This evening I had the pleasure of watching Pamela tutor Year 1 phonics – an entertaining session to say the least! Pamela began by making sure Luis was comfortable and ready to learn – the little ones tend to be very restless, but she did a great job of calming Luis down and gently getting him in the zone to work.

As they began moving through different letters, Pamela moved with a wonderful cadence, allowing Luis to enunciate everything for himself with as little intervention as possible. I find it also to be much more rewarding letting our students come to their own answer after a period of silent thought rather than always jumping to their rescue! A great reminder that slight discomfort is usually the precursor to growth, not antagonistic to it.

Luis became increasingly enthused as the session progressed. He began to identify more and more sounds with confidence and was having a ball of a time linking the letters that Pamela was presenting with the starting letters of some of his favourite words – L for Luis, an unforgettably recurring one.

My favourite part of the session was when Pamela put on the alphabet song. It was truly wholesome to watch young Luis sing along (wonderfully in tune, might I add) and correct himself within a split second whenever he realised that he made a mistake.

The energy of the session was phenomenal. Luis clearly feels extremely comfortable in Pamela’s care, and it was very obvious that Pamela knows how to tailor the session not only to her students’ current competencies, but also to their energy and mood.

It was clear around the halfway point that young Luis was beginning to lose some steam. Pamela intuitively took notice and went for a walk with Luis for a cup of water and a bathroom break. When they returned, Luis was just itching to get back into it! Full credit to Pamela – I know from experience how tough little kids can be to keep focused, and she really did an unbelievable job.

Great session 😀

Thomas Koutavas