Nathan M.

Hi! I'm Nathan, and I've been tutoring for around four and a half years - primarily online tutoring, where I have accumulated roughly 200 five star reviews. I started tutoring just about halfway through my masters, and, at this point, I can happily say that I have helped quite a few students reach their academic goals! I have noticed that most students improve around a grade within a month, but in the past I have helped multiple students move up three or four grades over the course of their tuition.

   Beyond academic performance, it is my aim that I can help my students see how these subjects - and, in general, learning - can be fun, and so I always make an effort to link lessons into my students' hobbies where appropriate. Similarly, with my own experience as a person with autism, I love matching the content and "vibes" of my lessons to the personalities of my students, especially where neurodivergence is concerned. I know first-hand that not all people learn in the same way, so I always make an effort to understand how my students learn. Finally, though I try to be interested in just about everything, my main hobbies (at the moment) are reading, gaming, and playing piano.

I can tutor the following set texts for Literature GCSE and A level:
Shakespeare: Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Twelfth Night, Othello, Hamlet, The Taming of the Shrew, Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest, The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing

19th Century Texts (GCSE): Frankenstein, A Christmas Carol, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde, The War of the Worlds.

Modern texts (GCSE): An Inspector Calls, Animal Farm, 1984, Lord of the Flies, Blood Brothers, Never Let Me Go.

A level texts (Novels and Plays): All texts already mentioned (if applicable) AND The Picture of Dorian Grey, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, The Great Gatsby, Mrs Dalloway, The Lonely Londoners, The Colour Purple, A Handmaid's Tale, Beloved, Atonement, The Importance of Being Earnest, A Doll's House, A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Kindertransport.

Poetry: If I don't already know it, I can quickly familiarise myself with it; I am also familiar with every GCSE anthology. At A level, Poets I am particularly familiar with are: Romantics (Wordsworth, Keats, etc.), Poems of the decade, Eliot, Plath, Larkin, Duffy. 

Finally, I am happy to read/learn any text to prepare for lessons if I am not already familiar with it.

In my sessions I pay special attention to making sure both that the content is enjoyable and that the atmosphere is casual, but still focused - learning shouldn't have to be a chore! Especially in English literature and language, I encourage students to link topics together with their interests. To take an example, creative writing is often easier and more enjoyable if it's linked to something the students already enjoy! Similarly, I am acutely aware that all students learn differently, and so I focus on flexibility in order to match these learning styles. Whenever I meet a new student, my first aim is to gauge their ability - usually, this means going over a past paper, which is a generally good way of narrowing down strengths and weaknesses which can be focused in on in future lessons.

A crucial takeaway that I try to encourage in my sessions is not only a deeper understanding of the topics covered, but also a heightened interest into these subjects. I try to teach students how to pursue interests and questions they might have about their topics on their own, and I think independent learning and research help massively in students' academic and personal lives.