Anne-Claire Dupuis

I studied physics in France and did a PhD in physics in Germany. Then I worked for 10 years in France in research. Shortly after arriving in London, I decided to go into teaching and did a PGCE training in physics and maths. When I did my teacher training, 10 years ago, I noticed that maths lessons in school often focus merely on methods to solve exam questions. After my training, I starting tutoring both primary and secondary students. I also worked as a maths content writer for an e-learning company, writing questions and lessons. During this time, I was exposed to many textbooks from different countries, which was very stiumulated, and I started developing methods based on visualisation of maths concepts.

I do believe that every student can understand maths and I therefore use my creativity to make it accessible to all my students, whatever their level and ability. So, in my lessons, I first focus on the maths concepts, what they mean, where we might use them, in daily life or in the maths world, etc. This might be done with a relaxed conversation with my student or by having my student answer some questions written in such a way that they will build on previous knowledge and stimulate thinking while bringing up new knowledge. With secondary students, I use lots of visual resources to help them understand the maths concepts, making them in this way less abstract, With younger children, I have them manipulate concrete materials, like dienes and Cuisenaire rods, and we play maths games to get the necessary fluency.