My Experience
I am a PGCE and QTS qualified secondary school teacher and senior examiner of IB Diploma English and Theory of Knowledge and IGCSE English with a background in professional journalism, an MA (with distinction) in my subject, and over ten years of teaching experience. I enjoy working with students of diverse nationalities and backgrounds, having taught at public and international schools in China, Turkey, Ethiopia, Thailand, France and the UK. I am currently working in the Doctoral programme of Queen Mary, University of London.
I have tutored students one-to-one for Oxbridge entrance, most recently a student at Bangkok Patana who subseqently received an offer from Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, to study Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE) in 2019.
Over the past ten years I have also tutored students outside of class time in small groups and one-to-one in essay writing, annotation, critical thinking, personal statement writing and interview technique.
My ten years of curriculum experience is in Key Stage 3, IGCSE and IB/A level English. In that time I have never had a failure (less than 4 in IB, or a C in A level). I have developed complete units of work on dozens of texts based on curriculum documentation and taught a full time-table (twenty-five hours a week) to classes ranging in size from one student to as many as thirty. I have worked as an acting head of department, IB Language A self-study coordinator, and coach of public speaking and debating programmes.
I have also worked as a senior examiner of IB Language and Literature, working in a small team with the chief examiner to standardize the marking of other examiners and to set the grade boundaries of the May and November exams each year. This has given me a special insight into what is required for exam preparation.
My Qualifications
Master of Arts, English (First Class Honours) - Queen Mary, University of London
Post Graduate Diploma in Education (First Class Honours) - University of Edinburgh
My Reviews
"I really appreciated being taught by Chris. Learning Higher Level English Literature from him for my International Baccalaureate was very enjoyable, because my lessons did not consist of him telling me what I should be doing or what the correct interpretation of a certain text was, but more like a group discussion that resulted in everyone involved gaining more understanding. I think the unique way he teaches helped me to absorb the texts more naturally, so my lessons didn't become an exercise in memorisation but a way to engage in critical thinking and expand my learning abilities. Aside from classes, Chris also really went above and beyond to help me prepare for my Oxford entrance exam paper and interview. He voluntarily gave up his free time to have thought-provoking discussions with me, recommend interesting books and articles to me, and he was so helpful in providing useful feedback for my commentaries. Chris made me truly understand the value of clear and concise writing - and also how to write in that way. He is a very deep and unique thinker, and I truly believe that I was very privileged to be his student." - Anonymous
