A bit about Joseph P

I am an experienced tutor, and PhD student at the University of Nottingham. I have helped students study English, English as a foreign language, Philosophy, Geography, Sociology and am very knowledgeable of social sciences and humanities in general. I have helped students improve their A Level and GCSE results, and generally improve their skills. I specialise in Philosophy, Politics, and English as a foreign language, however, I am capable of helping with Geography, History, Media studies, and other social sciences particularly. I like to start a lesson with some engaging activity, to think about something and discuss it freely, before focusing on the particular content that you need to be familiar with. This could be done via questions, discussion, multimedia presentations, writing, or something else! We will go through the content and do engaging exercises to help remember and store this knowledge. If it's to help you with learning English as a foreign language, I like to keep repetitive exercises to a minimum, and practice with speaking as much as possible. I first started tutoring almost 10 years ago when I was an undergraduate student, and have been tutoring on and off since. I started by helping students get their A Levels in philosophy, but expanded into English, Sociology, and Geography. I taught English as a foreign language in Vietnam, Ukraine, and the UK, and have done one on one lessons since 2017 to help students improve their speaking, writing and reading abilities, of all ages and levels. The satisfaction of imparting knowledge, which can often appear dense and inaccessible, to students so that they can think about the world differently and get the results they want. My teaching style is one of encouraging the student to want to learn themselves. I do this by explaining things in clear and relatable terms for the student, to help associate their new knowledge with something familiar. I like to make lessons easy going, yet still informative, to not overload the student and help them actually learn. I personally believe that being patient, breaking things down, and making things in as clear English as possible, is the most important. It should also be relatable to the student, so they can associate the new knowledge with something they are familiar with. I aim to always do this in my lessons. Teaching is not about merely going through the textbook, it's about ensuring the students are motivated and engaged with the topic. Seeing a student improve, learn, and want to learn. Tutoring is often a way to ensure a student can catch up, or have some time out to focus on something that may feel overwhelming. I love making sure the student feels happy and content to learn, as that is one of the best things about tutoring. Too often students feel unmotivated, not because they are incapable, but because they think they are. I aim to change this. Student's like the fact that often, through fun activities and simple discussion, they learn. Often I have had students say they didn't realise they were learning, until after, because we would have a very relaxed atmosphere in the lesson. Students also like that I can explain things in simple, clear, and easy to understand ways, so no matter how lost you may feel regarding whatever it is you're learning, you can finally feel comfortable talking and writing about it. I had a student, who was 9/10 years old, and was falling behind in his English, particularly grammar and writing. This was because at home he did not speak English with his family. I managed to help him improve his English considerably, and he managed to do sufficiently well at the exams his parents were very worried about. I've also helped foreign students get the qualifications (APA, IELTS, Cambridge) they want to study and work abroad, which is a great source of pride for me. Simple answer, my own teachers. I saw the difference a good, compassionate, and knowledgeable teacher can make in a student's journey, such as myself, and how it can motivate. MA in Political and Legal Theory BA in Philosophy and Politics TEFL 120 Hours Music, walking, climbing, travel (been to 22 countries so far and lived in three outside of the UK), history, books, film, and playing guitar. With the social sciences and humanities, I have helped students mostly with AQA, WJEC and OCR, and year groups I have mostly experience teaching year 10, 11, 12, 13 and university students. In my ESL teaching, I have taught all ages.