Information About Benjamin - Plymouth tutor -

(1 review)

Personal Description:

An experienced tutor with specialism in MFL. As a bilingual native Spanish and Catalan speaker, I am able to teach those to the highest standard, plus French and English (as a foreign language or not). I am also happy to help with Latin, ICT and History. Even as a learner of other languages, I would be interested in leading a study group for other languages that may be hard to find tutors for.

I can travel within commuting distance from central Plymouth (for the rest of the 2017-2018 school year) or Tintagel (permanently moving there in Spring 2017), depending on the time and day, please ask for further details.

Tutoring Experience:

My teaching experience began in 2008, two years before I graduated, as I already felt I could make a good contribution to teaching and learning after completing an SLA/TESOL module.

I began teaching in summer 2008 as a review English teacher for students who had to retake their exams in September and I continued tutoring privately after that, as well as continuing as a teacher in another academy supplying for groups of all ages, from primary to adults in CPD lessons. I am well acquainted with the kind of problems faced by students who struggle and I thrive in trying to find different ways to overcome them by explaining those tricky bits in a new, easy to remember way, giving the key item of advanced knowledge or pointing out at good ways to practice to improve a particular aspect.

In 2010 I moved to the UK to enrol in a PGCE course to improve my skills as an MFL teacher, giving Spanish and French lessons in my block placements in KS3, KS4 and Sixth Form. I subsequently worked as a supply teacher and tutor during the next two years, and continued to do tutoring work spells whilst focusing on other professional pursuits.

Tutoring Approach:

I always begin with my tutees by finding out what they find more difficult about the subject they want to improve in. I try to gain insight in how they are learning at school to find out which gaps need to be filled and where more support is required.

I encourage my tutees to solve problems their own way and engage in carrying out tasks together to understand how they think and point out where they need to do something differently to get around their difficulties. This often makes them more comfortable than having everything explained again, as they can focus on shorter, more to the point explanations.