Mr East English Tuition

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Mr East English Tuition

I am an English teacher turned tutor with 20+ years of experience delivering GCSE English Language and Literature.
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I support students from 14-16 to grow in confidence and be prepared to achieve their potential in examinations and beyond. I am an English teacher with 20 years of experience in the classroom. I have held deputy head of English posts in two different schools and have extensive experience delivering the English curriculum at KS3 (Years 7-9), GCSE (Years 10-11) and A Level (English Literature). I am an experienced examiner, having marked and been a team leader for AQA GCSE English Language and WJEC GCSE English Literature. I have a passion for my subject and this is at the heart of my teaching approach. Students learn best with genuinely enthusiastic teachers. I have experience in delivering English to students across the ability range and a track record of excellent results at both GCSE and A Level. I have a particular interest in drama and run my own theatre reviewing website (www.theatrewhippet.co.uk) in my spare time.

08/10/2026

It’s been a busy and productive week at Mr East English Tuition and I’ve been delighted with the way students have engaged. Many are beginning to hit their stride, showing visible progress in their understanding and becoming much more confident about sharing their ideas and putting them into writing.

In my English Language groups, we’ve focused on Paper 1, Question 4, which asks students to evaluate a statement and explain to what extent they agree. Worth 20 marks, it’s a demanding question that many students find challenging but I’ve been really impressed by their efforts and the promising answers they’ve produced.

It’s also been a particularly good week for our vocabulary challenge. Each week, students in the Language groups bring along a word to submit, and I choose a winner for a small prize. This week’s selection was:

malicious, drivel, metamorphosis, taciturn, quixotic, absquatulate, contemptuously, pernicious, ambivalent, petrichor, arduous, halcyon, eloquent, amble, sagacious and perseverance.

What an interesting collection! Why not ask your teenager which of these words they know, then explore some of the unfamiliar ones together and think about how they could be used? Developing vocabulary is something I’m particularly keen to encourage in my sessions. It's been lovely to see students taking an interest in words.

I rounded off the week with my Literature groups, exploring William Blake’s 'London' and making connections with Shelley’s 'Ozymandias'. We revisited Romanticism and I was impressed by how quickly students grasped the value of contextual links, using their understanding of the movement to develop some thoughtful analysis of the poems.

Next week, students in my Language groups will have a chance to put their hard work into practice by answering questions on a fiction extract they haven’t seen before. This will help me see what they can remember and apply independently and identify where they need further support. Working with an unfamiliar text is exactly what they’ll need to do in the exam so I’m looking forward to seeing how they approach it.

Well done to the students across all of my groups and thank you for the effort, enthusiasm and ideas you’ve brought to this week’s sessions.

I’m currently fully booked for the 2026–27 academic year, but if you’re the parent of a teenager, please follow my page for practical tips and ideas to support English at home.

Thanks for reading.
Phil 👍📚

06/10/2026

Another great week of tuition sessions so far...

I’ve just enjoyed an hour with my year 9 group exploring a very important question: what really annoys you? 😤

We started by thinking about the strength of the language we use to express dislike, moving from dislike through to loathe, detest and abhor. We then read and discussed an opinion article about dogs and their owners, looking at how a writer can take something that irritates them and turn it into an entertaining and engaging piece of writing.

The students then had to choose their own subjects. Among the things apparently causing considerable irritation in my year 9 group are: people who don’t listen, Sellotape, pens and people who can’t sit still! 😂

All four have the potential to become really entertaining pieces of writing.

For me, that’s an important balance when teaching writing: giving students enough support to help them structure and develop their ideas effectively, while still allowing them to have some fun, find their own voice and write about something they genuinely have something to say about.

Next week, they’ll be turning those annoyances into their own ‘Don’t Get Me Started!’ articles. I’m really looking forward to reading them.

Thanks for reading.

Phil 👍📚

04/10/2026

Top Tips for Parents

Over the coming weeks and months, I’m sharing some simple ideas for ways in which you can support your teenager with English at home.

