Tutoring English to students aged 8-12? Our top tips!

If you’re an English tutor accustomed to helping older students prepare for their exams, the prospect of tutoring primary-aged students can feel a little daunting! 

Most tutors are aware that KS2 English is a little different to its later-years counterpart, and lesson planning for younger students might seem like a whole new skill to learn. But it’s likely your experience is much more transferable than you think.

Teaching English to ages 8-12 is a varied and really rewarding experience. If you’ve been thinking about expanding your teaching age range, here are some of our top tips for you!

1. Focus on skills, not knowledge

If you’ve taught for GCSE or A-level, you’ll be used to working closely with your students’ set texts in preparation for their exams.

Primary aged English tutoring is much less rigid: while students will often be reading a specific book in class, their ‘knowledge’ of that book won’t be tested (if at all) beyond their current school term. Far more important than their knowledge, then, is the skillset they’re developing: how to evaluate themes and ideas, how to analyse language, and how to effectively structure their answers.

In practice, this means that if they’re feeling uninspired by the text they’re studying in class, you can feel absolutely free to ditch it and bring in your own! Extracts from books aimed specifically at the ‘middle grade’ age range are a particularly good way to get students engaged and enjoying literature: try the ‘Rick Riordan Presents’ imprint, which publishes a diverse list of authors exploring mythologies and cultures from around the world.

2. Don’t forget creative writing!

Another key difference between KS3/4 and primary aged English is the focus on creative writing. While narrative and descriptive writing only forms a small part of the English Language GCSE, it is a key component of KS2 English.

Encourage your students to have fun with their writing, and to be creative! It’s always a good idea to focus on the basics: setting, atmosphere, character, plot, metaphor, imagery. When students practise identifying how these work in other books, they also acquire a useful toolkit for their own writing.

Help them build the confidence to expand their functional vocabulary, and encourage them to use structurally varied, interesting sentences. By working on their writing skills, you’ll set students up for future success in their essay-based subjects, as well as hopefully unlocking their imaginations!

BBC Bitesize has some great creative writing guides here.

3. Use learning games to keep things fun

With no scary exams on the horizon, KS2 teaching offers an opportunity to really make English fun. Make sure you’re using activities and learning games to keep your students engaged: an hour is a long time for younger students to sit in front of a computer for a one-to-one lesson, so you’ll need to break up the more serious tasks with some fun ones.

Browse English learning games here, or make up your own to suit the topic you’re teaching.

Dice-rolling games like this work particularly well for writing exercises!

For many students that go on to study English or humanities-based subjects, their love of reading and writing began in their primary years. It’s incredibly rewarding to be a part of that: to nurture creativity and build students’ confidence in their spoken and written language. So if you’ve been on the fence about giving primary-age English teaching a go - now is the time!

If you’d like to volunteer with the Tutorfair Foundation, we’d love to hear from you! Please do get in touch or sign up below.