Timbersbrook Tutors & Timbersbrook Tuition

Personal Description:
I am an academic and scholar who holds both a PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) and a MLitt (Master of Literature) from The University of Glasgow, and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) honours degree from The University of Paisley. My first academic book 'Robert Taylor: Male Beauty, Masculinity and Stardom in Hollywood' (University Press of Mississippi, 2019) was shortlisted for the Best Monograph of the Year at BAFTSS Awards 2020 and my second academic book, 'Tyrone Power; Genre, Gender and Image in Classical Hollywood Cinema' (Edinburgh University Press, 2021) was released in February 2021. Among my other publications are chapters in anthologies for Palgrave Macmillan (2016) and Bloomsbury Academic (2021). I have contributed to several academic journals and been requested as a guest lecturer, guest speaker and reader/reviewer on several occasions. I am currently working on my next book, some academic papers for journals and chapters for scholarly edited collections.

I am a personal tutor with over a decade of experience in several subject areas including English, English Language, English Literature, Media Studies, Film Studies, Theatre Studies, and General Writing Skills. I have taught a wide range of students off-line from pre-exam age (11+) to Standard Grade, Higher, and university level, and on-line for pre-exam level (12+), GCSE, AS level, A-Level, university level, postgraduate and the adult learners over this time.

Teaching Experience:
A well as being an experienced on-line and off-line personal tutor, I have also had several other academic jobs including:

Lecturer at Forth Valley College

Seminar tutor at The University of Glasgow

Graduate Teaching Assistant at The University of Glasgow

Top-Up Tutor at The University of Glasgow

Step Up to University Lecturer at University of West of Scotland

REACH Tutor at University of Glasgow

Proof Reader at University of Glasgow, University of the West of Scotland and Scottish Rural University College

Note Taker at University of Glasgow, University of the West of Scotland and Scottish Rural University College

Study Support Tutor at University of Glasgow, University of the West of Scotland and Scottish Rural University College

Transcriber at University of the West of Scotland

Support Worker at University of the West of Scotland and Scottish Rural University College

Exam Scribe at University of Glasgow and Scottish Rural University College

Exam Invigilator at Scottish Rural University College

Tutoring Approach:
I believe that learning should be fun and in a relaxed atmosphere but at the same time academic and useful. My approach to teaching is to have the tutor and student both feel that they are getting a lot out of the experience and that the time is being well used. I will break down subjects into easily manageable blocks and make sure that my student understands the unit before moving on. I also like to vary my tutorials by having some in the form of lectures, some in the form of question and answers, some where I will give students feedback on homework they have done and suggestions to improve what they have done, etc.

I also find that on-line tuition is the best method and students can ask questions that they may not ask if they were face-to-face with someone, it is a much more relaxed approach but students get a lot out of it (and can save all the notes from lessons for use later on).

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Personal Description:
I have a degree in Physics and Mathematics from University of Reading. I have a PGCE teaching qualification from UWIC.

Teaching Experience:
Previously taught for five years at Y Pant comprehensive, where I gained experience teaching Science (11-16), Physics (AS and A2) and Mathematics (GCSE).

I was formerly a GCSE Examiner. Now, I am exclusively an A level physics tutor, with over 10 years experience.

Tutoring Approach:
I adjust my tutoring approach to the individual's needs based on their age and ability.
My underlying philosophy is to develop understanding, not just recollection of facts.

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Personal Description:
I have been a practicing musician for over 19 years and have a broad experience in performance, composition, songwriting, production, recording, music theory and music technology. My primary instrument is guitar in a range of styles, including electric, acoustic and classical. I also teach bass guitar to an intermidiate level.
In 2004 I complete a degree in music where I was awarded a First Class an award for outstanding achievment in my final year, finishing top of my year group.
I currently write and perform with a garage-rock group as guitarist and lead vocalist while teaching guitar privately and in schools.

Teaching Experience:
7 years instrumental teaching experience in students homes and in schools.
Theory and technology tuition also available.

Tutoring Approach:
I believe in developing and expanding every aspect of a student's musical knowledge and awareness through their instrument, starting immediately with practical play and gradually leading onto music theory and reading. I aim to inspire students and help them to develop their natural interest and excitment for the instrument so they look forward to playing, at any level, and look forward to lessons.

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Personal Description:
I have been teaching drum and percussion semi-professionally since 2010. Outside of teaching, I perform semi-professionally in variety of genres including Pop, Rock, RnB, Jazz, Fusion, and Gospel, in large venues across Surrey and London. I have extensive experience of working alongside top industry professionals, and have undertaken studio, session and live television work.

