Ashley Down Tutors and Ashley Down Tuition

Personal Description:
I am a fully qualified teacher with, with 25 years experience. I have worked in the state sector and in private education facilities.
I am committed to high standards both academic and in behaviour, I believe that my encouraging and student-centred approach is effective in this area.

I am experienced at teaching key stage 2 and 3, GCSE at AS/A2 level.. I have delivered these courses effectively and with successful academic results in my teaching career.
I am AQA examination marker for A level Psychology.
I am a qualified Psychotherapist.

Teaching Experience:
Over 25 years teaching experience, in secondary schools and colleges .

Tutoring Approach:
I am a highly experienced teacher who has worked across the educational spectrum. I am committed to high standards both academic and in behaviour, I believe that my encouraging and student centered approach is effective in this area.

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Personal Description:
I have completed a Masters degree in Creative Writing. I completed my undergraduate studying BA Creative Writing and English Literature with 2:1. I'm aware that English and History are complex and intriguing subjects but I firmly believe that a thorough understanding and practise of techniques will enable to provide you with a firm base for any student to succeed. I am keen, conscientious, hardworking and reliable person.

Teaching Experience:
I have been tutoring privately for 14 years. I have worked with a wide range of ages and academic abilities from different schools such as private, public, grammar, boarding, faith schools and academies.
I worked as an Literacy Assessment Assistant where i taught Year 8, Year 10, Year 11, Year 12 and Year 13.
I worked as an Exams Officer Assistant for 6 months. I was a English Graduate Assistant in a high school where I had exposure to lesson and administration relating to the curriculum.
I have completed a Literacy Leadership Award and I was assessed on my ability to plan and prepare a literacy activity. I had to show communication and motivational skills through delivering literacy across the curriculum. Having observed teachers, I was able to learn interesting techniques that are used to teach Key stage 3 and 4 students. From this experience, I was taught how to plan and structure a lesson i.e. the starter, an introduction, an interactive main activity and the plenary; how to use verbal and non-verbal communication successfully.
I have also worked closely with my peers on A Level courses such as English and History by delivering revision sessions and presenting my ideas on literary texts, articles and academic research.

Tutoring Approach:
My approach to tuition includes a variety of techniques and strategies in order to guide and motivate the learner. I will set personalised targets with my students and their parents in order to achieve the desired results. I also intend to provide you with a personalized programme that is best suited to your individual needs. I'm very enthusiastic and try to make learning a fun experience, using different ways of learning. Prices of lessons can be negotiated.
"She's a good listener. She tries to make people understand something in a way that makes you feel comfortable. She involved everyone in the discussion even the quiet ones and always tries to find new ways of explaining things. Revision sessions were really useful and I think the main reason was because she just loves helping other people whether it is people younger or the same age. Everyone went home feeling slightly more confident about the exam including me. She makes sure that everybody understands even if it has to be explained more than once." (Aarti, 18, student)
"Charnjit has a way of making the impossible- possible. She is patient with her students and will try her hardest to make people understand. She has a way of teaching which involves a lot of group work and a one-one session where she will answer any questions from the stupidest to the smartest. After having few sessions with her I went into my exam confidently. Most importantly, she never gives up on anyone." (Rahwa, student)
"Charnjit's teaching style is unique and possesses many qualities. She is patient and constantly checks for understanding in order to go over things if the topic is not understood straight away. She uses a variety of techniques such as group brain storming in order to get the class involved which is very effective. During our group revision sessions she used this technique which worked well as it got everybody thinking, talking and interacting which was useful when remembering theorists and certain dates. She also categorised the theorists into groups based on their research which was also helpful for revision as it broke down the amount of theorists into smaller groups which were easier to remember. In addition, Charnjit is very good at keeping the class' attention which is very important as a teacher." (Stefanie, student)

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Personal Description:
FILM | PHOTOGRAPHY | IN-DESIGN etc.

***Don't miss the unique opportunity to work with a multiple award winning International Director.***

Award-winning director Kezia Barnett is a filmmaker with over a decades experience. She creates short films and music videos and has been directing international commercials since 2004.

With a degree in Fine Arts, she has an appreciation of film, photography and fine art in a practical, theoretical aesthetic way as well as technical.

Kezia has won numerous awards in recent years. She was the only director from the region presented in the Saatchi and Saatchi Young Directors Showcase in 2005. At the inaugural advertising award show, The Kodak Gongs, held in Sydney in 2005, Kezia was given the Young Director of the Year award.

