Jessica

Experience

• Primary English (Key Stages 1 & 2)

• 7+ English & Maths: public school entrance exams

• 8+ English & Maths: public school entrance exams

• 11+ English: ISEB and public school entrance exams and pre-tests

• 13+ English, History & Religious Studies: ISEB and public school entrance exams

I have been tutoring professionally since I graduated from university in 2011. I have provided tuition to students at 7+, 8+, 11+ and 13+ common entrance level and interview preparations, and successfully placed students through their exams to a number of London schools.

I have also tutored English as a foreign language to students in Barcelona at levels ranging from complete beginner to advanced level, as well as tutoring students who were preparing to sit their Cambridge English Language Assessment exams.

Biography

I was born in Edinburgh to Chinese parents and thus grew up bilingual. After taking my Advanced Highers, I went on to study at King's College London where I graduated with a Geography degree in 2011. I have been teaching and tutoring professionally ever since. I moved to Barcelona shortly after graduating to obtain my CELTA and taught English as a Foreign Language there for three years. More recently, I lived and worked in Hong Kong as an English tutor. I have now been back in London since 2015 and have started a career as a professional tutor with Keystone Tutors.

Personal Approach

It is imperative to set clear goals with each individual tutee and over the course of the lessons, achieve these goals in a direct and rewarding manner. The methods used to reach these set incentives will change according to the situation and needs of the student. However, there are some central principles with my approach to tutoring that do not change. I seek to inspire confidence and motivation by drawing out enthusiasms of the subject to ensure on-going interest in the lessons. I also focus on building strong and trustworthy relationships with the students which in turn make for positive and successful lessons.

What I do when I am not tutoring

When I am not tutoring I enjoy spending time in the countryside, whether it be cycling or walking. I am a keen cyclist and am often out at the weekends battling with the hills, still hoping that my call-up to the Tour de France is yet to come! I'm currently training for several cycling sportives later in the year. My most recent interest is plants: I have been scouting out weird and wonderful succulents to add to my collection at home and propagating them to share with family and friends. And having lived abroad in Barcelona and Hong Kong, I like to keep up my language learning by attending language exchange meet-ups.

Testimonials

"I am very happy with Jessica as a tutor for my daughter. She is a very professional and also she instantly got a good contact with my daughter. Her progress is very impressive and I got a lot of positive feedback from her school teacher as well." Mother of previous student

''The activities Jessica prepared were always very creative, interesting and centered upon the goal that she was trying to achieve. She ensured the content was age appropriate and also pushed my children to stretch their capabilities. The children also visited her when they were last in England and missed her very much.'' - Mother of previous students, Hong Kong

''Unlike other tutors that we had previously, Miss Jessica was professional, fun, and patient. She always came on time well prepared, with lots of interesting activities to do with Emma. Miss Jessica always gave prompt feedback on how Emma was progressing, with particular attention paid to the areas that need improvement. We were really sorry to know that she had decided to leave Hong Kong, and have no reservation in recommending her to any family who needs a professional English tutor.” - Mother of 7+ student, Hong Kong

''Jessica is a lively tutor. I enjoy her lessons very much as she makes her lessons stimulating and inspiring. She also helps me organise my thoughts and has helped me write in a more structured manner. My lessons with Jessica were very entertaining, we even had exciting 'debates' when exercising critical thinking!” - Previous student, IGCSE English, Hong Kong

''Jessica is a thoughtful tutor who plans and personalises her lessons to cater for my daughter's needs. She was able to widen my daughter's vocabulary and helped her gain confidence in her writing.” - Mother of previous student, Hong Kong

''My son worked with Jessica for a few months and has thoroughly enjoyed his lessons. I wanted Jessica to help my son with his reading comprehension and work on foundations of writing but was hesitant as to how my son would accept the lessons. Jessica came well prepared with engaging exercises to keep him interested throughout the lessons and looking forward to the next lesson. Jessica is able to relate well with children and quick to observe their strengths and weaknesses and work with them. '' - Mother 7+ student, Hong Kong

''I'm writing this testimonial letter on behalf of all my siblings who have been students of Jessica. She taught us English for two years. When we knew that she was leaving to Hong Kong we got so sad. Lidia, Albert, Judit and me are so pleased of Jessica because she always tried to give the best of her. Jessica as a teacher is patient, hard-working, professional and responsible with her job and as a person is nice and appreciative. We improved our English level, both in grammar and accent, thanks to her and her classes.” - Student and family, Intermediate - Advanced EFL English, Barcelona

''I began learning English from scratch, and for me it was great how she was able to make it easy to learn and communicate with her. She had a calm character and her talented ways of teaching means that I am now pretty good at English. I was sorry to hear she was leaving Barcelona, but she continues to be my tutor and also a tutor for my niece Amanda studying for her PhD, where she attends all of her seminars in English. I want to thank Jessica for her patience and professionalism.” - (translated from Spanish) Previous student, Beginner in English, Barcelona