I also hold a Degree in Professional Music Performance for the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford.

Teaching Experience:
I am the founder of a music school specialising in high quality, affordable drum lessons for all ages and skill levels. We are independently owned and operated by a staff of qualified & experienced professional musician-educators.

Tutoring Approach:
I am professional and friendly, helping you reach your musical goals, and to inspire you to reach for new goals that you may never have thought possible.

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Personal Description:
I have a Bachelor degree in Music. I finished university 2 years ago (The Sage Gateshead). My majors were music production, composition and vocal.
My journey with music started when I was 7 years old. I was in a music school for almost 10 years, learning piano, vocal, music theory, harmony and having choir classes. The same age I started singing and playing piano at my local church.

Teaching Experience:
Teaching children from age 6 to 14 for almost three years. I gave group and private classes teaching not only English, piano and vocal but also music theory and harmony.

The last year I was working in a language School teaching english and in a kindergarden teaching english and Music.

Tutoring Approach:
Private, online classes.
I always prepare the classes depending on your level and your needs.

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Personal Description:
I am a dedicated teacher and tutor who is passionate about education and the progression of students to achieve their maximum potential. Currently Head of Economics, with 10 years experience in the classroom teaching A-Level and GCSE Business, Economics and Financial Education.

Teaching Experience:
I am currently Head of Economics in a highly successful inner London secondary school. I have taught for 10 years across various exam boards and also have experience as an A-Level examiner for AQA. I am a co-author for the most recent GCSE Economics workbook by published by Hodder Education.

My previous experience includes working as an Academic Mentor for Economics and Business Studies in a Sixth Form College. My undergraduate degree was in BSc Economics from City University London. I also completed my PGCE in Business and Economics Education at the Institute of Education, UCL.

I have worked with many A-Level and GCSE students across London to achieve different objectives, ranging from understanding key diagrams to mastering exam technique!

I have been able to witness first-hand the positive impact of tuition and love the opportunity to expand the knowledge and experiences of the students that I meet.

Tutoring Approach:
I believe in a student - centred approach, focusing on building confidence and equipping students to be independent learners. I use current Business and Economics news in sessions, to help students understand different theories and concepts. I use past papers and practice questions to help students develop their exam technique and exam assessment objectives.

I have had experience tutoring online using platforms such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meets. I ensure that lessons are engaging use different methods to ensure students are still building their knowledge and understanding of the topic.

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Personal Description:
Hi. I'm a native Portuguese speaker from Portugal. I've been teaching European Portuguese in the UK for over 15 years, and for seven years at UK universities. I am a fully qualified Portuguese teacher (U. do Porto). I have a PhD in Portuguese studies. I was the main Portuguese language lecturer at the U. of Manchester for five years full-time, where I taught all levels of Portuguese language (A1/A2 - Beginners; B1/B2 - Intermediate; C1/C2 - advanced). I love teaching and I will make the grammar work for you! My students progress quickly, and see results from day 1 and learn something new every single lesson. I have trialed and tested all the most widely used Portuguese language learning methods and materials and use the most effective ones.

- My lessons are the full hour (60 minutes or more, but never less!).

-I provide email support to my students and original class materials (pronunciation and grammar) for free.

-If you require a teacher to speak Portuguese in Portugal, choose a qualified, experienced teacher from Portugal. Portuguese from Brazil is very different (especially when it comes to pronunciation: phonetics/sounds, the most difficult aspect of the language).

- A native speaker is not a teacher. A language teaching qualification is a proper five years higher education degree, in the theory and practice of language teaching. Think about it, would you ask a driver to fix your car?

- I'm a fully qualified Portuguese teacher. I have a languages degree, a postgraduate teaching qualification and teacher training from Universidade do Porto.

- I'm a very experienced teacher. I have been teaching Portuguese all levels and skills (speaking, listening, reading comprehension, writing, grammar) for 15 years.

- For 7 years, I was the main full-time Portuguese Language Lecturer at several UK universities. I was responsible for getting undergraduates from beginners' Portuguese to fluent.

- I'm fully flexible, and happy to change lessons at any point. This is 1-2-1 private tuition online. I work around your availability and your learning needs. I do pay-as-you-go lessons.

