Specialist English tutor - 15 years experience teaching English literature and language (11+, 13+, 16+, GCSE, A Level, EFL, and IELTS)

Find out more about James

• When did you develop an interest in your chosen field and in private tutoring?

  At school, I had an absolutely brilliant English teacher and it was in his classes that I developed my passion for the subject. I went on to study English at university and, during my university holidays, I began teaching English to foreign students. I absolutely loved this. I met so many interesting people and learned so much about other cultures. After university I became an English teacher in a school, sharing my passion for literature with students, but also carrying on teaching EFL when I had time. After a few years, I began tutoring privately, allowing me to give much more focused attention to individual students, and enabling them to make much faster progress.

• Tell us more about the subject you teach, the topics you like to discuss with students (and possibly those you like a little less).

  I teach English literature and language. On the literature side, I really enjoy discussing novels, poems and plays with students, helping them to analyse the text in depth and to create well-structured essays that answer the question effectively. On the language side, it's very satisfying to help people speak and write with greater confidence, fluency, and accuracy. I also really like teaching IELTS - students can make incredibly quick progress with a bit of work on technique.

• Did you have any role models; a teacher that inspired you?

  As mentioned, I had a really excellent English teacher at school. He was not only a brilliant teacher but an incredibly warm and kind person. He had such an incredible passion for the subject and always found ways to make lessons fun and enjoyable.

• What do you think are the qualities required to be a good tutor?

  Patience, kindness, clarity, enthusiasm, and a good knowledge of the subject matter. An ability to build students' confidence and resilience is very important too. And a sense of humour :)

• Provide a valuable anecdote related to your subject or your days at school.

  I like listening to podcasts about English. There's one literature professor based at Berkeley in California that I think is particularly excellent. When I was driving from Vancouver down to Los Angeles, I decided to take a detour to see if I could meet him. Someone let me into the English faculty and I went up to his office. He wasn't there! So, on the way back up to Canada, I did another detour, went to his office again, and this time I was able to meet him. I thanked him for being such a brilliant teacher and we had a really good chat :)

• What were the difficulties or challenges you faced or still facing in your subject?

  With English, it is often the case that students have lots of really good ideas but find it hard to put these down on paper. With experience, one learns the importance of giving students a really clear and effective framework for writing essays that they can apply to any type of question. This is particularly helpful for students who are stronger in maths and sciences.

• Do you have a particular passion? Is it teaching in general or an element of the subject or something completely different?

  I enjoy lots of different things. I love teaching. I also enjoy reading and writing. I do lots of sport and also sailing. I like film, theatre, art and music. And many other things too.

• What makes you a Superprof (besides answering these interview questions :-P) ?

  Patience and an ability to make difficult things seem easy. With experience, one learns what works and what doesn't. Knowing how to explain things in a way that makes things simple for students is the key. Nothing needs to be complicated.