A bit about Waswa

I have been a Tutor for over 3 years. I didn't go to school until I was 13 as I learnt at home before then so I have a really unique perspective on learning but also just life as a whole. I am a lover of anything sporty, currently taking a degree in Sports and Exercise Science as well as a Level 4 Personal Trainer course alongside. One of my favourite things to do is travel all over the world and learn new languages. Therefore, I am partially multilingual speaking some Japanese, Spanish and my home language Luganda. Fun fact about me: I am a national champion and international medallist in the Martial Art Aikido! I have over 3 years of experience tutoring Maths and English from primary level up to GCSE. I have also taught English as a second language to many people of all ages (adults included), as well as Spanish and Japanese to beginners. My scientific specialism is in Biology due to the strong medical nature of my degree in Sport Science. I like to tailor my lessons very much to how you learn. I spent a year studying the psychology and science of learning. It very strongly points to how important it is to teach lessons based on the type of learner the student is. I like to keep things relaxed and comfortable to encourage a really productive learning environment that can adapt to your needs. Lessons could be structured with starter tasks, topic introduction, main teaching session, practice questions and consolidation time. However, they can also be loose following the direction you as a learner take allowing us to focus on specific things you wish to improve. I first started tutoring in 2018 for a tutor centre, initially focusing on Maths and English students in primary and secondary school. However, I transferred to online tuition at the beginning of the pandemic and have since gone into private tuition. In terms of Maths, I used to find it especially difficult so its very rewarding to be able to show people in how if taught in a particular way, it can actually be really easy. There are so many different ways to make the same calculations that all you have to do is find the one that makes sense for you. In terms of English, Spanish and Japanese, being somewhat multilingual, I love anything to do with languages so it is fun to teach people to communicate in new ways. As for biology, I specifically enjoy showing people how fascination our bodies and minds are and how humans and other life work in a scientific way. It really changes how you see the world! My teaching style is relaxed, adaptive and fun. Its important to put what we learn in context and use lots of different resources to do this. That way we can se why we are learning something and it instantly becomes so much more interesting. So I like to have conversation and use anything from whiteboards and games to YouTube videos and documentary clips. Anything that can make learning both fun and effective for you as an individual. I teach a variety of subjects. However, with all of them my favourite thing is being able to use my unique way of thinking to teach people in the easiest way for them to understand. It is so easy to get hooked up on using standard methods or explanations and so many different ways of doing the same thing are ignored. We all think differently and helping someone do that is what I really enjoy. My teaching philosophy is "just keep it simple". There are many things I found when I joined school when I was 13 that seemed so much more confusing and complicated than when I learnt them at home. When you learn something new, keep to the basics, learn it well and put it into context. Only after that do you start looking at more ways of exploring how this new information can be used and applied. From the feedback I have had from students, I would say the best thing about my teaching style is how adaptable it is. I explain in ways easy to understand and I am easy to talk to making my tutoring both fun and feel a lot less like strict work. When students learn with me, they often say that it has made the subject more interesting as the teaching is often based around what they like to do and I find a way to link that to the topics. Success is quite dependent on the person. I think in terms of academic tutoring, my greatest success would be having taught my own group of year 6 students, helping them all ace their SATs and 11+ exams and get their first choice secondary school places. In a sports coaching aspect, my greatest achievement is definitely having taught an Aikido player one-on-one to international success. 8/A* in GCSE Mathematics 8/A* in GCSE English Literature 7/A in GCSE English Language Level 1 Coaching Qualification I think having only started school at 13, I came to realise just how rigid, learning at school can be. I did not know any of the main methods in maths, nor had I sat SATs or taken any kind of exams. After my GCSEs I wanted to try and use my unique life experience and wealth of knowledge to teach people how to learn in the best way for them. From then I was inspired to become a tutor. My biggest hobby is travelling. I love meeting people all over the world, speaking in new languages and generally just going to the most amazing places. I have been all over the globe from Spain to Uganda to Japan to Trinidad in the Caribbean. Outside of this, I love doing all things sports. I do anything involving exercise including tennis, table tennis, badminton, yoga, swimming, climbing, dance, martial arts etc. I teach from primary to GCSE. Form Maths I mainly teach Edexcel, English I teach Eduqas and AQA for Biology, Spanish and Japanese. However, content tends not to change significantly across exam boards so I am more than able to adapt.