Gabriel

My name’s Gabriel and I’m a recent graduate of the University of Oxford, where I studied English. I’m an enthusiastic and knowledgeable tutor, with an interest in employing my experience to help young people flourish.

Tutoring Experience

While at university, I took on the role of college ambassador, working to support Year 13 students as they prepared for their Oxbridge interviews and admission texts. In this position, I ran online sessions, giving practical advice to applicants and taking them through practice tasks such as poetry analysis and interview questions. As I was working with nervous applicants, I had to ensure that I took control of these sessions in a way that kept the process clear, accessible and unthreatening, offering them an encouraging voice of authority.
More recently, I have tutored A-Level students in history and English, specifically helping with their coursework submissions. I held sessions to teach essay-writing skills as well as to discuss the themes and content they might want to discuss. I also marked essays and gave feedback for improvement.

Tutoring Approach

I take a collaborative and discursive approach to teaching as I believe that maintaining high academic standards can be balanced with honouring the interests and ambitions of each student. It excites me to find ways of imparting information that are effective because they are specific to the way a particular student likes to learn. Meeting students on a level they can appreciate not only renders ideas accessible to them but also means they are then inspired to grapple with more challenging concepts later.
However, I believe students want a teacher who is a firm authority figure so it is important to present myself as a calm, resolute presence. Someone who is confident and upon whom students can rely. When teaching I ensure I remain firmly in control while being able to flexibly embrace the concerns and queries of my students.