Her directorial successes have also been awarded at music video and short film festivals. Kezia won the award for Best Commercial Spot with Love Story at the L.A. Shorts Fest in 2006 - this Hollywood event is the largest short film festival in the world.

In her commercial work Kezia has produced work for, and in, various cities and territories including the UK, New York, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

Kezia has worked alongside some of New Zealand's most prestigious bands, making videos, including Goodshirt and Pluto. At the Juice Music Video Awards, in 2006, Kezia's music video Hands for Sarah Brown won Video of the Year. In 2005 her Cement video, for Goodshirt, won the People's Choice award at the Below Ground Music Video Fest in Sydney and in 2004 Goodshirt's Buck it Up won Best Group Video at the Juice TV awards.

She has written and directed several short films including Sweet As Candy (2003), Paperdoll Girl (2000) and Cyber Kicks (1999). These have been shown in both local and international festivals. Sweet As Candy is distributed by BritShorts.

BACKGROUND

Whilst studying at Auckland University she gained straight A grades and was awarded several scholarships including the Senior Scholarship in Film and Television and Media Studies, the Elam Art Scholarship and the NZ Federation of University Women's Final Year First Degree Scholarship.

She gained top in New Zealand in Bursary Photography (last year of high school).

In 1998 she was live-in field director / camera operator for More Flatmates (a documentary / reality TV programme) where she lived in a flat and documented the lives of her flatmates for 5 months.

During her early directing years she also worked in the art department, designing short films and worked on drama, TV programs and commercials.

Art exhibitions include: Barnett Newman - Calendar Girl (1997), at the George Fraser Gallery and Light Bytes (2003 & 2008 - projected animations on a four-storey high billboard in High Street, Auckland), in collaboration with Lesley Kaiser.

Teaching Experience:
I have given various talks and lectures, including to students at Unitec and Auckland University of Technology. I have also taught a workshop-based Interdiciplinary course at Unitec and tutored photography students in their last year of school, who achieved good grades.

Tutoring Approach:
I approach tutoring in a friendly and informative way. I can adapt the sessions to suit the individual, whether it is about learning in-design or whether it is seeing you through a photographic or film/video project or designing your showreel etc. I have a depth of knowledge and industry experience to draw on. I can help you extend your knowledge or develop the knowledge you already have. Please contact me to discuss your individual needs.

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Personal Description:
I love teaching! This is my passion and my job. It gives me great satisfaction and fulfills my professional ambitions. I am optimistic and open-minded what makes my students more eager to enrich knowledge and expand communication. I am demanding but rewarding as my goal is to provide effective training. What is more, my international experience has developed my methodology creativity. Last but not least, organisational skills are definitely my second nature.

Teaching Experience:
I have been gaining valuable international work experience as English Teacher since 2000. I have been in intensive cooperation with leading English, Australian and Polish schools of English teaching children, teenage and adult students. I have found fulfilment in providing General and Business English courses to groups and individuals on all English levels ranging from A1 to C2. I have also conducted FCE, CAE, CPE, BEC, IELTS, TOEFL, TOEIC and EAP courses and specialised English Training Workshops successfully. My TEFL experience is with students of different cultural background. I facilitate their different pronunciational, lexical or grammatical difficulties what proves my expertise and adaptability to students. Moreover, I was responsible for developing General English and TOEFL/IELTS curriculum and its further coordination. On a regular basis I work online and provide Grammar, Vocabulary, and Speaking classes to students. Moreover, I enjoy working as a translator of economic, financial, legal and technical texts, and as interpreter at business meeting and negotiations.

Tutoring Approach:
How do I conduct classes? I always set the goal of providing effective training. However, I alsways create a detailed lesson plan, based on recommended course books or my own materials and following both language and personal goals. Most of the time they refer to my individual approach to students and make lessons tailored to their specific needs. I believe that effective teaching must be a combination of work and fun. My priority is to make classes varied, engaging, and memorable. Varied as they cover all skills and types of activities. Engaging as I want my classes to be student-centered with the main focus on communication. And memorable as there use fun games and language equipment. I believe that not only planning, but also monitoring and reporting play a great role. To get the full picture of the learning process, I provide students with sufficient feedback and reports.

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Personal Description:
My name is Natalia. I was born and raised in Moscow. I am Russian native speaker, fluent in English. I graduated from Moscow Academy of High Commerce and worked there until I moved to England in 1996. Since then I have been living here and raising my two sons.
I was a student myself for over 10 years at Basingstoke College of Technology and completed various courses and obtained qualifications in England.
Currently, I am looking for new challenges in my life. Meanwhile, to further develop my career, I have decided to teach Russian to anyone interested improving their knowledge and fluency of the language.

