Cottingham English (Foreign Language) Tutors and Cottingham English (Foreign Language) Tuition

Personal Description:
I am a qualified language teacher with 30+ years' teaching experience. My credentials include
MPhil, Combined Degree in teaching English and German, Cambridge Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults - CELTA (Grade B), Cambridge Certificate of Achievement in Teaching English Online

I'm a highly educated native Russian speaker and
I consider English my second mother tongue (having been immersed in it since the age of 10 and having lived in the UK for over 20 years).

Having done a great deal of studying, reading and teaching through the years, I'm passionate about passing my knowledge to others. I feel that I have a lot to offer to those who're looking for extra help or guidance in improving their English skills.

Teaching Experience:
I have been teaching English as a foreign language at different levels since 1984, first in Russia and since 2001 in the UK.
I've worked with students of different age groups at a range of educational levels. My employers included mainstream schools, a Teacher Training Institute, an Academy of Economics and Management, and specialized language schools.

After completing a Cambridge CELTA course, I taught English to groups of international students at Brooklands College on General English, IELTS preparation, and ESOL Skills for Life courses.

My field of expertise and special interest is the Modern English Grammar. With my help, students achieve better understanding of how the language is structured and organised; with practice, their overall linguistic performance improves as well.

I'm currently teaching private students in these areas:
- General Conversational English
- English Grammar

I provide individual tuition online using Skype, Zoom, and WhatsApp, with support via e-mail or text/voice chat.

Tutoring Approach:
Throughout my teaching career I have always tried to adjust my teaching style and methods to the learners' individual needs and circumstances, my priorities being high professionalism and reliability.

As a dedicated teacher, I never stop learning and developing my professional skills, which allows me to offer my students the best in modern teaching methods.

Here is some of my students' feedback:
"I can highly recommend Galina as an excellent teacher. Her teaching materials are interesting and relevant with a lot of variety. She is always patient and her encouragement will help you to progress rapidly. Galina strives to bring out the best in every student and her experience and friendly manner will make this a pleasurable experience."
Lucy.
"Now 64, I have taken over 50 part-time and evening courses in arts, languages and computing during my adult life. Galina is one of the most inspiring and competent teachers I have had. I look forward to joining her more advanced class." Martin.

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Personal Description:
I am a patient, helpful and responsible individual who enjoys tutoring students and helping them build confidence in their ability to achieve.

Currently my only available slot is Friday 5.30-6.30.

Teaching Experience:
I have 20 years experience working within a school environment, dealing with both primary, secondary age range and adults. I possess a Master's Degree in English together with UK Qualified Teacher Status.

At the moment I work as a Lead Practitioner in a local secondary school in the London Borough of Bexley. I am also tutoring Functional Skills English and ESOL.

I have marked AQA and EDEXCEL GCSE Language papers for the past 5 years, therefore I have excellent understanding of how the marks are awarded for each question in both papers.

Tutoring Approach:
I believe that a key feature of effective teaching is balancing the pupils' success against the level of difficulty required to challenge them. Furthermore, I think to teach effectively you need more than good subject knowledge, something that develops with time and experience - professional knowledge and personal style. In my opinion, a teacher should give all the possible help to pupils to gain knowledge and become useful members of the society. Acquiring knowledge in a supportive, fair, friendly and not tense atmosphere is very important. A teacher should be a role model to students, who helps individual pupils to grow and deals with them in an objective way. In my opinion a good relationship between a teacher and pupils helps to overcome the difficulties that may arise during the learning process.

