"The holistic nature of teaching as a residential tutor created multiple benefits for my tutees and their family, as well as being very rewarding both professionally and personally. During the trip, the children progressed academically through both their intensive programme of study, and their positive social interactions throughout the day with a caring tutor temporarily joining in with their family life.

I very quickly developed a strong rapport with my three tutees, and before we sat down to our first lesson, I had already spent time with them learning about their hobbies, interests and personalities. This made a marvellous starting point for engagement with learning, and for pitching lessons at a suitable level from the offset.

The majority of my teaching time on the placement was spent on the bespoke programme of study I had outlined before departure, which I adapted each evening for the following day, tailoring activities to the children’s interests and abilities, and to the wishes of their parents in terms of both educational outcome, and time allocation. With four hours’ teaching time per day, I was also able to support the children with homework as and when needed, supplementing this with additional activities I created to consolidate the learning instigated by school. A great suggestion from the family was to spend a portion of our lesson time composing journals, which I used as a means to develop the techniques of sequencing ideas and introducing opinions in recount writing, whilst providing a wonderful way for the children to synthesise the skills learned in our lessons, and to document the highlights of their trip.

My favourite aspect of tutoring in residence, aside from the fantastic relationships I built, was the opportunity to teach every day, building on topics, skills and ideas to create the optimum learning experience for the family’s needs."