Information About Will - Richmond upon Thames teacher

Personal Description:

After working in a secondary school in London with a high number of students who spoke English as an additional language, I took the CELTA qualification and subsequently taught English at a language school in Poland. I have a long and varied background in education, and am now completing a PGCE with QTS at St Mary’s University in Twickenham. I enjoy reading, writing, cycling, running and cooking. I also learnt Spanish for several years, and can speak basic Spanish. I also lived in Poland previously, teaching English in a language school, with learners on a one-to-one basis and in classes, both at the language school and in-company for corporate clients. I have a full enhanced DBS certificate registered to the DBS Update Service.

Teaching Experience:

I was a Learning Support Assistant in a secondary school for 2 years, working mostly with Year 10 and 11 students in their GCSE English and Maths classes, but also with Year 7 students with learning difficulties. I then became the Progress Coach for Key Stage 4, where I was responsible for helping raise attainment across the key stage. I did this for 3 years.

Across both posts, I created differentiated learning resources to meet students’ needs, met regularly with teachers to devise strategies for helping target students, and provided 1:1 tutoring for students in English, Maths and EAL.

I later taught English at a language school in Poland for a year, teaching a mixture of groups and 1:1 students, and also a 1:2 exam preparation class. The age range of students varied a class of 7-9 year olds, to adults in corporate workplace classes.

I also have paid experience transcribing interviews for a Masters degree research project, and proofreading undergraduate degree dissertations.

Teaching Approach:

I like to make students’ work relatable to everyday life, and generally start lessons with an introductory activity revising prior learning and understanding. I also strive to ask students for their own opinions to encourage deeper exploration of vocabulary.