News and Updates

This month I went to watch a show on London's West End. The performance was world-class! David Tennant played Macbeth and he was incredible (unsurprisingly). The costume, stage design, audio effects - all perfect. They kept the original script and did justice to the iconic scenes that we all know and love. Considering I teach Macbeth more than any other text (and have done for nearly 10 years!), I must talk about it every working day at least once. I have a replenished love for the story and it has enriched my teaching of Shakespeare as a whole. I recommend!

This month I connected with Fiona, an inspirational chemistry enthusiast and fellow private tutor. Fiona has taught in secondary schools around the world and is now offering private sessions to GCSE and A Level chemistry students. Check out Fiona's page and find out more about what is on offer. 

This month I connected with a dog charity based in the South West of the UK. Many of my students are taking a break for summer, so it's a great time for me to think about how to use my time to do things that I am usually not able to give time to. As a dog lover I wanted to shed light on some of the amazing work done by organisations who commit to helping dogs in need. I am excited for what's to come from this partnership. 

Please consider also donating to the Help4Hounds fundraiser. 

I read an amazing book to help one of my A Level students this month. The Hate U Give is about racism in modern day USA, and looks at the issue of police brutality from the perspective of a 16 year old girl named Starr. A really easy book to love and a brilliant one to analyse. 

Exam season has been busy, as always for a tutor. In English there are 2 subjects, literature and language, meaning four whole papers! In May, we had: English literature paper 1 and paper  2, English language paper 1... so just English language paper 2 to go, and then everyone is finished! 

I have 15 year 11 students this year. The majority sat the same GCSE exam board, AQA, which is the most popular in the UK. But a handful take Eduqas, some are iGCSE, a few sit the Edexcel papers, and one sat the Cambridge exam board. This means I have to know all of them so that students are taught precisely to their specifications. Here's how they differ:

- Question commands 

- How many marks per question

- Assessment objectives that you're marked against

- Text types: eg some require students to write an interview script, some will ask for an article 

- Literature set texts: eg some exam boards have a whole Shakespeare module, some don't

- Poetry collections: the collection of poetry for each exam board is totally different 

And the list goes on! Being a tutor certainly keeps me sharp with my knowledge of literature. Exam season really tested my flexibility! 

This month I have had the pleasure of learning about Schloss Leizen, a summer camp in Germany. At the camp, students spend their school holidays learning, playing, socialising, and developing their physical and mental skillsets. They have such amazing resources and activities on offer to children. 

I am excited to be connected with Schloss Leizen having learned about how much they have to offer, and I hope to visit myself to learn even more about it. 

January is always busy considering the "back to school" mindset, especially for exam students. Just 16 weeks until the first English language GCSE! It was made even busier as I travelled a lot this month - I taught from Madrid, New York and Barcelona.

January 9th was Results Day for resit students. Huge congratulations Gustavo and Callum, who both worked so hard for their GCSE English resit in November. Both passed with flying colours and can now concentrate fully on their next steps in education. A great outcome for all! 

This month I was lucky to spend some time teaching from Madrid. It was wonderful to enjoy some winter sun in my favourite country, and still be able to teach as normal. On one of the days, I was caught up in a Spanish nationalist rally in the centre of the city, with thousands of people gathered in protest.They were all waving the Spanish flag, listening to speeches from politicians and marching in huge crowds. It was an amazing thing to see. 

September started with 10 new students being added to the J Hodges Tuiition register. September is always a busy time as it's often a time for fresh starts. I have a real mixture this year, including 12 year elevent students 5 primary school students and 2 A Level students. 

July was holiday time. While I was teaching plenty, I used this time to relax after a busy exam period. I did read three fabulous books while away - all by the same author: Daisy Jones and the Six, Malibu Rising and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. The latter has made it into my list of "top 3 books I have ever read." It was amazing. 

This summer I  onboarded many international students who had an interest in Victorian novels, and a desire to explore some of the most famous titles. I decided to create a course for Pride and Prejudice, which became the book of my summer because I taught it to so many of my students! I never liked this book at university, but I can say now that I have discovered its value. I love teaching it. 

This month I have loved designing and delivering my new course, The Great American Novel. We explore the very best of American Literature, and study the stories that help capture the development of this amazing nation. Unsurprisingly, some of my absolute favourites feature in this course.

- The Civil War: Uncle Tom's Cabin

- The Roaring 20s: The Great Gatsby

- Post war: Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea 

- Modernism: J D Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye

- Modern classics: Stephen King's The Shining  

...and loads more. I love it. 

One of my favourite things to do is conjure up concepts for new courses. When I think about what students around the world want to learn about, I am free to then create a course around that specific subject. This enables me to celebrate the areas of English I already love, or push myself to learn a subject I do not know yet so  I can share it with my students. Last year, one of my favourite examples was "An Introduction to Dickens." This was really popular; students loved the way it covered 3 of Dickens' biggest works of fiction, Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol and Great Expectations. Throughout the design and research process for this course, I perfected my knowledge of Dickens in a way that enriches my everyday teaching of literature. This month, I decided that the format worked so well, I produced a similar course, "An Introduction to Shakespeare." This covers my personal selection of Shakespeare's plays, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest.  The course is perfect for easing into Shakespearean writing and learning how to craft an analysis of his complex plots. Students approaching GCSE can appreciate a wider view of Shakespeare before having to study one of his plays as part of the compulsory Shakespeare section of the GCSE. 

December was a time of rest and hard work for me this year! While I still taught the majority of students and classes throughout the busy month, I still managed to enjoy plenty of down time. December started with a relaxing trip to the Caribbean and it ended with Christmas and New Year's in the Alps for a skiing trip. 

I've secured the title of Educator of the Month with the education company that I have been partnered with since 2020. This feels amazing to know that the students continue to love their lessons. These students live in Asia and the USA and have a real thirst for learning English literature. Recently I have completed a ten lesson course on Animal Farm and another group have just finished reading Romeo and Juliet. Another group have just begun Great Expectations too, which they are absolutely loving. 

I completed training in Cardiff ahead of my exam marking responsibilities. The training was intense and it required hours or reading with groups of examiners to learn how to award marks precisely and fairly. This year I've been assigned the poetry paper, both anthology poetry and unseen. Poetry is notoriously difficult to mark because no two people will read a poem the same! This means lots of practise is needed before official examining can really take place. I love exam marking as it keeps my lessons up to date and makes sure that I am teaching the specifications to the most precise level.