A selection of reports across subjects & levels
Today's lesson with P was absolutely hilarious. We had a very enjoyable conversation about everything he has been doing lately, joking about whether he might become a stand-up comedian. He fashioned various headpieces from his own T-shirt — we joked this might become part of a stage act.
P has a completely unexpected sense of humour. His joke choices today were brilliant — my favourite was the one about the "cold spy."
We continued with today's goal of developing greater emotional intelligence, looking at how to ask questions in different situations and what a high-EQ response would look like. P was very honest throughout, and we worked towards understanding what an appropriate response is in each context.
We challenged C2-level vocabulary — full fluency and academic range. P demonstrated the ability to infer meaning from context and to recall words he had encountered before. Vocabulary covered included: aggregate, benchmark, commensurate, contingent upon, inherently, intrinsic, predicated on, and others.
The next part of the lesson involved reviewing debate principles. P was asked to identify which words or concepts in the motion "Young people should obey their parents" could be targeted by the opposition. "Obey" is a word whose definition could be challenged; we also identified "young people," "should," and "obey their parents" as terms requiring definition.
All in all, a very enjoyable and productive lesson — we ran over time without even noticing.
Today's lesson focused on three key areas: discussion, grammar, and reading comprehension.
We began with a short conversation about X's week and plans for the rest of the summer holiday. X was a little distracted at first, but once settled became noticeably more engaged and participated actively.
We then moved into grammar — specifically forming questions in the simple present tense, reviewing question words and matching them to appropriate nouns. X initially found this challenging, but after a few clear examples and guided practice began to grasp the structure. We added a timer to make the activity more dynamic, testing how quickly and naturally X could complete question transformations.
Finally, we began reading a new story, Dragon Master. X was genuinely engaged — following the plot closely, adjusting intonation and voice to match the protagonist, and showing strong narrative awareness. X also made confident predictions about what might happen next, using clues from the chapter to support the thinking.
Y was keen to show me some of his English books and brought out The 52-Storey Treehouse. We read part of it together and used the story and illustrations as a springboard for discussion. Y showed great enthusiasm with this approach, and I would like to allocate more time to shared reading and discussion going forward.
Based on the story's themes, I asked Y what imaginary room he would add to his own house. This extended into a discussion about a sport he invented, as well as the real sports he participates in. The book also provided an opportunity to introduce new vocabulary and expressions he hadn't encountered before.
Y then told me about his week — showing me some maths exercises he had completed, and talking about his piano lessons and progress on the instrument.
We then used last week's discussion cards, covering: favourite foods (extended to savoury foods, since all of Y's preferences were sweets); career aspirations and the pros and cons of various options; and hobbies — which led to a lively discussion about gardening and a recent typhoon.
This was B's final lesson of Year 6. Although she initially seemed a little flat, as soon as we began mental arithmetic across all four operations her mood transformed. She worked through the exercises with impressive ease, demonstrating strong mental agility and real confidence with numbers.
We also explored algebraic expressions and moved into geometry — reviewing area formulae for squares, rectangles, triangles, and circles. B encountered some difficulties but showed great resilience, working back through problems to reach accurate answers. When challenged, she tends to feel a little flustered, but this comes from a genuine desire to get everything right — a very admirable quality.
To lighten the mood we took a short break with brain teasers and tongue twisters, which lifted her spirits beautifully.
B has been an absolute joy to teach this year. She is bright, lively, and determined — with a natural affinity for maths and a love of solving problems quickly. Over the year we covered decimals, fractions, algebra, units of measurement, angles, and area and perimeter of various shapes. It has been a privilege to watch her grow.
In today's lesson we had quite a change in terms of content. We began with a recital of Invictus, a poem from the late 19th century. M identified the final two lines as most meaningful to him. We reviewed the poem and M checked the meaning of some of its more complex vocabulary.
M also reported the challenges he was having decoding sounds in extended listening texts — a great level of self-awareness about his own learning process.
We looked at a series of open questions designed around M's office environment, using them as a drilling exercise for workplace communication:
Once again, after an initial warm-up it was very clear that M's ability to communicate on these topics has grown considerably. In the first 10 minutes there were three minor vowel additions — consistent, measurable progress.
Today's lesson was very interesting — centred on a mature discussion about how planes, and paper planes specifically, fly. Questions explored included: Why does weight at the front help it fly better? Why do objects with speed travel indefinitely in a vacuum? Why does paper rise when you blow over the top of it? Does shape change the flight path?
We looked at A's school schedule and the Khan Academy platform A uses for Maths — in my opinion an excellent choice.
We repeated the writing task from last week. With a slightly different topic, A wrote 22 words per minute — a very reasonable speed. We will analyse the written work for weaknesses going forward.
We moved to A reading aloud from Harry Potter to assess word-attack skills. These were largely strong, with only a couple of minor errors that revealed something interesting about how A processes text.
We also reviewed the memorisation techniques we looked at over a year ago. I was very impressed in our competition around memorising numbers in correct sequence — A achieved an excellent result.
Today's IELTS lesson focused on high-probability questions from Part 1 of the IELTS Speaking exam. We began with X reporting on local weather, during which we corrected several errors: the pronunciation of "cold"; the use of "I'm only stay"; the difference between "this" and "lis"; and related points.
For the topic of hometowns, X is going to locate English-language holiday websites to become more familiar with the international English used to describe landscapes and locations.
As part of our strategy, I gave X as much pressure as possible in the questioning, and X handled this with composure throughout.
We then looked at word stress and sentence stress, including the differences between syllable-timed and stress-timed languages. X completed a task responding to eight questions about travel, choosing different words to stress. X did very well. I will send X a PowerPoint covering word and sentence stress in more detail.
