Oxford educated English specialist and published novelist offering English Language and Literature, 11+ to ELAT. Excellent results; twelve years' experience including Head of Department in leading Lo

Find out more about Melissa

• When did you develop an interest in your chosen field and in private tutoring?

  I think it started when I taught my sister TS Eliot for her A Level exam when I was at Oxford. I think I've always loved being able to explain and share what I understand about English. A voracious reader and a writer from an early age, the world of books is utterly real to me and because I was lucky enough to be educated at Westminster School I learned to hone my analysis of the text to the highest standard.
  
  I worked in film and TV before becoming a writer, and working with script writers on their ideas was a form of teaching. We had a script writing workshop at the Brighton Festival which I very much enjoyed.
  
  But it wasn't until my son was about twelve and I explained Paradise Lost to him that I thought of becoming a tutor. He suggested it. I taught privately for a little while before joining Collingham, where I became Head of English - so it was organic in many ways.

• Tell us more about the subject you teach, the topics you like to discuss with students, (and possibly those you like a little less).

  English is the most wonderful subject because every poem, play, speech or novel is like a photograph of the way the writer sees the world. So much can be found about the human condition, and how to express it with accuracy and beauty, that it's utterly absorbing. I also love that when my students learn to write about it clearly and with authority they feel an immense sense of confidence, pride and clarity.
  
  I am happy to discuss absolutely everything with students: English gives students and teacher the chance to communicate, to discuss ideas openly, to interrogate prejudice, to examine ideas, and to look at a historical period as if it were happening right now.

• Do you have any role models; a teacher that inspired you?

  At Westminster I was taught by six different English teachers over the A level two years and into the Oxbridge term. I think they all taught me something different. Perhaps I now admire - although I didn't at the time - the one who put red lines through my essays to teach me to write precisely.

• What do you think are the qualities required to be a good tutor?

  To listen well, speak well, and instil the student with the confidence that it can be done. To encourage them to read the text, annotate the text, go back to the text. That's where the work and preparation is. Don't try to skip that bit. And then we write about it. I always laugh with my students. Tutoring doesn't have to be an ordeal.

• Provide a valuable anecdote related to your subject or your days at school.

  At Westminster we always used to read the whole play or text (if possible) out loud together. And I still do that with my students. It all comes to life.

• What were the difficulties or challenges you faced or are still facing in your subject?

  Knowing where to start with the ideas. Being anxious about starting an essay. They taught us to do our thinking first. A very short plan. That three sentences is enough for an introduction. Also I struggled with writing clearly and with authority. For that I follow Hemingway: a simple declarative sentence with an active verb.

• Do you have a particular passion? Is it teaching in general or an element of the subject or something completely different:

  English is my passion. I'm a novelist and writer. But I also love History of Art and History as they connect so well. Shakespeare, the nineteenth century novel, Yeats and Eliot, Graham Greene, the Brontes. The list goes on! I have always been inspired by Hector's speech in The History Boys where he talks about the importance of 'pass[ing] it on.' What I know - the humanities - the work of these extraordinary writers, matters now more than ever.

• What makes you a Superprof.

  I care very much how my students do. We get results - and enjoy it along the way.