Teaching Experience:
If your goal in Russian is to become fluent, I can help you to achieve that. My teaching approach will depend on each student's needs. I will tailor learning, content and tasks to individual student abilities. I can offer tutoring at all levels from beginner to advanced.

Tutoring Approach:
Although, I have no professional teaching qualification, I have been teaching the Russian language to my two sons for over 10 years. My eldest son received Grade A* at GCSE Russian two years ago and Grade A at A-level at college. I use a variety of language resources including Russian books, and the Oxford Russian language book with CDs.

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Personal Description:
My name is Hannah and I am an American watercolour artist with a bachelor's of Fine Art with Honours from New York. I am a working artist and my work is shown and sold in galleries in Yorkshire and abroad. I teach adult group classes from my home studio as well as offering one to one tuition for all ages. I facilitate arts and crafts workshops in schools and museums around Leeds. I am also very involved with art galleries and studio spaces around the city area.

Teaching Experience:
I have been teaching for almost 20 years. My first experience was a teacher's assistant at the university level. I have also worked as a paraprofessional in special education environments giving me an understanding of all learning abilities, with added experience with children with learning disabilities including autism. I have provided one to one tuition for children and adults for the last 10+ years here in Leeds. I accept all levels and abilities and teach with a warm and encouraging environment. I have tutored in all art forms including performance art and installation art. I have taught all ages and all abilities in a plethora of subjects and mediums. My speciality is in Painting.

Tutoring Approach:
My approach to tutoring is of gentle guiding towards finding your own voice. I apply techniques to help you to explore the artform and help to facilitate a warm environment where you can be your most expressive self. I have taught in education settings so I am very knowledgeable in all techniques but believe that all of us have an artist and a voice inside that can be found with a bit of exploration.

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Personal Description:
Hello,
my name is Patrizia and I am a tutor of Italian language. I hold a BA 2:1 in English language.
I moved to UK in 2005 and I have started teaching my beautiful language here both to children and adults.
I have also taught English in Italy for many years.

Teaching Experience:
I have been teaching Italian in Italy for foreigners in 1997 and in UK since 2005.
I have been teaching in schools and schools of languages and university.
I hold a PGCHE in teaching and I have attended various seminars and workshops about Italian language teaching and languages.
I organize meetings and workshop with my students about Italian language and culture.
I have also spoken to various international conferences, presenting new methods and tools for learning.

Tutoring Approach:
My approach is very practical and creative.
I like to motivate my students with different methods of teaching and I prefer the speaking approach first, followed by other skills

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Personal Description:
I'm a native English speaking tutor in the Westminster/Victoria area with a university degree in English Literature and Creative Writing.
I developed a love for reading at an early age, which eventually expanded to writing as well, and which led me to study English Literature and Creative Writing at university. I started off teaching English in Japan, but through a strange turn of events ended up in the Financial Industry, where I worked for over a decade. However, through the process of tutoring my own son, and then his classmates and friends, I re-discovered my passion for English, and teaching, and decided to pursue it as a career. It has been an incredibly rewarding experience so far, and I've enjoyed it every step of the way.

Teaching Experience:
I have in-depth experience teaching children composition, comprehension, verbal and non-verbal reasoning for 7/8+, 11/13+ and Common Entrance, and have helped a number of children get into schools such as Westminster, King's College Wimbledon, St Paul's and City of London.
In addition, I work with children already in these schools, and others - including top Grammar schools such as The Henrietta Barnett School and Queen Elizabeth - improve their overall English ability and performance.
I also teach GCSE English Language and Literature, and the SAT/ACT exams (US University Entrance), as well as Common Entrance History.

In the last year I helped children of a variety of ages get into the following schools:
- Westminster Under
- St Paul's School
- King's College School Wimbledon
- City of London boys
- Godolphin
- Alleyn's

Tutoring Approach:
I try to encourage a love of reading and writing in all of my students, both by making lessons enjoyable and by building their self-confidence. While English can sometimes seem a dry and boring subject, I believe it shouldn't be, and that any child can learn to enjoy it given the right approach. A large part of the enjoyment comes from children learning to stretch themselves beyond their existing boundaries, and learning to think in new and creative ways.

