Julia

I am a teacher and theatre director with experience tutoring students in London and Chicago.

Learning thrilled me as a young person. I grew up in Oak Park, Illinois, just outside of Chicago. I attended academically rigorous state schools. My high school was Oak Park and River Forest High School, Ernest Hemingway's alma mater. At the primary and secondary level I was an all-rounder, graduating from high school in the top 1% of my class. I was also a National Merit Scholar, which meant my academics were ranked in the 99th percentile across all graduating students in the US. I worked hard to develop a keen understanding of standardised tests. I was a high scorer on all the US university entrance exams, including all As on five AP exams (US A Level equivalent), the Latin SAT II exam, the ACT, and the SAT.

I pursued a double major at New York University in Drama and History of Art and was invited to join the Theatre Studies Honors Program. The Honors Program asks students to complete extra academic work, culminating in a masters-level thesis. I graduated with a Founders Day Award, equivalent to a UK First (1:1) degree. I attended NYU on a Tisch Merit Scholarship and have won awards from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, the New York-based Stage Directors and Choreographer's Society, and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts.

I moved to London in 2014 to attend the MFA in Theatre Directing at Birkbeck. I graduated in 2016 and soon after received a Tier 1 Exceptional Talent (now called Global Talent) Visa, sponsored by Arts Council England.

I have spent the last five years working as a tutor, theatre director, voiceover artist, and acting coach, with a focus on musical theatre and Shakespeare. From 2016-2020 I worked at the RSC, The Old Vic, in the West End, and on Broadway. My work in theatre came to a halt at the start of the pandemic and I supported myself through a combination of grants, freelance work as an audiobook narrator, and running a small-scale event planning company.

I have spent the last year (since October 2021) teaching at several major London drama schools: The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Arts Educational Schools (ArtsEd), and Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts. I have also served on entrance audition panels for these institutions.

Tutoring Experience

I teach Reading, Writing, and Maths for primary school students; English, History, History of Art, and Drama for primary, secondary, GCSE and A Level students; and English, Drama, and History of Art at degree level. I have experience preparing students for the 11+ exams in London.

I have taught pre-prep, primary, secondary, and university-level students in academic subjects. I spent 6 months preparing a student for the 11+ last year and am currently tutoring two 11+ students. Please see the case studies below for specifics. I am also a professional acting and singing coach and can share skills in textual analysis, collaboration, and creative problem-solving that I have developed as a theatre director.

Case Study: Preparing for the 11+ with a 10-year old
A North London-based family hired me to work with their daughter, who was a year away from her 11+ exams. At the time this Year 5 student was attending a state school. It was important to the family that she didn't feel pressured. They wanted our sessions to be fun and exploratory, while also giving the student the tools she needed to excel in an exam environment. When we started our work together in October 2021 the student found extended self-led work challenging. She was unable to work quietly on her own for more than 10 minutes. By March 2022 she was working with interest and focus for uninterrupted 45-minute sessions. Her maths, verbal, and non-verbal reasoning strategies showed marked improvement, particularly her ability to identify types of maths questions and feel less intimidated by them. Her reading and writing ability was strong throughout and we enjoyed writing several short stories together.

Case Study: Analysing Shakespeare with a 13-year-old
I worked with a creative and hardworking pupil in 8th grade (US Year 9 equivalent) in Chicago. She was advanced for her English class and had an interest in Drama. Her parents hired me to introduce her to analysing Shakespeare’s verse and to provide an additional challenge to her English studies in school. Initially my student encountered many roadblocks. She found Shakespeare’s word choices, structures, and poetic devices difficult, but our work together built her decoding and vocabulary skills. Several times we saw plays and watched film adaptations of Shakespeare together. She and I the enjoyed these experiences very much and would always return to the texts to better understand the literary roots of the productions’ visual, world, and character choices. By the end of our time together—and my move to London to begin my masters—she had advanced to the honors level in her English class and planned on taking the US equivalent of the Drama A Level.

Case Study: Reading and writing with a 2 to 6-year-old
I was employed as a tutor and babysitter looking after a 2-year-old in London. We spent time together on a part-time basis for four years. Her parents wanted combined childcare and tutoring, and I was given a free hand with what we studied and when. Her first language is French, so we began with reading and writing the alphabet and practicing the sounds of each of the letters. We moved on to reading together, and I was able to use my speech and drama training to assist her with making the correct sounds when reading in English. To keep her interested in our lessons, and to build her confidence, we practiced French together, using flashcards and picture books. She taught me many words in French while I taught her English. At the end of our sessions her reading in English had improved as had her confidence in tackling harder stories by sounding out the words as she read.

Tutoring Approach

I have thrived in high-achieving, international environments, from primary school to postgraduate. I am passionate about guiding young learners to read closely, write with clarity and inspiration, and develop individualised study habits that will support them beyond our time together.

When I work with students my aim is to create the environment in which they can own their abilities and encounter challenges with curiosity. From our very first meeting I listen closely to find my pupil's individual learning language. Together with their parents we work to establish a plan for achievable (but still ambitious) goals. It gives me great satisfaction to challenge a growing critical thinker to expand their notions of what they can accomplish.