Information About Belinda - Newcastle tutor

Personal Description:

My name is Belinda and I have been a teacher for 5 years now. My absolute favourite hobby is gaming on the PS4, despite the stigma I face for being a grown woman who would waste her time on video games. However, the world and stories created are much like reading books, except, in a game, you are part of the "book", and the choices you make affect the ending.

I also absolutely love films, and by melding my two passions together, I was fortunate enough to pursue yet another hobby: writing. I write freelance for an online publication called **Removed By Admin**, which allows me to review both games and films. **Removed By Admin**

Tutoring Experience:

I am a certified English teacher with 5 years of experience teaching High School-level students English Home Language.

The first two years of my career were spent teaching the IEB curriculum at the very school where I graduated, followed by a year teaching the government CAPS curriculum.

In January of 2018, I moved to Hong Kong to work for a company called Monkey Tree English Learning Center, where I taught phonics and language acquisition to non-native speaking students aged between 3 and 12. Later that year, in August 2018, I joined Kang Chiao International School East China (just outside of Shanghai), where I worked for 2 years, I taught according to the American Common Core Curriculum. Subjects taught included English Literature (World Lit -Grade 10; American Lit - Grade 11; and British Lit - Grade 12). I also taught Academic Writing (college-level writing, research, and referencing) and Creative Writing, as well as an elective I created called Film as Literature.

Tutoring Approach:

Tutoring really depends on the student. If I am tutoring a very young child, then TPR (Total Physical Response), or gestures, and facial expressions are very important to get the message across. Tutoring intermediate aged students would require me to know what book they are reading so that I am familiar with it, and I already have plenty of resources for practicing grammar.

As for high school and matric students, the subject matter does get a lot harder, and they need to become more comfortable with speaking and reading aloud.

In the end, building rapport with students is the most important aspect of tutoring, as, without rapport, students will be reluctant to listen to- or even respect their tutors.