Sasha

Hello! My name is Sasha and I graduated from King’s, College, Cambridge with a high 2.1 in English Literature. I am extremely passionate about literature and drama and would relish the chance to pass on my knowledge and love for these subjects to any student I tutor. I remember all too well how stressful and difficult exams can seem at GCSE and A-Level, so I believe that as well as tutoring the subject, it is equally important to boost the confidence of anyone I teach and make sure that they are in the right mind-set to study for, and excel in, their exams. For my degree I studied English literature from 1300 to the present day; I therefore have a thorough understanding of how various texts fit into the literary canon. As context is such a vital part literature, I will be able to ensure that my students can write about their exam texts with a greater understanding of the historical, literary and social context informing each play, novel or poem they have write about.

I really enjoy anything to do with stories, whether this means reading, writing, performing or watching them. During my time at Cambridge I performed in numerous Footlights and Marlowe Society shows. I spent the summer of 2018 training with the National Youth Theatre as part of their Epic Stages Intake course, which led to my membership at NYT. In the summer of 2017 I co-wrote and performed in the show 'The Canon: A Literary Sketch Show', which played for the entirety of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe at Underbelly, as well as for one night at the British Library in February 2018. In the summer of 2016 I trained and performed with the Make Trouble ensemble in the USA, as well as playing the eponymous role in Lee Hall's one-woman show 'Spoonface Steinberg' at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (2016). I trained at L'ecole Philippe Gaulier from 2017-2019. This is an international drama school, based in France, that specialises in Clown and Bouffon.

Tutoring Experience

I have have been working as a freelance tutor, as well as for the various online tutoring platforms, since I graduated from university in 2016. I mainly help students aged 14-18 who are taking their GCSEs and A-Levels. The subjects I offer are: English Literature, English Language, Theatre/Drama, Personal Statements, university/Oxbridge applications.

I am also a tutor for Ringle, an online platform that enables tutors to teach English to Korean business professionals via video-chat and interactive online lesson spaces; these students are all adults. I have been working for Ringle part-time since August 2018. I therefore have experience of teaching English as a second language.

In 2015 I was part of the Rickshaw Theatre Project in India. I traveled to Delhi, Lucknow and Jaipur, with 10 other university students, to voluntarily lead drama workshops for disadvantaged children in India. The aim of the project was to empower young people from marginalised backgrounds by teaching them skills such as teamwork, communication, focus and trust. Their ages ranged from 3-22.

This past year, whilst training at L'ecole Philippe Gaulier, I was employed as a theatre maker. I was one of thirteen writer/performers employed to create a show to be performed in English across Primary schools in Etampes and Paris, France. The show was intended to help French primary school children become familiar with the English language, whilst also teaching them about climate change and the environment. Part of this job also involved weekly video lessons with a group of 9 children, aged 9&10, that would focus on helping French students improve their English.

Tutoring Approach

My sessions will be personalised for each student’s needs; therefore, no two lessons will be the same. In the first session I will talk to the student about the texts they are studying and what it is they require help with. We will then work on the topics they find challenging and I will provide exercises and tips for improving their work.

Having attained consistent A*s and As throughout my GCSEs and A-Levels, with a couple of modules securing full UMS points, I am fully aware that even if you know your subject very well, exam technique can make all the difference when aiming for top grades. I will be able to help each student understand what the examiner is looking for in order to help them structure their thoughts and ideas in a constructive way. Equally, I believe that getting to grips with the text and analysing it with the help of a tutor can make the literary work feel much less daunting. Having spent much of my degree focusing on text analysis and close reading, I feel that I will be able to give my students the tools they need to feel confident in making their own creative discoveries and arguments.

I don’t want to overload my students with much more work than they will already be doing at school; however, I will probably be leaving each lesson with small things for them to think about or prepare for the next lesson.