Most good tutors have long waiting lists whereas the modules they have created are ready to be used at once. The demand for bespoke quality English tuition in the UK is ferocious! There are more students needing support than there are qualified experienced tutors to help. It's particularly bad in the UK and is a growing global problem.
One contributing factor is the commercialised nature of tuition agencies. There seem to be more tuition agencies these days than there are good tutors! They have to make a profit and charge both parent and tutor an extra 'cut' - often an extra £20 per hour - resulting in higher costs and more tutors who know they're worth much more simply 'going it alone' where the tuition fee all goes to them. This means that the better tutors might not always want to register with these agencies, creating even more demand, student dissatisfaction and a fair amount of chaos. Compared to five years ago, it's much harder for parents to search for the right tutor and easy to be fobbed off by the agency with an inexperienced tutor who doesn't have teaching or examining experience. Meanwhile, my waiting list grows longer and I wish I can help more kids than I physically can.
The global pandemic is an added complication as it saw a colossal rise in the number of experienced fully qualified tutors moving online to coach children through Zoom and other related software. In 2022, many of us have got better at managing online learning; several students I work with definitely prefer it. There are benefits for both students and parents.
However: not everyone feels that way! This got me thinking about the best, most future-proof learning system which I could also use - pandemic or not - to safeguard children's learning while they waited for a slot with me to free up. I discussed it after my lessons with the many students I coached all through 2020 and on through to 2021 and 2022. How could human interaction, feedback and support be included in remote learning? What would THEY like to see in online distance learning? Top of the list was the chance for the work to be an independent unit with no 'add-ons', re-watchable, interactive and ideally, have multimedia elements. By 2021, when I had a little more confidence with the tech and we had that short 'breather' over the summer, I realised that what was needed was a series of really high-quality online learning resources made by a professional teacher, not a tech company, by a teacher who knew the main exam systems, marking requirements and how the work done by students in year 6 would be developed forwards at secondary school. Someone who could see the big picture, understand how the modules fitted into English study as a whole and who cared about improving the students' English.
Then I realised: that someone was me!
This detailed, differentiated guide meets this urgent need. I'm a qualified English teacher and examiner with 25+ years of experience so you can rest assured that this is a rigorous and challenging resource designed to challenge your child's reading, inferential, analytical, grammatical, planning, written, stylistic and editorial skills. (Plus I hope it's kinda fun in places as well!)
'Jimmie's Fight' is more than a simple pair of past papers; it is over 5 hours of learning materials, including the hour of timed exam tasks if you want to sit the unit 'cold' under timed conditions. If I was teaching this practice English paper in this much detail in a face-to-face format, it would take several weekly hour-long slots, so it represents great value at this price for a single user. It has the advantage of continuous learning for the student at their level and pace and results so far have been great. Boys respond particularly well to this format of intense pinpointed learning - supported by commentaries and the chance to replay and revise.
The unique structure enables students to acquire new knowledge and skills, listen to the teacher-led audio commentary and guidance on each section and test themselves in the multiple-choice section. Unlike many educational publishers, Hampton English Coaching offers students a full sample creative response with supporting audio comments and explanations, so students can see exactly what ingredients go into a top band creative composition, understanding the 'teacher's view' of the task. I'm an experienced 11+ examiner and know how valuable this feedback can be. It's the pinnacle of the learning process. Feedback secures student understanding.
I want your child to go into their English exam fully equipped. I want them to be confident with referring to literary terms, with their comprehension text reading and inferencing, their language analysis, punctuation, story planning - and their timed story writing.