I know that parents are already under a huge amount of pressure and that family life is busy, so these won’t involve complicated activities, expensive resources or lots of extra schoolwork.

Instead, I’ll be sharing manageable suggestions and little nudges in the right direction that can help to encourage reading, develop vocabulary and take an interest in what your teenager is learning at school.

My next tip is simple: turn the subtitles on.

Whether you’re watching something together or your teenager is watching on a phone or tablet, switching on the subtitles is an easy way of getting a little more reading into their day.

I increasingly watch television with subtitles on myself (perhaps that’s an age thing!) and it’s surprising how much extra reading it involves.

It takes seconds, costs nothing and doesn’t feel remotely like schoolwork. Why not give it a try...

Thanks for reading.
Phil 👍📚

I am currently fully booked for the 2026–27 academic year.

If you’re the parent of a teenager, please follow my page. I’ll be sharing more straightforward, practical tips throughout the academic year.

03/10/2026

I like to keep in touch with parents and send feedback each week after my small group sessions. It was lovely to receive these messages last week.

Thanks for reading.

Phil 👍📚

I’m currently fully booked for 2026/27 but if you’re the parent of a teenager, please follow my page. I regularly share simple tips and ideas to help support them with English. 📚

01/10/2026

Two great English Literature sessions this afternoon.

Any English teacher or tutor followers will, I’m sure, recognise which poem from the AQA Power and Conflict anthology we’ve been focusing on!

We had a laugh about the difference between desert and dessert. That one extra s makes all the difference. Over the years, I’ve marked quite a few essays in which students have described a broken statue standing in the middle of the dessert. 😂

It creates a rather different image when you imagine a statue surrounded by trifle rather than endless stretches of sand!

Thanks for reading.
Phil 👍 📚

30/09/2026

Top Tips for Parents of Teenagers...

Over the coming weeks and months, I’m going to be sharing some simple ideas for ways in which you can support your teenager with English at home.

I’m very aware that parents are already under a huge amount of pressure and that family life is busy, so none of these tips will involve complicated activities, expensive resources or hours spent sitting around the kitchen table doing extra schoolwork.

Instead, I’ll be sharing manageable suggestions and little nudges in the right direction: things you might try, conversations you could have and small habits that can help to encourage reading, develop vocabulary and take an interest in what your teenager is learning at school.

So, here’s my first one....

Read together for ten minutes.

Find ten minutes when you can both put your phones and other devices to one side, sit down together and read. You don’t need to be reading the same thing; your teenager can read their book while you read yours.

There doesn’t need to be a conversation or a series of questions afterwards. You don’t need to turn it into a comprehension exercise. The important thing is simply spending ten quiet, uninterrupted minutes reading and, at the same time, showing your teenager that reading isn’t just something they are expected to do for school.

If this sounds like the sort of thing you’d find useful, click subscribe and follow my page. I’ll be sharing more straightforward and manageable ideas for supporting your teenager over the course of the academic year, with the next tip coming soon.

Thanks for reading.
Phil 👍 📚

I’m currently fully booked for the 2026–27 academic year, but if you’re the parent of a teenager, please consider following my page.

28/09/2026

Language or structure?

In this week’s English Language small group sessions, we’re focusing on one of the questions students often find particularly tricky.

On AQA English Language Paper 1, students read and analyse a fiction extract. They must consider how and why the writer has structured the text to achieve particular effects in one of the questions.

Understanding the difference between analysing language and analysing structure is key to recognising what the examiner is looking for here. A secure understanding of both can also help students when they tackle the higher-tariff question 4 later in the paper.

This afternoon’s session kicked off with a card-sort activity. Students had to decide whether a range of techniques belonged under language or structure. It led to an interesting discussion about how the distinction isn’t always quite so straightforward: depending on how we analyse a writer’s choices, some features might reasonably be considered both.

I was really impressed by the students’ contributions. We then moved on to an activity in which they made their own decisions about how to structure a short story, thinking carefully about what to reveal, what to withhold and where to direct the reader’s attention.

