In the gymnasium, I had the opportunity to tutor younger students who were preparing for the National History Olympiad. With about 10 students, we had weekly classes, and although my history teacher helped me prepare the curriculum and the teaching materials, I was responsible for all the other aspects of teaching. Whilst delivering classes to highly motivated and driven students, I’ve learned that every student has a unique perspective and way of understanding. Some students were better at remembering dates and facts, whereas others promptly grasped the big picture and the overall narrative.

Apart from this, I’ve had the chance to tutor my cousin and helped him to prepare for the Mathematics Matura exams. I identified the main areas that he was struggling with and adapted the learning plan accordingly. He had problems with simplifying algebraic expressions and it was the root cause of difficulties he had in other areas. We had done exercises to enhance his knowledge of algebraic identities and exponent rules, and I wanted him to start noticing the common patterns that come up in simplification exercises. After building a reliable foundation in algebra, it was much easier to progress with more complex topics in trigonometry, calculus, and combinatorics.

Every person apprehends new facts and concepts in their unique way and this is why the flexibility to adapt teaching methods is highly important. Having said that, I still believe that efficient learning has some common features among all people – it has to be engaging, stimulating and both student and teacher have to be fully invested.

When I learn, if I notice that a certain subject no longer fascinates me, I seek to understand why this is the case. Quite often, especially in mathematics, the boredom comes from not understanding the subject conceptually, and then it becomes a mere memorisation exercise with almost no added value.

As a tutor, I will seek to show students the meaningfulness and importance of Mathematics and English. I think continuous efforts and natural curiosity can only be achieved when a learner perceives the usefulness and potential benefits of an educational activity. To this end, I will be able to inspire the student, make learning fun and rewarding and show that mathematical or grammatical puzzles can be indeed fascinating.