Rachel

I have been a teaching in different capacities for the last ten years. Though I am primarily a music teacher I have a Level 5 TQUK qualification in teaching English as a Foreign Language which was awarded to me with distinction.
I am incredibly passionate about teaching and learning with others and I am fascinated by language and literature. I have been an avid reader all my life and enjoy analysing text to garner a deeper and more meaningful understanding of the story.
I currently teach part time with both Glasgow City Council and East Renfrewshire Council as part of their music services and I teach every Thursday evening at the Reel Kids Music Club providing music education to the Primary 2s.
I live in the East End of Glasgow with my partner and my cat where I enjoy playing music, reading, knitting and baking among any other craft hobbies I can get my hands on.

Tutoring Experience

I have been a teacher in different settings for ten years and am therefore very familiar with teaching principles and techniques which apply across the board regardless of subject. I worked for 14 months in Hong Kong with English Excel teaching English as a Foreign language to children from ages 3 to 16. These lessons were in groups of four and covered learners from absolute beginners to very advanced lessons in which we analysed novels such as Jane Eyre and discussed wordly issues.
I worked in Italy for three months teaching children and adults English as a Foreign Language at the Quagi Language Centre. This school was largely focused on sitting English Language exams so a lot of my lessons involved exam technique as well as covering grammar, culture, sentence structure, colloquialisms etc.
I taught English as a Foreign Language online with Whales English for a year. This was a very structured programme which took students through various levels of language learning. I worked with children ages 3 to 14 and really enjoyed using my own creativity to enhance the lesson plans provided.
I was very successful in my own English exams at school, and English was always one of my favourite subjects.

Tutoring Approach

When working with children I always like to focus on unconcious and half-concious learning before making learning more explicit as children experience and learn about the world through play so I encorporate that into my lessons as often as possible.
In students of any age I encourage Dweck's Growth Mindset to boost confidence and help students to overcome challenges when they appear. I am also a keen follower of Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development, keeping learning goals achievable and managable for each individual student.
When learning English as a Foreign Language I use Parrott and Swan's methodologies for learning grammar and phonics and when studying English Language and Literature I follow the SQA guidelines for National 4s and 5s and Highers.
For casual learners we will focus on anything the student would like to learn about within the realms of English.