Priya Raman

Priya teaches English, and much of her week is spent with pupils who have decided somewhere along the way that they are not readers. Her approach starts with removing the sense that a book is a test. She will read alongside a pupil, stop where interest drops, and talk about a character as though the character were a real person with poor judgement. Comprehension improves quickly once the pupil has an opinion to defend.

On the writing side she works with pupils who freeze at a blank page. Lessons break essays down into a handful of moves: what is the argument, which quotation proves it, what does the wording actually suggest. She teaches subject terminology in context rather than as a list to be recited. A pupil who can spot a shift in tone and explain why it matters will do better than one who names a technique and stops there.

She also prepares pupils for 11+ comprehension and creative writing, where timing and clarity matter as much as ideas. Her teaching philosophy is that a decent essay usually starts as a spoken thought. Talking first, writing second, editing third.