Teaching Experience:
I have 7 years full-time teaching experience of Portuguese at U.K. Russell Group Universities. I worked full-time for 5 years at the University of Manchester where I was the only full-time Portuguese language lecturer (16 weekly contact hours with language-specialist students), having left my teaching position to commence my fully-funded PhD studies. I have also taught in the evening and during lunch hours for a Beginners' Portuguese course in the University's Language Centre which targeted a wide range of students, including adult learners and students with no previous language learning and/or higher education experience. I have carried out all of my students' formative assessment which included weekly written tasks and independent language learning portfolios. I have also marked my students' yearly exams, periodic written tests, essays and oral and listening exams. Over the years I have attended induction courses on a variety of subjects besides being invited to deliver my own language methodology sessions such as 'first lesson and lesson planning'. I have experience of on-line teaching and learning platforms such as Blackboard. I am experienced in private tutoring in all ages and abilities and one-to-one is my preferred way of teaching.

Tutoring Approach:
I have a thorough understanding and interest in grammar and I will pass this on to my students while teaching. I prepare all of my individual lesson plans and I have in the past assessed and delivered all of my courses. I have created many of my own class materials using 'realia' such as newspaper articles, theatre programmes, reproductions of paintings, popular music, film-based activities and art craft. During all these years of teaching I have become familiar with the handbooks available to students and I am able to comment on the advantages and drawbacks of each one. When teaching I work on each language skill (listening, speaking, writing and reading comprehension) with every content unit by using a variety of related exercises. I prepare classes using a thematic approach (holidays, work, family etc.) and work suitable grammatical points with each unit (e.g. introducing continuous past in Portuguese when talking about childhood). In my teaching of advanced and expert levels I also acknowledge the oral and written differences between European and Brazilian Portuguese. One of the main reasons why I prefer one-to-one teaching is because it allows me to cater each class for each student according to their own interests and specific language requirements. It allows for a more in depth learning and relational process which I find a more rewarding professional context than large multi-ability groups.

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Personal Description:
I am a student doing Aerospace Systems Engineering at Coventry University with an interest in Web Design and computer hardware. The way shapes and colours combine to create beautiful user interfaces and websitesfascinanted me and I wish to help more people get into the field as it may become helpful in the future. Similarly, understanding the way computers work will be important in the context of a rapidly advancing world as our own.

Teaching Experience:
I have been working on small projects for some companies and mostly working on freelance websites. I've been tutoring friends and other people aged between 12 and 24 for a while and I want to continue doing it.

Tutoring Approach:
I would first start with the basics, providing an understanding of underlaying concepts before showing examples that the student has to understand. Assignments would be composed of images of certain web components that they would have to work towards while using the aspects I had teached. Difficulty would go up with time and their own understanding of the subject.

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Personal Description:
I am recent graduate with an honours degree in Mathematics with Statistics from Royal Holloway University of London. Currently I am now studying a master's degree at the University of West London in Cyber Security.
For the past 5 years I have continued working part time at my local study centre as a classroom assistant helping children between the ages of 3 and 18 with their numeracy and literacy subjects.
Alongside my academia I have also continued with sports, achieving the top level (Black Belt) in Choi Kwang Do and often watch football games.
In February 2020, I obtained my DBS certificate.
From October 2020, I have began giving hourly sessions for tutees both face-to-face and online, to help improve the knowledge of students and prepare for upcoming exams. I have conducted lessons over Zoom and Skype, and I am open to using other online platforms such as Microsoft Team.

Teaching Experience:
During my studies, I had worked as a teaching assistant for nearly 5 years aiding students in their mathematical studies. Under my guidance as a teaching assistant I have seen students excel their end of module tests in order to progress to the next level of their mathematical learning.
From 2020, I have giving hourly sessions for tutees both face-to-face and online, to help improve the knowledge of students and prepare for upcoming exams.
I have conducted lessons over various online platforms that accommodates the students.

Tutoring Approach:
Teaching students of all ages and mathematical abilities. The lessons will be tailored to the students' needs and simplify the problem to their understanding by going through past papers; working on mathematical examples or approaching problems they have experienced in their studies.
Lessons will be conducted either at the student's home or an online platform that suits the student.

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Personal Description:
I am a graduate from the University of Nottingham in Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine and am about to to begin my masters at Nottingham in Clinical and Molecular Microbiology. Science has always been a passion of mine and I greatly enjoy helping people to understand and appreciate the fascinating complexities of the world around us.

Teaching Experience:
My experience up to this point have been that of tutoring friends and family in biology and chemistry in areas that they may have been struggling in. However I am also a level 1 qualified swimming teacher and tennis coach, having taught children from the ages of 3-14. I am also fully DBS checked as part of my work with Nova Centurion swimming club Nottingham.

Tutoring Approach:
I always aim for the student to be as active as they can in the learning process, encouraging them to ask questions, providing simple visual representations as well as having them explain key pieces of theory out loud in order to enhance their understanding. All whilst providing positive encouragement and constructive feedback to maintain and further their understanding in their chosen subject.

