Ann

I have had a varied career as a teacher, ecological researcher and finally an ecological consultant. The common thread throughout my life has been the natural world and my enthusiasm for my subject and sharing it remains. I love to teach and to facilitate another's understanding of complex ideas. Even as a consultant, I used every opportunity to teach my colleagues formally and informally. I have carried out private tuition to A-level students for most of my career until I retired early to France in 2014. Having spent the past few years setting up a holiday business in France, I am ready to get back to doing my first love of teaching biology.
I live most of the time in France and am offering online tuition to all.

Tutoring Experience

5 years teaching at secondary level - 1986-1991
Private tutoring experience 1993 - 2014
University teaching, demonstrating and exam marking as a post-doc student, Keele University - 2001 - 2005
A-level assessor for Edexcel - 2006
Also - I spent about 10 years working as a scuba diving instructor and marine life course instructor. My strengths lay with my ability to break down skills and issues into understandable portions and in my infectious enthusiasm for my subject - the living world.

Tutoring Approach

In terms of private tuition, my starting point is to get to know my student and understand where they are with their studies in order to pinpoint where and how I can be most useful. The objective of lessons is student driven. Either after identifying problem topics I can prepare work for the next lesson or will respond immediately to queries or problems raised by the student. But exactly what is covered will depend on the initial discussion. Often students needing extra help are not even certain what they need help with and my first task is to establish what they do know and understand and then move on from that. Whether it is syllabus content or techniques such as understanding data or answering exam questions.