I began tutoring High School pupils in 2016 - I knew the passion was within me, but the techniques - well, I had to go with my instincts in the early days. Four years on, and I realise that it's the passion that leads to the top grades. Passion with a hint of trickery. The trick is to maintain the goal of passing the exam (ideally with flying colours), without turning the process into a series of factory settings. This can be difficult with students of English Literature, because they largely make up those who simply 'want a pass, I don't care about anything else, I just need a C for my UCAS application'. This makes my ears drop a little, like a sad puppy.
There are more ways to skin that poor cat, though.
In the event that English Lit will 'never be studied again, ever, thanks very much', I talk about the communication skills involved in the perfect essay for future job prospects in business, science, the law, the arts. Explaining complex points in few words is one of the top five skills Blue Chip companies are currently seeking in 2020 (Steinburg, 2019). Some young graduates are failing to impress the big bosses with their spelling, grammar, sentence structure, readability. So rather than aiming towards a passion in, for example, the wonderful Macbeth or tragic tale of Miller's Salem Witch Trials in The Crucible, I teach pupils how to be clever with words - concise, correct, comprehensible, consistent and clear; without them knowing, they've become budding copy writers on topics they don't yet enjoy - life-hack/success!
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