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Personal Description:
- qualified ex-secondary MFL teacher (PGCE, QTS obtained), familiar with and taught Mandarin Chinese GCSE specifications (AQA and Edexcel), A Level Chinese specifications at UK secondary schools. My students have great exam results.
- Native Mandarin and Taiwanese speaker, Excellent communication skills
- Experienced Mandarin Tutor. I worked with pupils at different levels: pre-School/ KS1- 5/ FE/ HE/ adults/ retired/ business Chinese/ tourism Chinese, including those with SEN and from diverse cultural background using English as an additional language)
- Freelance translator (television programmes subtitles, between English and Mandarin Chinese)
- Freelance interpreter (legal/Immigration)
- Experienced in tailor-making and delivering one-to-one tutoring lessons
- Knowledge of traditional Chinese/Taiwanese culture, politics, history, geography, society and current pop culture. Also able to combine the above with Mandarin learning/teaching
- Patient, reliable and honest
- mentored PGCE student teachers, Early Career Teachers.
- conduct and co-lead research projects with IOE (Institute of Education, University College London), on Content and Language Integrated Learning, 2021 to date. Co-presented the research results at 2 international academic conferences in 2023.

Teaching Experience:
- Mandarin Teacher at University of Leeds (Sep 2008- May 2011), a private school in north Wales (Y7 and Y9, complete beginner group/individual and GCSE preparation, 2011), a grammar school on the Wirral (2015- 2020, Y7- Y13, including GCSE/A Level preparation), and a comprehensive state school in Liverpool (2020-2023).
- Author/proof-reader of online Mandarin course contents (targeting KS2, KS3, and GCSE learners); Online Mandarin Tutor (KS2 learners and GCSE candidates. One of my pupils was accepted by a Chinese undergraduate course as her first choice for Sep 2014 entry, because of my lessons); eLearning Specialist advising the management team regarding VLE/ LMS and providing training on online teaching for fellow teachers (all above under this bullet point: between Jun 2012- Jun 2014, employed by a private company in north Wales)
- freelance one-to-one Tutor of Mandarin, face-to-face and online
- University Lecturer in Audience Development in Taiwan
- University Lecturer in Arts Management in Taiwan
- University Lecturer in English in Taiwan
- Tutor of English (adult/primary/secondary level, face-to-face, individual and groups) in Taiwan

Tutoring Approach:
- Use real-Life scenario for examples and conversation practice
- Integrate Culture into language acquisition
- Offer Business/Leisure/Travel/Conversation Mandarin Lessons
- Offer Pin-Yin and Phonics; Simplified and Traditional Mandarin characters
- Lessons are tailor-made to suit different levels from beginners to advanced Mandarin speaker
- You can choose to get trained in Listening, Speaking, Writing or Reading skills, or a combination of these four
- Deliver lessons in English-only, Mandarin-only, or a combination of English and Mandarin
- Devise different learning methods/ activities/ content for each individual learner to suit their own confidence, Mandarin abilities and learning targets/ motives.
- Encourage students to participate in their own learning process actively by creating an interactive and friendly learning environment.

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Personal Description:
I am a Master of Arts graduate of Choreography and a Bachelor of Arts graduate of French language and literature. My mother tongue is greek but I am also a native speaker in english because I was born in Australia. I live in London and don't mind travelling within London. I am friendly, communicative and very outgoing so feel free to contact me for any tuitions :)

Teaching Experience:
Teaching is one of my favourite activities because it is a way to share my knowledge with young people and also with adults. I have been teaching various subjects since 2006 which include dance, french language, greek language and english language. I always have my classes organised to achieve the goals that my students have in a specific amount of time, not time-wasters please:) I am currently a Visiting Lecturer in Universities.

Tutoring Approach:
Tutoring for me must have a methodology and a structure. It always depends on the needs of the student, the goals and the time available. As long as you know your aim, we can work around it together.

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Personal Description:
I am a Marine Biologist (PhD) and lecturer in Education. I am currently based in North Berwick, Scotland and have a wide-range of interests such as paddle-boarding, kayaking, hiking, cooking and spending time with my family and friends. I am available for online tutoring in the evenings and the weekends (anytime) and face-to-face for North Berwick.

Teaching Experience:
I have taught English as a Foreign Language for 22 years in the UK and in Japan. I have also worked with students with learning difficulties, which I enjoy very much. I tutor Biology to students across the world including University level and Science up to G.C.S.E /Nat 5.

Tutoring Approach:
Exam technique, technical language, repetition-based learning (English as a foreign language). Kinaesthetic learning.
Patient approach, with the aim of student's gaining confidence in the subject area.

