Hi!

I'm James, and I live in North-West London.

About Me

I have a degree in Philosophy from King’s College London (I initially studied English at Leicester University but decided to transfer). I am a budding writer with experience as a Graduate Teaching Assistant (specializing in English classes), particularly with students with Special Educational Needs. I am also a trained Philosophy Specialist with The Philosophy Foundation, an organization at the forefront of teaching techniques that engage students’ abilities to think and communicate for themselves critically and creatively. As well as working one-on-one with children of all ages as a teaching assistant, I have taught large classes of teenagers and adults how to speak English as a foreign language. At first, I wanted to be a schoolteacher but, when I saw how most school lessons are taught, I quickly changed my mind! I take a very different approach...

My Approach

For me, the most important factor when teaching or learning is that the lesson should absolutely NOT be boring - in fact, it should be fun! As one of my bosses said about me, I like to teach by “going where the learning is” - this means that, wherever possible, I will connect what I am teaching a student to something that they are interested in. For example, I once got a young man to structure his essays really well by comparing each paragraph to a football player on a 5-a-side team!

I am very passionate about literature and language but I recognize that, for a lot of students, the English GCSEs are not their main focus but are just hurdles to jump over to get to where they want to be. As such I can offer two types of sessions: one where we really get into the meaning of the material with great admiration for it, and one where I teach students exactly how to jump through the hoops in the mark scheme so that they can at least get a passing grade and move on to study what they are really passionate about.

My Rates

Online: £15 per hour

In-person: £18 per hour