Today, I had the chance to observe Hugo and one of his Y12 English students.

I can remember back to when I was studying HSC English in my final year. As someone that is very much a left-brained mathematical thinker, English to me was a very daunting trial – even if it’s the one subject that every school in the state makes you complete in their final year. For me, senior English was a mundane, yet tangled mess that made no sense and wasn’t nearly as pristine and polished and streamlined it felt for me to study mathematics. It was scary, even.

Hugo was very casual and conversational with his student, demonstrating a strong rapport and generally making sure his student was engaged, whilst ensuring he was still delving into effective study strategies with his student and discussing theory relevant to the English course. This is a reminder of a huge reason as for why tutoring can be so effective – it makes things fun! For someone being tutored, they could very well be facing the same feelings and struggles that I had in senior English – the chaotic tangled mess of a subject that made zero sense. Though, having someone there with you that can not only hold your hand, guiding you through the tangled mess and teaching you to do it on your own, but to make it a fun and memorable and comfortable experience, really makes things so much more productive and helpful for the student. This really takes the unnecessary pressures off of learning something like HSC English.

Furthermore, it was very easy to tell that Hugo was an expert on the matter; the constructive feedback to his student was very well-communicated. It’s fascinating to see this process even in my own students, with a discussion allowing a stable path through the tangled mess to form in the student’s mind. In terms of the student’s growth, it really shows that anything can be possible with tutoring.

Cheers for letting me watch Hugo!!

Zac Markovina