A bit about Paul M

I became a certified TEFL tutor in 2019, two years prior to graduating with a Bachelor’s degree with honours in English literature (Creative Writing Pathway) in June 2021. After completing my degree I then went on to accomplish a level 5 copywriting diploma and still remain passionate about learning new skills. I have a background of working in SEN educational environments, teaching English as a foreign language (to students overseas) and support working roles. I specialise in teaching grammatically correct sentences and the structure of written pieces to people of all ages, up to A-level standard, and the tutoring of English as a foreign language to non-native students. I consider my ‘superpower’ to be uniquely high levels of patience and understanding. This enables me to take great care in listening to students and working with them to help them achieve their best results. The most relevant learning materials, suited to the student’s preferences and learning level, are used to facilitate student guided sessions. Students are kindly encouraged to try the selected exercises whilst plenty of space and time allows the student to do their very best, with compliments, constructive feedback and encouragement awaiting their efforts to ensure rising confidence levels. I first began tutoring in 2019 following my certification for teaching English as a foreign language. I then moved on to an SEN college in 2020, where I assisted with the development of an autistic 16 year old male. I was employed to provide support in all subjects to give him the best chance to succeed and I was fully committed to the task. At the end of the academic year my student passed his exams and won mathematics student of the year. I LOVE passing on what I know best, knowing I’m giving people sound information and techniques that are sure to enhance the knowledge and skills of my students. Noticing the acquisition of new vocabulary and seeing the improvement of the structure and development of stories and written pieces, and so on, makes me proud as a tutor. I do all I can to help students succeed, so celebrating their success is a pleasure! After presenting the lesson/question, I gain a happy and confident agreement from the student that the task instructions are clear before moving on. I always ensure the student is confident. The student is then given lots of uninterrupted space and time to allow 100% concentration and a real good aim at excellent results. After the task is complete, It’s crucial to both celebrate what was done well and to highlight improvement areas. Another try is always welcome if there are any improvements to be made, but (because there are always positives to feed back) my students always have the confidence to give tasks multiple attempts where necessary before achieving perfection. I take great care to ensure students are comfortable and confident. My favourite thing about being a tutor is seeing improvements, no matter how small. Of course it’s amazing when students achieve big accomplishments, but they can’t achieve the big successes without small ones along the way - and they’re all vital to the entire learning process. The best thing about being a tutor is seeing people take a step closer to being their very best version. By making the student feel they are being given adequate space and time for thought, along with a knowing that you want them to win (demonstrated by the recognition and celebration of their good efforts), they will grow in confidence in your presence. Therefore, my teaching philosophy lies mostly with ‘patience’ and ‘encouragement’. Various students love different aspects of my teaching style. Many seem to enjoy how I aim to feed confidence, with some students feeling more positive during a lesson than they do in the outer world (that was a great compliment), with other students enjoying the openness for errors to go uninterrupted to enhance the learning experience through friendly and constructive feedback. The greatest success I had with teaching was during the year where I was responsible for the learning support of an autistic student in an SEN college setting. The student in question was underachieving and was identified as a student who would fail without the correct educational support. By the end of that academic year, my student passed all of his exams, won mathematics student of the year and gained much enhanced levels of personal confidence. In 2019, I completed my qualification to become a certified TEFL tutor. In June 2021, I completed a Bachelor’s degree in English literature (Creative Writing Pathway) - graduating with honours. In July 2021, I completed a level 5 copywriting diploma. The above relevant qualifications evidence my commitment to becoming the English literature university graduate I am today, along with the acquisition of tutoring abilities to pass on skills and knowledge to others. After doing a number of public speaking presentations in 2018, combined with being halfway through a degree at that time, I then realised I had the right temperament for teaching. A number of people recommended the teaching profession to me as an option for the future, so it became a serious thought. My public speaking presentations in the past were always fun, energetic, encouraging and full of empathy and so I knew what qualities I could already bring with me. I love reading and writing and have a real passion for learning new things. Playing guitar, going for walks in nice places, foraging edible plants, camping, wild swimming in natural settings, and jokes. I love jokes. I have more interests, but those are my main hobbies. If I’m doing some of these, then I’m a happy chappy. I teach people of all ages or TEFL to students who are non-native English speakers in need of further development to grasp the language. Most of my experience has been teaching young adults and teenagers, but I would welcome both older and younger learners. I would be happy to tutor anyone willing to learn.