Online Writing Tuition for Kids
All my creative writing tuition is currently online - at the moment I teach children in the US, Trinidad and Nigeria as well as in the UK. I use both Zoom and Google Docs, which works really well: the Google doc is the equivalent of the child’s notebook that they’d bring every week if we were having lessons in person. I can see what my pupil is writing as they type on the screen, and they can see my corrections and examples. Ideally your child should be able to type (even if not very fast). Whether you live in the UK, US, or elsewhere, if you’d like some online creative writing sessions for your child, or if you think there might be another way I can help, do get in touch.
Creative Writing Tuition
Creative writing is a surprisingly big part of school syllabuses nowadays. I’m a creative writing tutor, both to children who are having difficulties with writing, and those who absolutely love writing and are looking for more stimulation and encouragement than they get at school.
My Approach
Some children are very enthusiastic about writing but write stories that don’t make sense; others write stories that are just a series of events with no description or emotion; others have trouble getting any words on the page at all. Everyone’s different, but I can usually see very quickly what stumbling blocks are getting in the way.
I have a host of exercises and techniques I draw on to help children, depending on what aspects of writing they’re having trouble with. Many of the techniques and approaches I teach are ones I use every day myself as a writer: making lists, ‘rough’ first drafts, free associating from a word, experimenting with similes, using animals and objects to create characters, rewriting stories I already know, asking ‘What do I already have?’… and a lot, lot more. Other techniques are more about writing specifically in a school and exam context.
For many children writing has become a chore or even something to avoid at all costs, so for them the first priority is to make it fun again, and then we can move on from there. I correct spelling, grammar and punctuation, but will sometimes leave something uncorrected if I feel the child is becoming discouraged - because if they dislike writing, it’s much harder for them to improve.
As part of tuition I also recommend books that I think your child might enjoy and that will be the right level for them. The more widely they read, the better their writing will become.
How to Book A Lesson
All lessons are currently online, using Zoom and Google Docs.
During school holidays I teach during the whole week, while in term time I teach on Saturday and Sunday mornings. For children in the US their lessons are in the afternoon UK-time, morning in the US.
Weekly or fortnightly sessions are good, but I can also teach one-off lessons.
If you have more than one child or have a friend who would be interested in joint lessons, I can also run 2-hour writing workshops for them on a range of fun topics.