A really thoughtful and enjoyable start to the week.

Thanks for reading.
Phil 👍📚

I am currently fully booked for the 2026–27 academic year. Follow my page for English tips, revision advice and ideas for supporting teenagers with their English.

27/09/2026

Thank you so much for this amazing review, Kerry Jones. It was my pleasure to support Frankie.
Phil 🤗

I’m currently fully booked for the 2026–27 academic year but if you’re the parent of a teenager, please consider following my page. I share simple, straightforward tips and ideas for supporting your teenager with English.

26/09/2026

I've always believed that honesty with students is important so I've never made any great secret of the fact that, outside lessons and tutoring sessions, I'm somebody who swears.

I'm perfectly comfortable with swearing.

I'm not constantly 'effing and jeffing', but I probably swear fairly regularly. With friends, with my partner, with family, or occasionally when I'm on my own. Swearing is simply part of the way I use the English language.

Sometimes nothing but a swear word will do.

Students have occasionally asked me whether they're allowed to swear in their writing. Rather than simply saying no, I usually explain why I think it's a bad idea.

If you're writing something in an English exam, you're trying to demonstrate control of language and impress an examiner with the range of vocabulary at your disposal. There are almost always better choices available.

But I also think there's a wider lesson here about language.

Context is everything.

I wouldn't swear when talking to a parent about their child. I wouldn't have sworn in front of a class when I was teaching in school. And I'm certainly not going to start peppering my Facebook business posts with expletives.

That doesn't make swearing inherently wrong or bad. It means I've made a judgement about what's appropriate for a particular audience, purpose and situation. That's something I want students to understand about all language.

The words we choose create an impression of us. Knowing when a particular word is appropriate, and when it isn't, is part of becoming a confident and sophisticated communicator.

Some extremely intelligent and articulate people swear liberally. Stephen Fry springs to mind. Used well, an expletive can be brilliantly timed and very funny. Used constantly, however, swearing can lose its impact and sometimes suggest that we haven't thought of anything more interesting to say.

After more than 20 years working in secondary schools, I've certainly heard pretty much everything!

I know thoughts will differ on this one but I've always felt that teaching young people that adults sometimes use words which aren't necessarily appropriate for them, or appropriate in every situation, is a fairly balanced approach.

So, when it comes to English exams, my advice remains simple: leave the swearing out.

In life more generally? Learn to understand your audience.

I'd be interested to hear other people's thoughts on this one.

Thanks, as ever, for reading.

Phil 👍📚

I’m currently fully booked for the 2026–27 academic year but if you’re the parent of a teenager, please consider following my page. I share simple, straightforward tips and ideas for supporting your teenager with English.

21/09/2026

On Saturday night, I was lucky enough to be in the audience at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield for Ian McDiarmid’s final performance as King Lear.

I only booked tickets a week ago, after reading a five-star review in The Guardian. I’m so pleased that I did.

'King Lear' has a very special place in my heart. It was this play that properly made me fall in love with Shakespeare.

I studied it for A-level English Literature with a wonderful teacher called Mike O’Donnell at Bosworth College in Desford, Leicestershire. Mike had a genuine passion for Shakespeare and, somehow, that enthusiasm was infectious. It was through his teaching of 'King Lear' that I really caught the Shakespeare bug.

All these years later, that interest has never left me. I still find that I can quote surprisingly long sections of 'King Lear' from memory. There’s something wonderful about words learned as a teenager still being there decades later.

There is also something incredibly powerful about experiencing a Shakespearean tragedy live in a theatre. However many times you have read or taught a play, seeing actors bring those words to life reminds you that Shakespeare wrote them to be performed, not simply studied on a page.

Since Saturday night, I’ve found myself thinking about Mike and how fortunate I was to have such an inspirational teacher. His enthusiasm sparked an interest that has brought me enormous pleasure throughout my life, both personally and during my many years of teaching English.

Here’s to many more years of reading, teaching and watching Shakespeare.

Thanks for reading.

Phil 👍📚🎭

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