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Personal Description:
I am a flexible and gentle teacher who is willing to go miles (literally) to ensure the success of my students.
Patience is needed to provide a long-term improvement of the student. I am an outgoing person with a sense of humour.

Teaching Experience:
My teaching experience stretches over nine years at different schools in Germany and England. I taught English, Biology, German to various levels. I have a deep insight into the ability of students and can easily identify the weaknesses and strengths of a pupil.

Tutoring Approach:
I don't like to overstretch a student at the beginning. It might cause frustration. Gradually increasing the quality of work is better.
I take care that a student says on task, because sometimes it's just lack of concentration. Music,television or even playing computer games while doing work is a hindrance to success. It is important that a student finds his way to the right result, so that his or her confidence increases.

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Personal Description:
Hi, my name is Christiane and I am German. I have been living in the UK for many years. I am a very reliable and approachable, but professional and trustworthy at the same time. I am always honest and work very hard to achieve my targets. I am sure I can help you to achieve the results that you were looking for and with my support, learning German or English will be just a positive and enjoyable experience.
I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Teaching Experience:
I have been giving German lessons to students of any age for 7 years. My students are normally preparing university exams, GSCE, business people or simply people who enjoy to learn the language in order to be independent and confident when traveling to Germany.

Teaching English is something I also very enjoy. My students are normally people who want to live here for a few years or even for the rest of their life.

Tutoring Approach:
After initial assessment we will decide together how and how often I will teach you or your children. I make learning fun with games etc.
Motivation is probably the most important factor that educators can target in order to
improve learning. Student motivation is an essential element that is necessary for quality education and as far as I can, I try to adapt the lessons approach according students needs and target to be reached.

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Personal Description:
Hi, my name is Valentina and I am Italian. I have been living in the UK since 2002. I am a very friendly, reliable, approachable person, but professional and trustworthy at the same time. I am very honest and I work very hard to achieve my targets. I am sure I can help you to achieve the results that you are looking for and, with my support, learning something new will be just a positive and enjoyable experience!

Teaching Experience:
Since 2003 I have been giving lessons to students of any age; my students are usually preparing university exams or interviews, GSCE, A-levels, business people, or anyone else who needs an extra support to achieve better results. I also run private courses to prepare students to school exams, as internal and external candidates; I work with all the major exam boards (AQA, Edexcel, Cambridge...) as private tutor, but also in the most well knows private schools in Surrey.

Tutoring Approach:
My lessons are very well planned in advance and delivered with confidence. I will make sure that your learning level will go up lesson by lesson! After a first assessment, I will prepare a tuition plan and the learning process will start. The positive results will come very soon!

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Personal Description:
Qualified and experienced spanish teacher with primary school teaching degree from ausias march university in Valencia (Spain).
Available for private tuition, teaching Spanish.

Teaching Experience:
MORE THAN 10 YEARS TO ALL LEVELS

Tutoring Approach:
COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH

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Personal Description:
I have many years of tutoring behind me and am currently studying for the Diploma in English Teaching to Adults.

I'm widely travelled and have spent many years living abroad. This has contributed to a high degree of fluency in Spanish and French. I acquire languages easily, being open to the cultures in which I find myself.

Teaching Experience:
I have taught exclusively in continental countries. One year in Finland, six years in Spain and two in Germany. In all cases the teaching took place in private schools or in company offices. Much of the teaching was 1 to 1, the rest being in small groups.

Tutoring Approach:
I believe that language acquisition takes place when the learner is relaxed and so my approach may be considered informal. The choice of materials is a joint decision. Good classes can take place with or without them.

I also favour a communicative approach, which entails giving a needs analysis to all my learners.

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Personal Description:
Ciao! I'm a native Italian speaker fluent in Italian, French and English, with a First-Class Honours degree in Humanities, specialising in History and English Literature. Since 2014, I've been helping learners of all levels develop confidence and fluency in English and Italian-from beginners taking their first steps to advanced learners refining their mastery.