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Personal Description:
I am a friendly, creative and dedicated tutor, whose key area of focus is English Literature A-level (Edexcel; AQA), English GCSE (AQA; Edexcel; OCR; Eduqas) and English IGCSE (Edexcel) tuition. I have a strong track record in helping students achieve their hoped-for grades (up to 9/ A*).

I aim to support students in their exam preparation and technique, understanding and analysis of texts, essay writing (A-level) and coursework (A-level).

Teaching Experience:
I have worked in education, in both mainstream and SEN settings, for six years; I have a BA HONS. 2.1 in English and European Literature (University of Warwick).

Recently taught A-level drama, prose and poetry texts include: Othello, A Midsummer Night`s Dream, Twelfth Night, A Streetcar Named Desire, Doctor Faustus, A Doll`s House, Frankenstein, Wuthering Heights, Mrs Dalloway, Hard Times, The Handmaid`s Tale, Never Let Me Go, Atonement, The Great Gatsby, Skirrid Hill, The World`s Wife, the poetry of John Donne, John Keats and Chaucer, as well as Romantic Poetry, the Edexcel Poems of the Decade anthology and the AQA pre-1900 anthology. I am able to support students in their analysis of unseen prose and poetry.

I have experience teaching GCSE Language reading and writing across the main exam boards. GCSE Literature texts have included (but have not been limited to): Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice, An Inspector Calls, Blood Brothers, Lord of the Flies, A Christmas Carol, Jekyll and Hyde and Jane Eyre, as well as board-specific poetry anthologies.

Tutoring Approach:
I take a pupil-centred approach to tutoring, consistently tailoring my teaching to the requirements of each, individual student.

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Personal Description:
Outside of tutoring, I enjoy photography, baking, wildlife gardening, health and fitness, including swimming and woodland walks, as well as spending time with family and friends.

I'm very proud of my daughter and three young grandchildren who also share my interests in photography, forest adventures and baking!

Since becoming a vegan, I have enjoyed creating a wide range of delicious meals which are also enjoyed by family and friends!

I am also passionate about wildlife conservation and have initiated campaigns in my local area to conserve areas of habitat for wildlife. For example, two years ago, I collaborated with local schools and councillors to stop the felling of 43 healthy trees at a historic green space in the town centre.

Teaching Experience:
I am a PGCE qualified teacher in Primary Education, specialising in Special Educational Needs, with 15 years of school teaching experience.

I chose to reduce my hours as a school teacher five years ago so that I could focus my attention on my tutoring business full time.

My main areas of expertise are English and Maths, where I can quickly diagnose a student's tuition needs and plan personalised lessons to help them to reach their learning targets.

I have taught many students with a wide range of learning needs, including learning difficulties such as dyslexia. For example, I recently tutored a boy with moderate dyslexia who was in Year 6. During this time, his confidence in his abilities in English increased significantly to such an extent that his grade increased from below to the above expected levels in Year 9.

I embrace all opportunities to keep up to date with developments in the National Curriculum by continued research in the public domain as well as attending training webinars and conferences

Since becoming a Private Tutor 20 years ago, I have helped over 1000 students to increase and exceed their grades in Maths and English Lanuage and Literature, sometimes by up to three grades.

I have also successfully coached adult learners for Functional English and Maths tests from Level 1 to Level 3, as well as students who speak English as a second language, for GCSE and IGCSE English and Maths exams.

Additionally, I tutor students in entrance test preparation skills for the 8, 11 and 13 plus exams.

I am always extremely proud of them when they exceed their predicted grades in their exams and gain entry into their chosen independent school.

Here are some recent reviews:

`Thank you Tina for helping me to take a long way in a very short time. My English was grade 2 at the beginning of the year 11. With the support from Tina, I have achieved grade 5 in both English Language and Literature. Thank you so much.`

`Tina`s teaching style allowed me to learn at my own pace and she always had a clear plan for each lesson.`

`She is patient and thought provoking, encouraging her students to `learn to learn`, rather than reproducing someone else`s ideas.`

"My daughter`s confidence in English has dramatically improved in both herself and in the classroom, thanks to Tina."

Tutoring Approach:
I would describe myself as a friendly and inspiring tutor who works with students in a calm and encouraging way.

I have been fortunate to teach in a variety of learning contexts, including nurseries, primary schools, secondary schools and colleges, which has enhanced my ability to adapt my expertise to a wide range of differing tuition needs.

I believe that by engaging with each student on a cognitive level, I am able to establish a positive rapport with them.

It is very rewardingl when I see a 'light bulb' moment happen when a student seems to glow from feeling a renewed sense of understanding and achievement.

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