For this reason, I approach lessons with patience and humour, but most of all with the intention to help children push past what they think themselves capable of. I find that children usually respond well to this approach, and often develop and improve rapidly as a result.

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Personal Description:
Hi, my name is Harriet and I am 21 years old.
I have worked in primary schools as a 1:1 teaching assistant for three years and have been tutoring Maths after work during this time.
I am now fully focusing on tutoring Maths at Primary level.

I enjoy the outside and spend lots of time out on the water.

Teaching Experience:
I have worked in three primary schools as a 1:1 teaching assistant over three years and have been tutoring Maths to primary school students for the same amount of time.

Tutoring Approach:
I am a patient person who can spend time with your child explaining things clearly to make sure they understand the methods of mathematics, while also setting good expectations ensuring that they can achieve their full potential.


I aim to build your child's confidence and enthusiasm in maths which will aid their success.

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Personal Description:
I am John, an English graduate who has several years experience in one-to-one and small group tuition. I enable my students to make the connections they need to find in order to achieve successful exam results. Many of my students have achieved results that they required in order to secure places at university or attain successful grades both at GCSE and A/L standard. Other students have achieved the results they needed for making successful job applications and professional placements.

Teaching Experience:
I have been teaching and tutoring since the mid 2000s. I enjoy working with students to enable them to achieve the grades they require, both for exam results and for securing the careers they have set their sights on. I have worked both one-to-one as well as with small groups, including those for whom English is not their first language.

Tutoring Approach:
My approach to tutoring is that of an enabler. I believe that every student has it in them to unlock the results they are aiming for, however unconfident they may feel about a particular subject or aspect of it. By working closely with examples from previous exam papers, I am able to show pupils how to take control and gain ownership of English texts and language. Pupils find out how to unlock their own innate abilities to analyse and comprehend the way language and literature works. Armed with these approaches my students gain mastery over their subject matter and gear their knowledge towards the exam targets they wish to achieve.

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Personal Description:
I am a Undergraduate student at UCL studying Natural Sciences. I am from Belgium and french is my native language. I grew up in Hong Kong where I also learned to speak English. I love my native language and wish to help any motivated student who wants to learn French.

Teaching Experience:
I did all of my school years in Hong Kong in both French and English. French is my native language, I can therefore tutor for any level. I have also been taught two other languages, giving me a good perspective of the process needed to efficiently and productively learn a new language.

Tutoring Approach:
The best way to learn a language is through interactive classes. During my lessons we will be actively practicing pronunciations, simulating useful dialogues in French and learning in a fun way to write and remember essential vocabulary. I am open to adjust the classes depending on your age and level. The first class (held online) will be used to discuss and adjust to your requirements in order to make the classes as profitable and delightful as possible. My goal is to help you progress quickly while enjoying French!

Subjects

Personal Description:
Hello,

Based on my volunteering experience I can introduce my self as an arts and craft tutor. The materials I use in my art sessions varies from normal stationery, paper, air dry clay and fabric and the projects I have done with my students are Abstract art, paper and fabric collage, air dry clay sculpturing and lots of other miscellaneous, random recycled stuff.

I have volunteered as an art tutor for Mental well-being charity organisation. I learned to understand the problems faced by people experiencing mental health difficulties and how art based activities could help and support them in improving their conditions. With this experience now I am able to design and draft lesson plans for art based activities and workshops. I also have experience working with young people at a Primary School.

Teaching Experience:
Armley Park Primary School where I secured a lunch time assistant job. Here I earned the most valuable bit for my community experience working with children. My work at school was nothing to do with studied or lesson my involvement with children was when it was play time and lunch time. I could estimate a child's potential and allotted them some games. The best part was we could create any silly game and customised our own rules. In the dinning hall I helped the tiny new comers settle down and eat their lunch.

Tutoring Approach:
The type of tutoring I can cater:
1. Abstract art workshops
2. Paper Mache models and sculpturing
3. Conceptual art collage (paper and fabric) workshop
4. Fabric and wool based art activity
5. Digital drawing or animation.

The the above topics have a functional and I have well drafted lesson plans.
The aim and objectives of my lesson plans are:

Enhance creativity
The techniques and methods are ideal for individuals / young pupils with very little or no experience in doing art based activities. And for individuals who are seeking support for their mental well-being.
Complete guidance is provided from the planning to accomplishment of an art project.
The use of tools and techniques can help individuals in developing their "problem solving skills" and gain confidence.
The activities contain hand and eye coordination exercises that can improve fine motor skills.

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