I bring more than just expertise to my lessons-I bring a deep love for language and its structure. My teaching is tailored to each student's goals, pace and interests, fostering a dynamic and collaborative environment. I believe that great teaching is a two-way exchange: both tutor and learner grow through the journey.

Whether you're preparing for exams, brushing up your conversational skills, or simply exploring a new language, I'd be delighted to support you!

Teaching Experience:
Ciao! I'm a passionate educator with over ten years' experience helping learners grow in confidence, language skills, and exam success. I hold a First-Class Honours degree in Humanities (English and History), a TEFL qualification, and I'm currently training towards a PGCE in Lifelong Learning-giving me the tools to support both young learners and adult students alike.

For GCSE students, I provide clear, structured support in English Language and Literature, helping learners approach exams with confidence and clarity. My sessions are tailored to your goals-whether it's mastering unseen poetry, tackling tricky grammar, or refining essay technique-with an emphasis on building skills that last beyond the classroom.

For Italian-speaking adults, I offer a warm, welcoming space to build your English or Italian skills at your own pace. Whether you're learning for work, travel, or pleasure, I bring patience, cultural insight, and a flexible approach to make language learning enjoyable and rewarding.

Learning with me means engaging lessons, a supportive atmosphere, and progress you can feel. 📚✨

Tutoring Approach:
"I take great pride in helping learners-especially beginners-gain the confidence to understand, speak, and truly enjoy the Italian language. My lessons go beyond grammar and vocabulary, offering a gateway into the richness of Italian culture, history, and daily life. I aim to create a welcoming, engaging environment where curiosity leads the way and progress feels both natural and rewarding."
✨

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Personal Description:
I hold a BA on Classics and Modern Greek from the University of Athens and a Masters Degree in Modern Greek Studies (Language, History, Culture) from the University of Birmingham. I have a long-standing experience (12 years) in tutoring within a learning framework and teaching is my passion. I worked as a teacher of Modern Greek in Birmingham and as an examiner for Greek GCSE and Ellinomatheia. Currently I am working as an Educator for a Greek NGO, contributing to refugees' integration.
I am responsible for creating curricula, producing written guidance, and creating internal
processes. I have developed new training and technical assistance materials on teaching English
and Greek, on differentiated teaching and lesson plans (Bloom's taxonomy of measurable verbs). Following the descriptors of the CERF,
I have designed a detailed ESL curriculum for adult and youth migrants (A1-B2) and one for children
(A1-B2); I developed supporting lesson plans to establish clear learning outcomes, communicative functions, grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and assessment criteria.

Teaching Experience:
Education officer at an NGO

GCSE examiner for Modern Greek

Teacher in Birmingham (2017-present)

Teacher at Social School of the Municipality of Athens (2013-2015)

Private tutor (2011-present): Give private lessons to students of primary [Greek as SL, History, English SL] and secondary school and to undergraduate students of the faculty of Philology. [Literature, History, Ancient Greek and Latin].

Tutoring Approach:
The learning objectives, which my lesson plans aim to, will be based on teaching methods, which accommodate different styles of learning. Differentiation according to the level of each students's abilities (high, medium, low) is the touchstone of the teaching process and one of my principals as a teacher. Energizing activities which engage pupils in the lesson, such as use of flashcards for learning new vocabulary, classroom quizzes, classroom display works and powerpoint presentations are just but a few of my teaching methods.

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Personal Description:
I am British, and living in Hampshire. I am a qualified secondary school teacher in the UK (QTS, PGCE), and have taught Mandarin Chinese full-time in both the state and private sectors in the UK, at two schools leading the country in their Mandarin provision. I have passed the highest level exams in Mandarin Chinese (HSK level 6, and Advanced Speaking HSKK), and have lived in China for six years. I have just completed a Master's degree in the field of applied linguistics.

My Education background is as follows.

2016-2017: University of Southampton
- MA English Language Teaching.
- Specialism in motivation in online learning.
- Distinction level pass anticipated. To receive certificate in November 2017.

2014-2015: CfBT; University of Hull
- QTS (Qualified Teacher Status), with PGCE (Postgraduate Certificate of Education).

