Vivienne

** I specialise in teaching English Language and Literature for GCSE and 11+

** I have 35 years teaching experience

** Average improvement for GCSE is 2-4 grades.

** I have an empathetic, calm, patient and intuitive approach and believe in gently encouraging and motivating all learners to achieve their potential.

** I love teaching those who don't really like English and may have struggled with English; feel lost in the classroom and have a loss of confidence; don't know what to do to achieve those higher grades; need to learn to structure and craft their essays better; or just need a little boost and direction and personalised attention .

** I teach English Language and Literature and am familiar with the mark schemes and exam format of all the exam boards. I thoroughly know the texts and exam requirements for:

*Macbeth,

*Romeo and Juliet,

*Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde,

*A Christmas Carol,

*An Inspector Calls,

*Lord of the Flies,

*Various poetry anthologies and many 'unseen' poems for practice.

** To accompany my lessons I have written my own exam question guides and notes for revision purposes.

** I have a small number of spaces available for 2026/2027

*I have been teaching for 30 years and have been tutoring GCSE English for the past 10 years.

* Many students have come to me on a grade 2 and have all achieved passes in the GCSE. It is possible! Most students increase 2-3 grades.

*One to one tutoring is about understanding the needs of individual student. Every student is different!

*Fundamental is confidence, self- belief; and motivation and this is what I try to find and build in every student.

*From my experience tutoring privately and working in schools overseas (in Japan, Singapore, Italy and Moscow) I have gained valuable expertise, sensitivity and insight in teaching all levels, backgrounds and abilities.

*I am gentle, intuitive, and empathetic

*I offer a free chat before tutoring begins so you can ask any questions.

*I ask to be sent a piece of written work before the first lesson to help assess needs and level.

*I identify ways a student can improve from the initial lesson by having a chat, trying a reading comprehension together and by seeing a sample of their work if they have it. With this, I am then able to identify small changes to make that will help them improve and gain increased confidence.

*I start with language analysis skills as this is essential to all components of English.

*In Literature, I believe that understanding the question, and the introduction is the most important part of the essay. I provide guidance on how to write it for all possible exam topics.

*The lesson is a combination of coaching and working together on exam type questions. As well as checking understanding orally I give mini written class exercises if needed to consolidate the skills learnt.

*I always set a small amount of homework which is essential to monitor improvement. This makes all the difference!!

*I am always available to contact between lessons and am happy to mark work and give detailed feedback. This feedback is essential and significantly helps the student improve.

* I base exam preparation on practice papers and exam question practice.

*I have myself written a vast library of resources that include notes to accompany my lessons, quotations from literature texts, and many GCSE sample and model answers.