Mentor: Dr Jenny Wells
Role at Talent 100: Head of English, teaches Year 12 English Adv Online and authors Talent 100’s resources and exercises.
Tell us a bit about yourself:
I hold a Ph.D at the University of Sydney in English Literature, as well as Bachelor of Arts (Hons).
Professionally, I was the former Head of English at Ascham and PLC Croydon and have taught English to thousands of students over a 30+ year teaching career. I teach at Talent 100 overseeing the English programs, and teach 2 Year 12 English Adv classes online.
I am an avid traveller and love Flamenco and tango dancing.
What is your number 1 tip for students?
Engage with your texts, and then practise, practise, practise writing close analyses, paragraphs and essays. Commit to memorising key quotations and examples and plan your responses before putting them on paper.
How would you describe your experience of teaching at Talent?
I have been involved with Talent 100 since 2018 and have greatly enjoyed the experience. The new syllabus introduced in 2019 forced us to revamp the teaching program for all years 7-12 and the popularity of our programs vindicates the effort.
Teaching online requires significant planning, teamwork and communication and the Talent team is always there to support any requirements I have.
What advice would you give to parents thinking of sending their kids to tutoring?
In my experience, English is the subject with which most students commonly struggle. Our English courses have been designed as a weekly mix of group discussion and personalised writing, which is the key to achieving success in English at school.
In the junior years (7-10) the materials focuses on learning to read, discuss and apply different types of stimuli, whether it be an introduction to poetry, prose, speeches, film or Shakespeare. This builds the foundations for success in high school English.
The senior years break into more text specific and school specific requirements per NESA pedagogy. The challenge of supporting students from many different schools and texts makes our Year 12 program unique, with students separated into their textual small groups, and personalised feedback provided for weekly writing tasks.
In Year 11 and 12, we offer one 1-1 tutorial for students to prepare for writing assessments and exams. This personalised help on writing assessments, coupled with the weekly feedback provided by mentors on writing tasks is an ideal way to prepare to senior school assessments.
How would you describe your Talent experience in a few words?
Supportive and Caring.
Sign up for a Obligation free trial lesson here
Watch Jenny’s recent seminar titled ‘Breaking down the Year 12 HSC English syllabus’ with great tips about how to approach Year 12 English at school:
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