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Dmitri Tolstoy
I was educated at Cothill House School from
1986 to 1992, Eton College from 1992 until
1997, Worcester College, Oxford University,
from 1998 until 2001, King’s College,
University of London, from 2001 until 2002,
and finally Royal Holloway, University of
London from 2002 until 2006, when I hope to
finish. At Eton, I read History, French and
Russian at A-levels, receiving the grades B,
A and B, respectively. At Oxford, I read
modern history, receiving a 2:1 degree. At
King’s College, I did an M.A. in Byzantine
history, and finally at Royal Holloway I am
now doing a PhD in Byzantine history.
I have taught about thirty individuals, from
the age of 7 to 18 for several hours each,
either in intensive preparation for imminent
exams, or on a regular, long-term basis from
C.E. level to A-level. The majority of these
were either experiencing varying degrees of
dyslexia or dyspraxia, or simply suffering
from poor teaching. The others simply wanted
to achieve top grades in their exams.
The subjects I mostly teach are divided
into three areas; languages, maths and
history. The first for me is the most
interesting. For my PhD, I have had to
relearn Latin and Greek, maintain my French
and learn German from scratch, and because
of my family background, I try and keep up
my Russian as well. Consequently, I am
almost as much a linguist as an historian.
Latin and Greek tend not to be taught very
well at school as pupils I teach rarely
understand the workings of grammar which I
greatly enjoy teaching. When I did Maths at
school, I had immense problems and gave it
up immediately after G.C.S.E.. Having since
relearned Maths, I see that I was probably
mildly dyslexic, and so this is very helpful
in helping pupils with similar problems to
find alternative ways round difficult
problems. Concerning history, I show pupils
not only how to plan and structure an essay,
but also how to take notes efficiently,
which simply is not taught at all.
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