Paula A
Paula has worked with Simply Learning Tuition for over four years, and we have received consistently excellent feedback regarding her teaching.
Simply Learning Tuition
A Level
Early Years
English
English as a Foreign Language
GCSE
IB
Maths
Senior School Entrance
Spanish
Academic History
2015 Universidad Finis Terrae (Chile) Post Graduate Degree in Education
2010-2015 Institution Profesional Projazz (Chile) Bachelor of Music (Hons) in Jazz and Popular Music Performance
About Me
My main goal as a teacher is to give my students the appropriate guidance to reach their highest potential and thrive. I have worked in a range of different environments with children and adults. I have had the experience of teaching at one of the best international schools in South America. I have also worked in specialised private tutoring for many years now, where I have had the chance to teach various subjects, including my specialist subjects: singing and Spanish. I am bilingual and a native Spanish speaker.
My teaching philosophy fosters an atmosphere that approaches the subject at hand in exciting and interesting ways. I believe that using different types of teaching resources that stimulate creativity can be very beneficial, so I continuously challenge my students using fun approaches aside from traditional ones. I also think developing my pupils’ confidence is key, so I always tailor my lessons individually depending on each person’s learning environment and style, as every student is very different.
Recent tuition
I’ve taught Spanish and English as a foreign language to people of all ages and levels, ranging from primary school children to adults. I provide Spanish GCSE and A-Level lessons across a range of exam boards, including home schooling. I regularly work with students of pre-prep and prep school age, providing them with homework, maths and English support. I teach music and singing to people of all ages, including children with learning difficulties.
I also have experience teaching the IB curriculum, both in a classroom setting and one-on-one, as well as having gone to an IB school myself. I was a TA at the International School Nido de Aguilas in Chile, which uses the IB. There, I had the opportunity to help students find strategies to face the particular challenges they were facing, and to enjoy the learning process. My one-on-one experience supporting students started around that time as well, with the majority of my students being from that international school.
I have a great relationship with all of my students. I think it’s very important to cultivate their confidence. You can see that motivation immediately improves their results and makes them happier and proud of their performance.
Some recent students include:
Preschool:
I taught a little 3 year old girl while living in Chile. Her mother is American and wanted her to continue being exposed to the language and to strengthen it, as they were living in a Spanish-speaking country and Clara was being cared for by an only Spanish-speaking nanny. I am happy to say that through music and play, she expanded her English vocabulary.
This 4 year old boy’s parents wanted him to learn Spanish, but to also have some support with phonics. As we dealt with a lot of sounds and visuals, we worked with music and art to help him progress in phonics and to explore Spanish.
I worked with this 5 year old girl on literacy, vocabulary in phonics for a year. Her first language is French, so the language barrier was initially a challenge for him, but working together we got him to the level he needed to be at. We used a lot of games, music and art in our lessons to make learning fun.
This 5 year old boy needed a boost in phonics and his concentration. A particular thing about this case is that he had some behavioural issues – his parents told me that had a very big aversion to lessons and school. The initial priority then became to help him develop a love for learning and have it be exciting for him. The first day I arrived at the house, as his parents said he would, he hid under the bed and would not come out. He only came out when I asked him if he wanted to play Lego with me, and I had to promise him it wouldn’t be a lesson. It was a difficult process, but over our sessions he began to realise that learning could be fun and after a couple of months he would actually run to the door when he heard the doorbell ring for our lessons! This was a huge win for him and his motivation towards learning, so his level of phonics, writing and concentration steadily increased.
Age 6 Spanish
Regular support for a young 6 year old student with their Spanish.
IGCSE & Pre-U Spanish
I helped a student throughout her years taking IGCSEs and then Pre-U Spanish. She had lived in France up until around the time when we began tuition, so she was feeling a bit lost and insecure about changing schools and educational systems. She struggled mainly with grammar and was frustrated because she had found that her teacher’s approach in school just wasn’t working well for her despite her best efforts to understand. She needed someone to guide her through the contents in a way that made more sense to her and to help her with exam technique. Working together, she became very motivated once she began to understand the subject and even began welcoming extra challenges, especially as she saw her improvement continuously increasing. Eventually, her hard work was reflected in her exam results – she excelled!
GCSE Spanish
Weekly support for a student preparing for their GCSE exams.
GCSE Spanish home schooling
Online lessons for a student who needed to take some time out of school. We kept her up to speed with the GCSE syllabus, ready to go back to school after a few months. I focussed on confidence boosting and fostering a love of learning, whilst practically preparing the student to go back to school.
A-Level Spanish
I worked with this student for six hours each week, helping them to prepare for their final exams and fine tune their Spanish skills.
IB Spanish, Mentoring
I supported a student during her last year of IB Spanish exam preparation. The initial challenge we faced was that she had switched schools the year before, so she wasn’t feeling too confident about the IB programme. Additionally, although her level was not bad, her parents knew that she had much more potential and were unsure of how to get her to make the most of it. They were right, she had much more to give! I’m very glad that I had the opportunity to help her discover what study skills, strategies, and tools worked best for her as an individual. I was able to support her in becoming more comfortable with the IB by helping her understand the programme and its aims and expectations in a more in-depth way, and how she could achieve them. I’m happy to say she got excellent grades in her exams!
IB MYP, Mentoring, General Homework Support
I helped this student with general homework support while she was studying at the International School Nido de Aguilas. Specifically, in regards to the IB, the one-on-one format was very helpful to her, as we would take some time aside to help her better understand the programme’s objectives for each subject. That way, we worked towards the curriculum’s goals in a way that made sense, was purposeful, and thus more meaningful to her.
Music tuition
I have worked with two sisters (aged 4 and 6), supporting them with their music. With my younger students I enjoy incorporating fun educational activities into my lessons to help motivate and engage them.
Singing lessons
I am currently working with a 14 year old student and two adult students for singing.
Hobbies and Interests
Aside from teaching, I am a singer. Before moving to London, I was in a band that did pretty well in Latin America. Our singles and videos even got featured on MTV, Rolling Stone, Vice, etc. Our record was in the Top 10 in iTunes Latin America, surpassing Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories. I’ve also had the chance to go on tour to several countries and different festivals, it’s all very fun!
