Qualification:

BEd Hons in Primary Education

Experience:

I qualified as a primary school teacher, with a BEd Hons in Primary Education in 1995 and have been a primary school class teacher ever since, both in London and in Dubai. I returned to Dubai in 2018 and have taught in two leading 'ivy league' not-for-profit schools since then. During my teaching career I have taught in the foundation stage and across both Key Stages from Year 1 through to Year 6 and have a thorough understanding of the England and Wales National Curriculum programmes of study.   In December 2020, I will be leaving teaching to focus on online reading coaching. Having taught remotely, throughout the COVID pandemic I see a need for online reading instruction. Many children have fallen behind in their reading and are currently working below expected levels. The disruption to children's education has been dramatic over this period and of course, reading is the key to all learning. I have developed a remote earning solution to address this issue.  

Approach:

I always start with diagnostic reading assessments. After this, I will give you feedback and make recommendations on how best I can support your child. You can then decide whether you would like to proceed with a course of reading, spelling and writing intervention. An action plan will be devised with clearly defined success criteria and coaching sessions will be scheduled. I recommend at least 2 or 3 coaching sessions a week with skills practice in between the sessions. This approach is proven to have the most impact on reading fluency and comprehension.  One-on-one online lessons enables the development of these skills together. Sessions are varied, well-paced where the acquisition of skills and knowledge are structured in a systematic manner. The structure of each of the coaching sessions follows the same format.  Revisit and review – a teacher led element where old learning is revised. Teach – new learning of the next letter/s-sound correspondence. Learner Practice at word level – include the new letter/s-sound correspondence for intensive personal practice of the 3 core skills of reading, spelling and writing. Apply and extend – apply new learning to word and sentence activities   Throughout the Systematic Synthetic Phonics programme children learn the association between letters and sounds in a direct and systematic way. The 5 essential elements of reading instruction are: Phonemic awareness – the knowledge that words can be broken down into parts. Phonics – knowledge of sounds of letters or groups of letters, so that words that have not been seen before can be read. Fluency – methods to build speed and to recognise words easily.  Vocabulary – introducing new words.  Comprehension – the understanding of what is read. There is a focus on 3 literacy skills: READING – sounding out and blending (synthesising) the phonemes (sounds) represented by the letters and letter groups (graphemes) all-through-the-printed-word, from left to right (e.g. /c/ /u/ /p/ = “cup”) SPELLING – segmenting (or splitting up) the smallest identifiable sounds (phonemes) all-through-the-spoken-word (e.g. “zip” is segmented to /z/ /i/ /p/) and then knowing the written code – the graphemes – which represent the phonemes WRITING – recording the letters or letter groups (graphemes), from left to right, which represent the phonemes identified rom segmenting the spoken word from beginning to end.  

Curriculum:

British & American Curriculum (O-Level / A-Level / AP), British & International Curriculum (O-Level / A-Level / IGCSE)

Area:

Al Barsha, Arabian Ranches, Arabian Ranches 2, Downtown, Dubailand, Emirates Hills, Jumeirah, Motor City, Palm Jumeirah, Umm Suqeim