Maria Evelyn

I am a highly experience Spanish teacher. I have been teaching Spanish for 10 years including children and adults.

Tutoring Experience

I am currently Head of Languages at St Mary’s and St John’s CE school; an all through school in Barnet, and this opportunity has equipped me with the knowledge, skills and experience to be successful in this role and bringing my expertise in the developing of an engaging and exciting MFL curriculum.
As a hard-working teacher who loves languages, since the beginning of my teaching career, I have always strive to encourage and combine an enjoyment for learning and communicating in a foreign language, as well as an interest in the Wider world to become a knowledgeable global citizen. I believe that my energy and positive attitude towards my own subject and others, coupled with a desire to provide students with the opportunity to fulfil and exceed their potential, makes me a valuable leader to the Modern Foreign Languages department and the school as a whole.

During my time as a Head of Department, I have been responsible for redesigning and developing the SOL in KS3 and KS4, in order to meet the demands of the new GCSE for Spanish and French. I have focused on promoting an inclusive curriculum, enabling all students to make genuine progress with the aim of increasing accessibility to the new GCSE course. I have also contributed with lesson planning, adapting assessments to incorporate features of the new GCSE since year 7, as well as implementing and monitoring the marking and homework policy in the department to ensure that all students make adequate progress giving enough opportunities to revisit important skills as well as reflecting in their own learning. I have also supported other members of the team in becoming confident to differentiate lessons for the less and most able. I am always looking for ways of enhancing students’ language and cultural learning and as such, I have established great links with the KS2 languages provision in my current school as well as overseeing the SOL offered. At Wren I would bring the best of those experiences to implement a five-year GCSE course that meets the high demands of the reformed examination by focusing on the relevant skills from the beginning. This approach will also guarantee pupils to be ready for A level.
I have lead the introduction of Mandarin at KS2 and KS3 as enrichment and as additional language at KS3. I have also organised frequent visits to Tapas restaurants, Cambridge University, and have supported school trips to France as well other important extra curriculum visits. I have organised letter exchange with an International school in Spain and America, which was after used for the International School Award, and have used Skype conversations with a school in Spain to motivate Year 11 students to consider the subject at A-Level. Moreover, I have organised several Spelling Bees.

Tutoring Approach

always seek out challenges and I am excited by the opportunity to inspire students with significant barriers to learning to overcome their difficulties and to share my passion for languages. Since I started my teaching career in 2009, I have always tried my best to help students to achieve their full potential. In my first two years of teaching I taught Spanish to all year groups (Year 7-13) and French to KS3, achieving outstanding results 98% (A*/C) GCSE (low ability group) 98% (AS) and 80% (A2). As a Second in Department and Lead in languages at The Petchey Academy my commitment to raise attainment and my enthusiasm for teaching languages led to an increase in the number of students studying Spanish at GCSE from 45 the first year to 135 students the following year from different abilities. Last year at SMSJ, 65% of the Spanish students achieved 9-4 grades with only one-hour lesson in year 8 and year 9 at KS3 in mixed ability classes. This year, I have 55 students from high, middle and low abilities classes and am on track to achieve their FFT20 in Spanish due to the action plan we are putting in place to accelerate learning and improve attainment. Next year, 95% of the students are taking Spanish and French as one of their GCSE options.