Laurence

Hi, I'm a Bristolian with a Masters in Creative Writing from Central School in London, a BA in English Literature from Birmingham University, and a CELTA.

I've been teaching English as a second language and to native English speakers for over fifteen years in Bristol, France and South Korea.

I'm passionate about writing and literature and have had short stories published and plays performed in the UK.

I love meeting people and helping them with their English needs and I find it very rewarding when students improve and gain confidence.

Tutoring Experience

I've been a private English tutor since 2001 in Bristol, France and South Korea
teaching in groups and one-to-one-sessions.

I've guided students through exams such as degrees in English literature, sociology, drama, and other subjects. In addition, I've taught students general essay structure, proofreading, grammar, and expression for essays, reports, presentation, creative writing, and just email for work.

I'm a published author myself so I know about writing: how to plan, order ideas, introduce, and conclude. I have a Master in Creative Writing along with a Degree in English Literature.
I've helped students whose second language is English with IELTS, the Cambridges exams (First, Advanced etc) and TOEIC.
I also speak French fluently.

Tutoring Approach

I meet with students to discuss their needs. We agree on the aims which can include: exam prep; essay structure and proof reading; grammar; report writing; giving presentations; general writing; fluency and confidence building for non-native speakers.
Then I write a lesson plan for the next, say, 10 lessons which includes everything we will do in each lesson.
Teaching technique: everyone is different!
I use a variety of teaching techniques that include exercises, games, role-plays depending on the needs.
I often find that with exams and writing that students tend to comment rather than analyse and don't give enough evidence from the text. In other words, they know the answer but they are not communicating it.
In terms of writing structure, students often are not clear about what they are saying, so it's a question of breaking down what the structure is and how to express yourself in the exams and writing.
For this, we can discuss how to plan work better by finding the key ideas in the writing and see how the structure comes from that.
Many students see that fiction and non-fiction are completely different so we discuss how they aren't so different and how that can help in the exams.
Often, it's a problem that students are not answering the question so we look at sample papers and examine how to focus on what the question actually is.
Students also have problems with punctuation so we look at the rules for that.