2002 - 2005: University of Durham
- First class honours degree: Politics BA.

1992 - 2002: Portsmouth Grammar School
- A levels: French A, Spanish A, Politics A, History A,
- GCSEs: 6 A*s. 3 As.

Teaching Experience:
2017 - 2020: LSI Portsmouth English Teacher
- Taught Exam preparation courses (IELTS, CPE) to foreign students.

2015 - 2016: Whitgift School Mandarin Teacher.
- Taught Mandarin and French to secondary school students aged 11 to 15 at one of the top schools in the UK.
- Offered a permanent contract at the school.

2014 - 2015: Bohunt School Trainee Mandarin Teacher (School Direct Salaried).
- Learned from Outstanding teacher at 2014 TES School Awards Overall
School of the Year.
- Taught Mandarin and French to secondary school students aged 11 to 13.

2010 - 2014: Guilin University of Electronic Technology (Guilin, China). TEFL English Teacher.
- Taught English to Undergraduate students majoring in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language.
- Prepared students for the IELTS examination.

2008 - 2010: Caterpillar Inc (UK). Purchasing Specialist (Graduate Trainee)

2007 - 2008: New Dynamic Institute (Chengdu, China). TEFL English teacher.
- Taught small groups of professionals in middle and senior management, both conversational and Business English, in an English training school.

2005 - 2007: Thames School of Languages (Huizhou, China). TEFL English Teacher.
- Taught primary and secondary school students aged 4 to 18 in an English training school.

Tutoring Approach:
My approach to tutoring is based on my own experience and academic research in the field of second language learning.

- I aim to foster and maintain motivation, through relating all topics directly to my students' everyday lives, experiences and opinions; and through providing instruction which is tailored to students' requirements.
- I aim to make my students feel comfortable through helping them to feel relaxed and providing as much linguistic support as is needed.
- I aim to increase my students' linguistic knowledge through using resources which are at a level just slightly beyond the student's current level, so that they are comfortable, but challenged.
- I am to promote skills development through developing comprehension skills (reading and listening), but also productive skills (speaking and writing).

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Personal Description:
I am a friendly, reliable, and competent teacher who is passionate about education. I strive to not only help my students perform well whatever their objectives may be, but to also improve their understanding of content, their study skills and to build their confidence.

Teaching Experience:
I have close to eight years of teaching experience. I was the Deputy Head of Secondary at the British School of Kampala and taught Edexcel English Literature and History up to A-level. Most recently, I taught English in year 7 and 8 at King Edwards School doing supply teaching. I have taught History and Geography to Key Stage 3 at Kampala International School Uganda. I also taught A-level English Language, Literature and General Studies following the Ugandan National Curriculum.
I thus have experience of teaching a wide range of curricula to both native English speakers and those for whom English is a second or third language.

I have tutored students in preparation for their Checkpoint, Entrance and IGCSE exams with all of them going on to achieve either excellent results or performing well above their expectations. I have tutored IGCSE History, Geography, English Language and English Literature.
I have also tutored adults who began with the barest minimum of English - adults for whom Italian or Spanish was their first language - and they are now able to confidently express themselves in English.

Tutoring Approach:
I provide opportunities for my students to express themselves and to demonstrate their knowledge and skills. I endeavour to foster discovery and the joy of learning to enhance understanding of content. I can equip students with revision techniques and assist them with exam preparation. After a needs assessment has been done, the lessons will be tailored to suit the unique needs of the individual learner. Goals and objectives will be set with the student and the lessons will be designed to meet these.

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Personal Description:
Having been in Academia for almost ten years, with a BA in Sociology and Psychology, and a MSc in Integrative Counselling and Psychotherapy, I am all too aware of the mental effort and stamina required by tertiary education. Further, I am a CELTA qualified teacher, and having taught English for the past 4 years to non-native speakers, I am well equipped to help students get the best out of their academic pursuits.

