Whether you are studying English for your GCSEs, A-levels, as a second (or third) language or you have a young child learning it at primary school, we can help to make it enjoyable and manageable. Some may think that it’s easy, given that it’s the mother tongue for most of us, however, there is a lot to learn!
So, how can we help?
We teach English from year 1 all the way up to adult learners and you can read all about this on our subject pages: English and English as a foreign language.
Learning English as a foreign language, is said to be one of the hardest, as we have so many exceptions to grammatical rules! That being said, it is still extremely popular, as it is spoken by approximately 1.5 billion people around the world in total, which is a huge number!
Speaking English can help you with your career, as it is often used as a common language for communication, but you may also want to study the depths of the language or literature; these can be chosen at A-level but you will also begin to learn more about them at GCSE.
If you enjoy reading texts and poems from different eras, English literature may be something that you want to consider for your A-levels. This can also lead to many different job prospects, including publishing, journalism and education.
English is one of the most important subjects that students study at school; starting with phonics and literacy in reception and year 1 helps to lay the foundations for students’ comprehension, speaking and writing skills.
Hear it from the experts…
We spoke to our specialist tutor Shahista about her experience of teaching and studying English:
“The main reason that I enjoy teaching English is because of the flexibility in the way that you can help students. There are many methods to help them revise and each student has a preference, which results in me being able to alter and improve upon my own methods of teaching.”
“My preference lies with literature, and it’s fun seeing the way that students react to the different texts that they read and the observations that they make; this can be different with each year due to the change in attitudes over time. One of my main pieces of advice for students is that re-reading the texts is the best way to learn them. Each time they do this, they end up learning something new and that helps them with their overall ideas and opinions. Some of the texts that I learnt at GCSE are still part of the syllabus today and it’s great seeing how, when I work through these texts with the students, my ideas have changed since I studied them.
One of my favourite things about studying English to a higher level is the number of new texts that I’ve been introduced to. I love storytelling and it is present in the novels, poems and plays that I had the chance to read over my time at university and since, as a tutor. I love analysing these stories and figuring out what makes them relevant in the society that we live in.”