I live in Brisbane and am on Australian Eastern Standard Time. I currently tutor online on weekdays only, during my mornings (which suit students living in the United States and Canada), late afternoons and evenings (which suit students living in or close to my time zone, including the Republic of Korea and Japan). 

Please reach out to me for session availability or if you have any questions at all regarding these sessions. 

All sessions are conducted through Zoom Meetings.

This is a 1:1 ongoing, weekly class offering personalized, individual tuition for struggling to advanced students to practice and develop their reading and literary analysis skills. We will read a range of both fiction and non-fiction literature, depending on students’ reading age and interest. 

 For ESL students, these sessions are beneficial for practicing reading fluency and comprehension. For advanced-ESL and first-language students, they are an opportunity to explore all the attributes that make great literature so wonderfully compelling, including the story premise, all stages of the story plot (setting, rising tension, climax, falling tension), character traits and arcs, the role of the protagonist and antagonist, secondary characters, author intent, hypothetical alterations to the plot line (What if this … what if that? I do love the conversations that ensue!), themes, language features, text features, and so much more! 

Although I encourage my students to access a range of different genres for a holistic approach to literary analysis, we will gravitate towards literature that sparks a special interest and enthusiasm in each child. Yes, graphic novels have a place in great literature – I have had many discussions with my students regarding this and wholeheartedly concur! However, so too should we access a variety of other forms of literature, to nurture and develop well-rounded and well-read young minds. 

If students are willing (and enthusiastic in this regard!), I will assign weekly reading and optional homework to further practice and support a range of literary analysis skills, including chapter summaries, character analysis, story line, book reports, literary analysis tasks and evidence citation. We will model best practice of these tasks in class to help foster independence and confidence with these most valuable skills. 

In terms of resources, younger children (ages 6-8 or so) and beginner to intermediate ESL students have no need to purchase any books. We will have access to a range of online reading books. For older children and advanced ESL students, it would be super if they could purchase a hard-copy of our agreed-upon book to read together during class.  

All sessions will be personalized to support the attainment of students' individual academic goals. I aim to foster a relaxed, positive, patient, and supportive environment in my classes, where each student feels safe, valued, and recognized. 

I am a qualified teacher with a degree in English Literature and Poetry. I have over sixteen years in teaching experience, and have been a private online tutor for the past five years. Since graduating in the late 1990’s, I have lived and taught in five countries. My ever-growing collection of books travelled with me to every new home. I hope to foster this love and appreciation of reading and literature in my students too.