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Marina Greenhalgh
I went to London prep school (I was head
girl of Lady Eden’s), before going onto
board at
Benenden when I was eleven. The pressures
children face in London - home work, school
entrance exams, the challenges for which lie
ahead at boarding school and university –
were a part of my childhood. Hopefully, I
have some empathy with my tutees. This has
also helped my advisory work to parents on
London schools which might suit their child.
It is vital to make tutorials as creative
and inspirational as possible if children
are to develop a real hunger for learning.
My degree training in theatre, together with
my involvement in musical workshops and
drama productions have been a formative
influence on my tutoring. I have come to
realise that each child has a very specific
style of learning and will concentrate and
engage in an individual way. So, with each
tutee, I play a different role and present
information and learning techniques in a way
that is most effective in capturing
attention and will encourage the child to be
responsive. Now I understand why the best
teachers and politicians are often trained
actors!
Some of the children in my one to one
lessons and small group classes present a
variety of learning difficulties, including
those associated with dyslexia and
concentration. I have been trained by
special needs experts to use a variety of
techniques, which all share in common a
focus on multi sensory stimuli, over
learning (i.e. repeating) and setting bite
sized goals. As far as possible, I integrate
these techniques with the curricula at
school. This means keeping in close contact
with teachers and making sure that my
tutorials complement classroom work, without
putting further academic pressure on the
children.
Many of the children I help are gifted
students, who are taking entrance exams to
highly competitive schools. While they have
been taught expertly at their prep schools,
it is always rewarding to refine their study
skills, and develop their critical thinking.
I believe strongly that this is where one on
one tutoring environments can really
complement rather than compete with class
room teaching. Nothing is more exciting than
hearing from a parent that their child has
won a highly coveted place to a first choice
school.
I am aware that too much private tuition can
amount to spoon feeding, and that children
need to learn the study skills to enable
them to become independent learners,
particularly if they are heading to academic
boarding schools. With this in mind, I
always make sure that my tutees are part of
my tutorial planning; I explain to them why
we are learning a topic in a specific way,
and always make sure they can use a skill we
are developing (such as a memorisation or
mind mapping technique) on their own when a
tutor is not sitting over them.
An enjoyable part of my work is helping
Charles Bonas to recruit and train new
tutors. Since I have lived in London all my
life, I have an eclectic range of young
friends and contacts, many of whom are
involved in teaching, academia and the arts.
They have a massive amount of raw
intelligence, experience and creativity to
give to children and it is always rewarding
to see what a success they make of tutoring.
It is important to keep tutors abreast of
developments in examination syllabi and to
make sure that they are sharing their
techniques which are proven to work, so I
spend much time introducing tutors to one
another and running what is, in effect, a
virtual Common Room.
I am passionate about all things French. My
mother is French, so I grew up with the
language and adore spending time in our
family home in the south. I learnt French
from the cradle and have also studied at the
Sorbonne. Over the last three years, I have
devised bespoke French courses for
teenagers, lasting from four days to a
month, where I live with them in Paris and
the Cote d’Azur, arranging work experience
and excursions, tutoring grammar and gently
immersing them into the culture so that they
retain the confidence to communicate in a
language that is still very new to them.
These French students have all become
wonderful friends, eager to come back to
France and share more of my life there.
In London, I also actor as a mentor to young
people, helping to build their confidence
outside the classroom and showing them
discover the city. It may be that they have
recently moved here from abroad and have
difficulty integrating into school. I see my
role as being something of a big sister
figure, encouraging children to develop new
skills and hobbies and helping them
integrate into their school and local
communities.
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