It’s so much better when all the different bits of learning fit together in one coherent whole …
Are courses personalised enough for my child?
Parents often express concerns that small group courses are not flexible or personalised enough. Surely, they argue, if you teach a one-to-one lesson, you can react to my child’s individual needs and teach them exactly what they want to learn.
It is certainly possible to be reactive as a one-to-one tutor, and teach entirely different skills and texts in every lesson, if that is what is requested. However, this responsiveness comes at a price: it doesn’t guarantee progress. Courses, rather than a series of disparate, one-off lessons, are what ensure consistent progress.
When you first learn your craft as a teacher, you tend to plan each lesson separately. This is fine, as far as it goes, but there is only so much progress that you can get your students to make in one lesson. English skills can not be mastered in single lessons. They need to be developed over time. When a teacher learns to plan a course, they are considering a number of factors:
- How you can introduce skills and build on them over a series of lessons so that students progress.
- At which points you can systematically develop vocabulary.
- How revision can be integrated regularly
- Where assessment tasks should be and how they can further existing knowledge
Ideally, each lesson should build on the last to incrementally improve a student’s knowledge and performance week on week.
But what about specific problems my child has in English? How do courses address those?
I’ll let you into a secret. There aren’t really any unique issues that any one student encounters in English. (This is with the exception of difficulties associated with special educational needs). Over the years, I’ve realised that the challenges that students face in English GCSE tend to be in particular areas, across the board. Many, for example, struggle to really zoom in on the author’s use of language and its effect on the reader. Still more struggle with writing about structure. The majority need a lot of practice in the comparative and evaluative skills needed for Language Paper 2 Question 4. Issues are ‘typical’. A successful course anticipates what the typical problems will be at particular points in a student’s learning and will address them so that they are no longer issues.
Are courses flexible enough?
Courses, by their very nature, tend to be linear. They can’t always respond to whatever is happening in your child’s school at a particular point. However, the advantage of a course is that it has been meticulously planned to cover all the skills and knowledge in the whole of a curriculum, and to satisfy all the assessment objectives. Parents can be confident that everything their child needs will be taught.
This contrasts to week-to-week individual lesson plans, which may leave gaps in vital knowledge because they are not planned a whole to cover the curriculum.
My child is ambitious. Wouldn’t one-to-one lessons challenge him/her more?
Research suggests that higher attaining students are engaged and challenged by seeing where their learning is going, and being able to make links between things they have learned.
They thrive on being able to see the point of learning and by keeping their end goal in mind.
It is for this reason that a course is advantageous. If a course overview is provided (which it is on my course), students can see which assessment objectives are met and which skills are developed at particular points. They know the direction their learning ‘journey’ is taking and why.
On the other hand, a series of one-off lessons do not provide this structure.
So, there you have it! The above are just some of the benefits of your child learning on a course such as ‘Advance your English Language’. Finally, it also should be said that no course is ‘set in stone’. I regularly review my course in the light of feedback and requests from my students, and add content.
P.S. Whenever you’re ready, here are 2 ways I can help your child to succeed in their English GCSEs.
1. Book a free customised learning session
Thinking about working with a fully qualified, experienced teacher, who can help your child to map out a path to success in their English GCSEs?
BOOK YOUR 20 MINUTE CUSTOMISED LEARNING SESSIONHERE
2. Sign up for your child to work with me closely in my 12 week ‘Advance your English language’ programme.
If you’d like your child to work directly with me to improve their English language skills and to receive plenty of personalized feedback along the way, to help them to transform their predicted grades, you can enrol your child on the course HERE. This is for child if they:
- Are not getting the feedback they need on their English work.
- Are serious and motivated to do extra work every week to get them the grades that you know they can achieve.
p.s. if you’re wondering how the ‘Advance your English language programme works, check out this video where I share the structure I use: CLICK HERE >> Advance your English language programme