Teaching Experience:
4 years - English to non-native speakers - Adults, Adolescents and Children - Exam preparation, BULATS, IELTS, Cambridge, PET, Business Language - Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing - CEFR A1-C2

Tutoring Approach:
My tutoring style is eclectic, however primarily based on the Communicative approach. Therefore, I use a range of teaching styles, depending on the learning style of my student. My academic background in Sociology and Psychology also equips me to target specific teaching and learning strategies that are best suited to my student.

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Personal Description:
I was born and raised in Greece where I completed my Bachelor's Degree in Greek Language & Literature at the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens.I recently moved to the UK (2020) to earn my Master's Degree in Language Sciences with specialization in Neuroscience of Language(University of Reading).

I am fluent in both Greek and English. I also speak Spanish and French (proficiency level).

Teaching Experience:
I have been teaching the Greek Language (Modern & Ancient Greek ) since 2012, preparing high school students for the country-wide university entrance exams. In parellel, I was delivering in-home classes to assist students of various age groups with their curricular activities in humanitarian subjects such as History, Modern Greek Language & Literature, Ancient Greek, Philosophy & Religious Studies.I have also worked as a volunteer for the non-profit organization ''METAdrasi'', where I taught young refugees Greek as a second or foreign language.In 2020, I started working for the Greek School of Oxford, preparing students for their GCSE exams in Modern Greek and teaching Year 5 and Year 7 the Greek Language as a Second/Foreign Language.

Tutoring Approach:
Basically I use constructivist teaching approaches and strategies to help my students. I encourage them to actively participate in the learning process and help them develop critical thinking and communication skills in the target language. The material I share with my students is accumulated through all the years of my teaching work and there is a variety of types of exercises I offer to them. I also use a lot of interactive online material like live worksheets, language games such as Wordwall etc. and different kind of resources; newspapers articles, songs, poems, movie dialogues, inscriptions, texts published on social media ,recorded day-to-day conversations between native speakers etc.This helps them not only reinforce their academic knowledge (grammar and syntax) but it also broadens their experience on the cultural and contextual aspects of the language.

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Personal Description:
I am a semi-retired English lady. I do online tutoring in English and French. sometimes I also give private lessons in person depending on the circumstances.

I am in the process of updating my DBS certificate which I will submit to UK tutors
asap.

I have 2 years experience as a part-time BA TEFL teacher, from April 2020 until 5th February 2022 when my contract came to an end, as an online teacher with Education First,, teaching English to Chinese children (5 to 14 yrs. old).

Teaching Experience:
I have 2 years experience as a part-time BA TEFL online English teacher from April 2020 until 5th February 2022 when my contract with Education First came to an end. I was teaching English online to Chinese children aged from 5 to 14 years. This experience was very enjoyable so I am now seeking a similar work experience with UK tutors.

In addition, from 2010 to 2020, I was self-employed and I was tutoriing private pupils in person from my home or theirs. The subjects I taught were English French and music.

Tutoring Approach:
My approach to tutoring is friendly, enthusiastic and structured. I am,attentive to details and I always try to draw out the best from my students without causing them too much stress.

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Personal Description:
I am currently studying Medicine at university. Before then I undertook a gap year, where I spent the time tutoring students. I have managed to tutor students who were failing in their prelims, helping them to achieving an A in their final exam. I have also worked with students with Dyslexia. I enjoy teaching and helping other people with subjects that I myself really enjoyed doing. I primarily tutor English and entrance into medical school. I am friendly, patience and professional.

Teaching Experience:
I have tutored many clients, friends and family and I myself have undergone many years of tutoring. I have also volunteered in classrooms, where I've helped students with their work. Furthermore, I am also part of the charity organisation, where I mentor students applying to Medicine. I believe that everyone learns differently and I strive to find the best teaching methods for everyone.

Tutoring Approach:
Throughout the years, I have made many resources and learnt different ways to effectively approach coursework and exams. I will make sure that my clients are thoroughly informed on the structure and marking requirements for each exam question. I will also provide a wide range of resources to my tutees. I will share my valuable knowledge, tips and tricks during the tutoring sessions; ensuring that all my students reach their own potentials.

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