For anyone who has checked in to this site over the last couple of years I apologise for neglecting it! Seeing the last blog post about dice games reminds me of the time I worked on that resource when I was caring for my mother in her last days. More recently I have been spending lots of time supporting my father. Moving home was a long drawn out process that meant I was unable to commit to long term work so it has been hard to focus. I say this not for sympathy or an excuse, but in recognition that we all have so much going on in our lives. This is why with Teachers Telling Tales I aspire to provide quality resources that are free or affordable; to ease the workload of educators, who have so many other demands on their time and energy.
It has been so rewarding to see that it has been self sustaining. The amount of downloads from tes.com has now surpassed 10,000, and although I don’t know the exact figure for Teachers pay Teachers, it will be much higher than tes; this makes me feel so proud.
Although tes is mainly used by educators in the UK, it’s also interesting to see from the map that there are fans around the world.
Since starting Teachers Telling Tales in mid 2019 there have been so many changes globally and in my little world; when the pandemic struck I left my nomadic lifestyle in Asia to settle back in the UK and be close to family. After a series of temporary accommodation I rented a flat overlooking the most congested (and surely one of the most chaotic) streets in Bristol, then in July I moved to new home in Cardiff. My unsettled life meant a series of temporary work roles including support roles in schools, nurseries and a pupil referral unit. I worked as a tutor in schools, online and in an adult education centre with learners that were mostly refugees or asylum seekers.
Throughout all that time it has been reassuring to see the steady flow of visitors to this site and the Teachers Telling Tales social media and stores despite my lack of input recently. Thank you! I do hope to write blogs more often and add more resources. It takes time to polish them to a high standard for sharing, but now that I’m finally settling hopefully that will happen!
So what’s new?
I am launching my own tutoring service. I love the creative challenge of curating lessons to meet the needs of students, whether it’s to understand a maths topic, build confidence in exam technique or develop a love of creative writing. The satisfaction of hearing that a child you tutored had the pick of both schools they applied to after eleven plus tutoring or the student with ADHD doing a happy dance after the session because they didn’t think they would manage 30 minutes but completed an hour. I love how it’s possible to build the learning around their favourite subject, whether it’s axolotls, Disney princesses or constellations. It has been great to draw on some Teachers Telling Tales resources for my sessions and I’m looking forward to the tutoring sessions inspiring more resources to share.
The Teachers Telling Tales ‘If Fairy Tales Had Phones’ resource in action during online tuition to develop dialogue and convert speech bubbles to direct speech.
If you are looking for a tutor for child, or know someone who is, please take a look at my website http://fiona.tutorbird.com and get in touch.
