Niall

Before becoming a secondary school English teacher in the UK, I lived in Budapest in Hungary, where I taught English as a foreign language for several years. I love travelling, walking up (and down) mountains (or the Yorkshire Dales), reading, and spend far too much time over-analysing the lyrics of Bob Dylan.

Tutoring Experience

I have taught English in secondary schools for ten years, from Year 7 up to Year 13. I have also been an AQA examiner for six years, marking the GCSE English Language papers. I work with students across all abilities, helping them to achieve their greatest potential.

Tutoring Approach

I have always seen English-teaching as being the teaching of stories. We learn how others write their stories, and we learn how to tell our own stories. My lessons are always planned to show how the stories we explore (whether that's a Shakespeare villain, a poet's memories, or a travel journalist's experiences) are living things, and not just lines of text on a page.
I like to involve students in my thought process as I craft a piece of analysis, or create a narrative, so that we both learn the key elements of structure that are essential to any of our stories.