the topic of the lesson. I would argue that it is vitally important not to ignore such utterances or to be dismissive of them in any way. On the contrary, I would emphasise the importance viewing such situations as opportunities to communicate to students the fact that they have been heard and understood, especially those who are tutored at home on a full-time basis, which might mean that interaction with people outside of their immediate family is limited. Furthermore, there can be many benefits to finding out as much as possible about what interests a student outside of the subject area; as a consequence, opportunities often arise to tailor resources in ways which are much more likely to enhance the learning experience on the part of the student.

When working with young people on a regular basis, it is inevitable that a tutor will encounter occasional inappropriate comments, questions, or behaviour. I have learned in the course of my tutoring that gentle, but firm, reminders can help to steer a student back towards appropriate behaviour much more effectively than an authoritarian approach. It is essential,
of course, that boundaries are clearly illustrated, and, on occasion, reinforced while working together. In my experience, however, a relaxed, friendly, but businesslike manner has proved more beneficial than one which is repressive. I believe that my preference to communicate in
a congenial manner has enhanced my nurturing of students’ progress. Furthermore, such
a style of teaching is more likely to build a positive rapport and to earn the respect of learners, which would probably not be the case when employing methods which are overly strict.
Quite apart from academic progress, I am aware of the importance of communicating appropriate values to students. For example, when working through ‘Tintin’ books with a Year 5
student, I have found that, as well as encouraging him to read and translate the text, I also regularly comment on the actions of the characters, which may display kindness or hostility,
so as to reinforce a sense of the importance of treating others with respect and decency.