Krav Maga

Recently I opted to take a little private tuition myself. I chose Krav Maga as it seemed a good form of self-defence that gets straight to the point and came highly recommended by a friend.

There was myself and two French brothers taking the class. The warm up was six minutes long but felt like 30 minutes of intense exercise with a few moves in there that reminded me how much I lack co-ordination. It is probably a well known fact that when a self-defence instructor asks for a volunteer that one should keep quiet but after a long day at work I wasn’t quite that sharp and put myself forward. From strangling the man to being on the floor in pain took less than a second. This was definitely something that I wanted to learn; to have the power to have someone on the floor in seconds would be a considerable advantage on the streets of London. We went through a number of techniques including disarming someone with a knife and finished with a ‘stress test’. We were instructed to box against pads for a couple of minutes whilst another person pushed you about and threw insults. Once the exhausting two minutes were over we span in a circle to make us dizzy as though inebriated and then were attacked by two people for several minutes.

On completion I shook hands with the French as a form of truce for any over-enthusiastic punches that were thrown and left feeling invincible. I cannot advocate enough the benefits of tuition, from that which I give to that which I receive it always gives a feeling of accomplishment and value. You can choose anything in the world and start learning from masters and enthusiasts.

On a business front things are looking up, google is beginning to recognize us and promote us up their ranks, our pages are receiving thousands more visits than ever before and we are looking strong for the ramp up to September.

We do however still have a few subjects without tutors in certain areas and will be advertising these on our facebook and twitter sites in order to fill those gaps.

Best wishes,

Ed

Director Tutorlink.org.uk Ltd

The final push to exams

April is here, the days are longer and optimism is in the air. However, if you are preparing for summer exams, this can come as more of a hindrance or distraction rather than anything remotely positive. This is the final challenge of will power, you have worked through the cold dark winter nights and whilst everyone is starting to enjoy the outdoors you have a metaphorical chain tying you to your desk.

This is the point where an organised routine can really help, if you have set out to do 8 hours of work in a day and a timetable is rigorously followed the last few hours of the day can be enjoyed with some exercise outdoors or even just a quiet dinner in the fading sun. Another option is to get outside bright and early and enjoy what many call the best part of the day. A stroll through a park or the open countryside can really get you in a positive mood to start the day’s work.

It was about this time, a few years ago now admittedly, that I had my first session of private tuition. Sat in the garden of the V&A with pot of tea following pot of tea, I had an eight-hour day of tuition in the sunshine. Whilst this was a rather idyllic setting, the benefits of private tuition became very clear and I wished I had had more. That eight-hour period was far more productive than a whole week’s work in gaining a deep understanding of the material.

So other than wishing those revising all the best for the tough couple of months ahead, the only other thing to do is to urge as many people as possible to sign up as a tutor. This is the time that the students really need your help and we still have a few subjects without any tutors.

10 ways to Grade As

As exams draw nearer it is time to start tuning your body and your lifestyle to succeed. Here are our top ten tips:


1. Sleep at least 8 hours each night.
2. Eat well, at least three times per day, preferably four and healthy food.
3. Exercise, at least two 30 minute sessions a week of sport that makes you out of breath.
4. Limit social networking sites to 30 minutes a day.
5. Put your phone on silent and out of sight when working.
6. Work in slots of no more than 40 minutes except when practicing papers.
7. Drink water, at least two litres per day.
8. Plan breaks to avoid feeling guilty when not working.
9. Work both with others and on your own; to discuss ideas and train the brain to recall the information by itself.
10. Get a personal tutor to help you with the tough bits www.tutorlink.org.uk we are here to help as always.


Good luck with any impending exams.
Best wishes,
tutorlink

Introductory video

We have put together a brief video for students who want to know how to search for and contact a tutor. We hope that you like it:

UK Universities photographic competition

Congratulations to all the entrants

Results:

1st Place: Molly Carter

2nd Place: Tom Price

3rd Place: Scott Martin Hutcheson

Business update - Photos, food and running.

January is drawing to a close and finally, although still cold, we begin to see the days lengthen as we head towards spring. This is an exciting time for Tutorlink as we take several gambles at once.

We have launched the UK universities photographic competition, hosted on our facebook page www.facebook.com/tutorlink to enter just post your photo on our wall. The theme is ‘reach your potential’ and entry is completely free. Anyone can then vote simply by, “liking” the photo. The top prize is £100 and last time I looked we only had 3 entrants, so get posting now.

Secondly we have secured advertising in Waitrose Food Illustrated throughout March so look out for us there.

And finally we have recently shaken on a deal with Imperial College London to take on the sponsorship of the cross-country and athletics teams and the newly named “Tutorlink Hyde Park Relays”. We are very proud to be sponsoring the largest student relay race in Europe promoting a healthy body and a healthy mind.

All in all, not bad for a month where badgers are still hibernating.

Best wishes,

Ed

Director

www.tutorlink.org.uk

Why become a teacher?

Why become a teacher? - from Mr. Chips our undercover teacher.

Sorry for the long gap between blogs, it has been a hectic few months. Rather than comment on the massive number of topical debates surrounding teaching at the moment, I thought I’d make an appeal on behalf of the profession.

Teaching is one of the few professions where you really can shape the lives of people. If most university students were to take an honest look at their educational path, many would find inspiration for their specialism from one particular teacher. This of course can work both ways, with some disliked subjects caused by a poor teacher.

For many people teaching is a profession for those who have failed in some other walk of life, or who cannot get a job elsewhere. I could not disagree more strongly with this silly argument. Neither (or so it seems) do any of the major political parties think that teachers are simply failures in their specialism. Large training bursaries are still available for teachers, especially in those areas where specialists are rare (Maths, ICT, Science and Music). There are also plans afoot to cancel student debts for those who choose the teaching profession. When one considers the current financial climate, this is a clear indication that all political parties believe in the importance of attracting the brightest and most talented graduates into teaching. If this were not the case then surely any government would just let the riff raff float into the profession. The education which you received is something which is being improved constantly, despite the doomsayers who write in newspapers. Ofsted have changed their criteria now such that schools previously rated as outstanding are now considered good. In order to succeed in providing the best possible education for the nation’s children, the best teachers need to be attracted. This is far more than mere degree classification or the university that you have studied that, indeed most university students would probably attest to their lecturers being quite poor teachers despite their formidable intelligence.

If you are thinking of becoming a teacher, let’s talk about the realities of the job. Firstly the holidays – 13 weeks of them every year, is what most people think of as the main perk of teaching, although I will warn you that you do deserve these holidays! There is also the joy of teaching. This is quite a vague concept, but you as tutors gain more than a bit of spare cash and a nice entry for your CV. There are times when teaching can be incredibly frustrating, but that is a common denominator in most jobs, whereas teaching has the selling point that most days you’ll have an interaction with a student that leaves you feeling on top of the world which no other job can offer. It’s also a job where there are vacancies all around the country, so you are not tied down to a particular area or region. Most importantly every day is completely different, and I find this leaves you feeling tired, but with a buzzing energy which I have never experienced before in a job, and from this perspective teaching is without parallel as a profession and I recommend it to you!

If you are thinking of applying to become a teacher, I suggest you try to find a bit of work experience in a school over the summer, a week is often a good tester to see how you feel about the school environment from a teacher’s perspective. You can then apply to PGCE courses and other routes into teaching through the GTTR (Graduate Teacher Training Registry) which is exactly the same process as UCAS so make sure you have a personal statement ready!

www.tutorlink.org.uk