Today's Primary class focused on improving F's conversation skills. We talked about topics F enjoys — video games, sports, and summer holidays. F was relaxed and confident throughout, which made for a very pleasant and productive session.
F chose to read an article called "Why People Watch Others Play Video Games." F was very interested in it and related the content to F's own experiences, discussing the article and answering questions about it with ease.
To keep improving, F should practise talking about a wider range of topics to build confidence and fluency. Some grammar exercises focusing on tenses and sentence structures would also be beneficial.
F did a great job today. F's relaxed attitude and clear speech are impressive. By focusing a little more on grammar and active listening, F can reach an even higher level. Keep up the excellent work, F!
In today's High School Chemistry lesson we covered topics related to heat energy and calorimetry, aiming to deepen understanding of key concepts.
Lesson Objectives & Outcomes:
L was well prepared, arriving with the relevant school document and a list of questions prepared in advance. L is honest and direct about what L doesn't know and engages actively — a very commendable approach to learning.
We began today's OET lesson with congratulations on Y's excellent result in the OET Reading exam — a well-deserved outcome. We discussed how this increased reading competence will positively impact overall performance going forward.
We explored what Y will need for the Writing exam and identified that the specialist lexis around physiotherapists, dietitians, and social workers is an area to develop further.
Y identified the organisational aspect of writing as the greatest current challenge. Improving awareness of the assessment criteria is also a priority; I will send Y the criteria for memorisation and review in the next lesson.
The writing improvement process: choose a sample question → review the criteria → write an answer → input into an AI system for a rewrite → send both versions to me for comparison. Y will then note the differences between the original and the improved version.
Homework: memorise OET writing criteria; practise right-handed writing with eyes closed (15 minutes total); complete AI writing comparison exercise as above.
We started today's Primary class by catching up on what Q has been doing over the past month. It was wonderful to see Q in characteristically confident and expressive form, sharing details about various activities — which naturally led into broader speaking practice.
Q then read the article and answered all of the post-reading comprehension questions correctly. The key reading skill for today was inference — Q handled this impressively, using information within the article to draw conclusions that went beyond what was explicitly stated. An excellent performance overall.
In today's IELTS lesson we had two areas of focus. The first was addressing how X might reframe nervousness in a speaking interaction — turning it into the drive to speak confidently and hold the dynamic of the conversation.
At the start of the task X reported feeling nervous, but after establishing our shared exercise — X maintaining confidence while I created pressure — X began to shift their mindset effectively.
X reported doing a good amount of listening practice to extend topic and lexical awareness for subjects likely to arise in speaking or writing. Opportunities for a part-time role with high-frequency English interaction would greatly support fluency development.
Pronunciation areas of focus included: purpose (stressed syllable awareness — the second syllable must be significantly reduced); regular vs regularly; and a number of others noted in X's correction list.
Homework: continue listening to accessible English radio, reading accessible English newspapers, and seeking language exposure through a part-time role if possible.
In today's Primary class we focused on several areas: proofreading, a grammar quiz, interviews, and Mystery Hotel.
We began by going over P's homework, which continues to be written to a very high standard. P's written work demonstrates a strong command of structure and vocabulary for this level, with only minor points to address at the proofreading stage.
The grammar quiz and interview activity allowed P to consolidate knowledge in a communicative setting. The Mystery Hotel activity brought an enjoyable creative element that clearly motivated P throughout the session.
In today's Corporate lesson we began with a report on the week, using it to diagnose language errors for B to correct: Europa, competition, and several others noted in B's correction list.
We then discussed B's comparison of Google Translate and GPT for a piece of writing B had produced. B concluded that GPT generated more authentic and natural translations — an interesting and practically relevant finding.
We reviewed the extended reading B had done from Perform Under Pressure, particularly the concept of "Creating the Gap." This was very useful and directly applicable to B's professional context.
We also did accent reading practice — generally very good, with a noted tendency to drop the 'h' in "Hebrew" and "Horizon," and one further pronunciation point to address.
Homework: diary work and comparative translations; reading and recording accent samples; open-ended question work for the office; further reading on Perform Under Pressure; CAE Grammar practice; motivation and leadership materials.
First Primary lesson back after a 4-week break. G had a lot to share, so we focused on speaking skills, which continue to be of a high standard — strong use of correct grammar, descriptive language, and expressive communication.
Overall I am very satisfied with where G is in English speaking. Compared with other Year 6 students I have taught, G has a notably greater enthusiasm to speak in English, which makes a real difference to the pace and quality of progress. G continues to set a strong example in terms of engagement and willingness to communicate.
We began by establishing which topics were causing difficulty in H's AP Calculus AB course. The first area of concern was linearisation — I recognised this as the Newton linearisation method and shared relevant context from my own teaching experience.
We worked through a diagram showing the relationship between a curve and a tangent line at a particular point, establishing that as Δx approaches zero, the tangent approximates the curve. We used a cubic function as our example. After five iterations, the method produced the same answer to 10 decimal places — a powerful demonstration of its precision.
We also set up an Excel spreadsheet with formulae to model the iterations step by step, which was a useful practical skill alongside the mathematical understanding.
The second topic was related rates — specifically the inflation of a spherical balloon. H determined the first derivative using the chain rule; the rest follows from algebra. For related rates problems, the key challenge is identifying variables, assigning symbols, and connecting them with a formula before differentiating. We worked backwards from the example to establish a clear five-step strategy.
H was given optional homework — a single problem from the textbook — to attempt independently. The optional approach encourages intrinsic motivation rather than compliance-based study.
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