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. After my training, I starting tutoring both primary and secondary students in the English, French and German school systems in London.

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 stimulating, 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 carefully written so that they 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 while having fun.

Understanding maths is not only enjoyable, it also helps students succeed as rules and solving methods then make sense and are then much easier to remember. When my students start making sense of maths, I can see from their body language that they feel again in control over their learning and are developing self-confidence. This is then a virtuous circle as self-confidence helps learn better!