Iante

I was born in Italy to an Italian mum and Australian dad, and am thus bilingual. I spent most of my childhood in Tuscany and took the Italian equivalent of A-Levels at the prestigious Liceo Classico Piccolomini in Siena (Latin, Ancient Greek, Italian Literature, English Literature, History, History of Art, Philosophy; final score of 94/100), acting as my school’s student representative at the only officially recognised student association in Italy. I took a gap year to perfect my French, working as an au pair girl for the young daughter a journalist and of an orchestra conductor in Strasbourg. I then went on to read Persian and Arabic at Oxford University where I gained a first class degree with distinction in spoken Persian. As part of my degree, I spent one year in Iran, teaching English to Afghan refugee girls. Whilst at Oxford, I won a number of academic prizes, published some of my research work upon my tutors' request and got also deeply involved in the student theatre scene. After graduating I moved to Beirut for two years to perfect my Arabic, working as a classroom teacher and as an arts journalist, before returning to London in 2014. I have since dedicated myself fully to stage acting and to producing TV documentaries about arts and culture for BBC World and other channels. I am currently in rehearsals for a play about Frida Kahlo’s life and have recently finished a documentary about five Afghan women filmmakers. I have been tutoring students since 2009.

Having tutored a great number of students over the years I find I achieve the best results by being extremely attentive to their interests, aims, and unique way of learning so as to quickly adapt my teaching style to their specific needs. I believe students learn the most when they are genuinely interested in the subject matter, feel confident and find a personal connection to it, so I always try to create an immediate and empathetic tutor-student rapport, sparking students’ passion for the subject and emphasising fun and inspirational elements whilst maintaining clear boundaries that allow me to remain rigorous. I am organised and extremely patient. I ensure that students take tidy notes during our sessions, alongside taking my own personal notes after every lesson to keep track of student progress and of the most effective ways of working with each one of them.

Having been educated in the excellent Italian school system before doing my BA at Oxford, I believe I have gained a great deal from experiencing different pedagogical approaches: a Renaissance-infused holistic way of studying the entire spectrum of humanities, languages and sciences on the one hand, and diving down into a very specific syllabus in much greater detail whilst doing fieldwork on the ground on the other. I have made a point of studying the UK education system in detail, assembling materials and familiarising myself with syllabi, exam specifications and past papers and keeping up-to-date with their developments on a yearly basis. This breadth of experience also allows me to relate on many different levels to the numerous students of all ages who have recently moved to the UK, to those who are changing schools, and to those who need to catch up quickly with new and unexpected subjects.

I have helped many students achieve excellent results, often higher than those they were initially aiming for or believed themselves capable of.

I am currently developing a solo show and rehearsing for a play that goes up in Notting Hill at the end of September.

When I am not learning lines, pitching documentary films or tutoring I enjoy swimming, doing yoga, reading, walking, going to the theatre and watching old films.