Christopher

Certified Tutor

When I was younger, I had the privilege of being surrounded by people who encouraged me to read and share what I have learned. First my parents, and then my teachers at school, who saw how much joy I got out of talking about both fiction and nonfiction. I wish to share this privilege with others, as helping others find the joy in reading and writing is an immensely fulfilling process.
As I grew older, I realised how this fostered love of learning led to my being informed, and the pleasure of having my ideas and opinions challenged by what I read. I believe adolescence is the critical time in which we build life-long readers. While my passion for reading began with novels and aesthetics, as time progressed my focus expanded at Boston College while completing a bachelor's in English, to encompass the education methods behind reading and writing. My Master's dissertation in Comparative Literature led me to the works of some of the oldest education theorists, and I found comparison of their historical methods and our own modern techniques to be helpful in deciding how we present information to students. Similarly, the process of formulating an essay reinforces a set of problem-solving skills and everyday logic that makes decisions in daily life easier. Informally, I think of this as "learning how to learn": being invested in the stories we read is important, though communicating to students why those stories are important is even more critical.
I co-host a monthly bilingual book club with a friend from university. Together, we pick a selection of readings for which we then provide a background presentation. Following that, we lead discussions on the author, text, and literature theory behind it. This began as a passion project which I have since gained much experience from, in formulating a sort of lesson plan, pitching desired outcomes from the sessions, and encouraging participation from even the quietest members. Leaning heavily on my university research and personal reading, I draw upon this experience to communicate what are sometimes complex ideas. This practice of working with non-native English speakers has helped me to refine my teaching style and methods. I want to stress how satisfying this process is: I can think of no situation outside of a typical classroom in which one can unpack dense textbook theory and make it palatable for people of varying interests and reading skills. I feel that breaking down literary concepts in this manner is fulfilling to myself and likewise beneficial to others.
Prior to my Master's degree at King's College London, I worked in retail and gained formative teaching experience in the manner of leading on-the-job training sessions. I was known to have an approachable personality, and my understanding of the company's inventory and pricing software was regarded as among the best in the store. While I enjoyed technology-based solutions for daily tasks, nothing surpassed in effectiveness the ability to condense potentially complex information into digestible instructions, often in a handful of variations to account for different learning styles.