English Tutoring Archives

How to Write an Essay – and Why it Matters!

Essay writing skills are a key component of our English Tutoring program at Centauri Arts. Here are some of the ‘tips and tricks’ we offer our English tutoring students, to help them improve their writing skills: Planning before you begin to write is key to essay writing success Planning an essay carefully helps you organize your thoughts.. It also ensures you spot gaps in your research, and weaknesses in your argument, before you begin to write. Learn how to write a successful thesis statement For students in high school and beyond, a well crafted thesis statement is essential to success. Your thesis statement should be sufficiently ‘weighty’ to enable you to develop arguments sufficiently complex to ensure a good mark! Learn to craft successful topic [...]

August 10th, 2022|Academy, English Tutoring, Writing Classes for Teens|

Top 10 Challenges Students Face in Their Reading and Writing

Our virtual English Tutoring Programs and English Tutoring Programs in Bloor West Village are available to students in Grades 4-university, but whatever the grade, there are reading and writing skills – from essay writing to paragraphing and reading between the lines - that most students struggle with these days. 1. Essay writing Research, planning, first drafts, editing… middle and high school students all struggle with this, regardless of ability. When I ask what they know about writing essays, the response is usually: “Oh, I know that! We learned how to do it in school!” But there is a difference between learning how to do it, and knowing how to do it. There simply isn’t enough time allotted to essay writing in schools – so students [...]

January 20th, 2022|English Tutoring|

10 Reasons to Join Centauri Arts English Tutoring Program

Our English program is unique. All four of our instructors are published authors with MFAs in Creative Writing and years of teaching experience. We use our love of words and literature to inspire our students to reach new heights. We focus exclusively on Reading and Writing skills – spending extensive time on both. Language Arts and English curricula include not only Writing and Reading, but also Oral Communication and Media Studies. This means that in some schools, only half the assigned English time is spent on Reading and Writing – and even this portion of the course may explore everything from websites and graphic novels to advertising campaigns. While these are all important, their inclusion has diluted the time some students spend on extended writing [...]

December 27th, 2021|Academy, English Tutoring|

12 Best Novels ALL High School Students Should Read

With so much content clamouring for attention, novels often get less class time than they deserve. When students read widely, they think more deeply, and their writing naturally improves. Here’s a list of twelve novels all high school students should read – either because they are enduring classics which have impacted our world, or because they speak to issues vital to our contemporary world. All these novels offer a gripping read, and themes of relevance to teenagers. 1) Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury First published in 1953, Bradbury’s classic maintains its relevance in our social media age. There’s so much for readers to discuss in this novel, and as an added advantage it’s action-packed. 2) 1984, by George Orwell Orwell’s vision of an alternative future [...]

September 7th, 2021|Academy, English Tutoring|

English Enrichment at the Centauri Arts Academy, Toronto.

Why English Matters When we began our small-group English tutoring program in September 2020, we were surprised at the needs of the students who joined us. Some were struggling in school and hoped to improve their grades – that we had expected. But many students joined for other reasons. Some loved language, and felt their English class in school did not adequately meet their needs. Others wanted the opportunity to explore more literature, or to develop their essay writing skills. Many of the students who joined us loved creative writing, and wanted to learn to read and write more deeply and creatively. One parent told us her daughter was creative by nature and excelled in English class, but had not yet developed a genuine passion [...]

August 23rd, 2021|Academy, English Tutoring|

Our English Tutoring Program: The First Year

As we approach the end of the academic year, I’m reflecting on the many wonderful students we’ve worked with since last September, and the astonishing number of literary projects we’ve completed together. Creative writing has been a huge part of all our English tutoring programs. Students begin most sessions with a 15-minute free-write, and we teach a wealth of skills through creative writing: short story structure, character development, grammar, language conventions, editing skills and more. This year, all our students have explored grade-appropriate skills related to expository writing. We used a veggie burger to teach the ‘Hamburger Method’ of essay construction (!!), and we’ve walked students slowly through the process of writing well-structured paragraphs and essays. Which is better: city life, or life in the [...]

May 30th, 2021|Academy, English Tutoring|

Which to Choose: Creative Writing Classes, or English Tutoring?

If you are looking to enhance your child’s writing skills, or if your child/teen loves writing and wants to learn more, you will likely be interested in our Creative Writing Classes and English Tutoring Program: but how do you know which option is the best choice? Here are some points to consider, when choosing between Creative Writing and English Tutoring: The Creative Writing Courses at Centauri Arts are for young people who love creative writing, or want to try it. We don’t check grammar, or annotate student work. We don’t even insist that they share their work with us, if they choose not to. Our Creative Writing Classes are for personal interest… though we certainly teach writing techniques that will help them become better writers. [...]

May 25th, 2021|Academy, English Tutoring|

Our English Tutoring programs: Writing an Essay

Most high school students can tell you how an essay should be written. Ask them, and their responses will include phrases such as ‘the hamburger method’, ‘the thesis statement’, ‘Point-Evidence-Explanation’ and ‘cite your sources’. But there is a world of difference between knowing how something should be done and having the skills to do it. Why Do Essay Writing Skills Matter? Learning to structure and write a top notch essay is one of the most important skills a high school student will ever develop. Students who understand how to structure an argument using formal and precise language do better in all subjects at school and beyond. Furthermore, it’s an essential life skill. When we can argue a point well, we are in a better position [...]

January 5th, 2021|Academy, English Tutoring|

Questions we are often asked about our English Tutoring Program

Here are some of the questions we are often asked about our English Tutoring Program. If your question is not answered here, please call us at 416 766 7124. My child is not struggling in school. She loves English – and I’m concerned she needs more than she’s getting in school, especially now schools are quad-mestered. Can you help? This is the number one reason families are choosing our English tutoring program! Often, a student is not struggling at all – the parents are concerned their needs are not being full met in school. Sometimes, a student loves to read, is passionate about creative writing, enjoys literature, has ideas they want to express… our program is designed to meet whatever needs are identified by the [...]

November 18th, 2020|Academy, English Tutoring|

Centauri English Tutoring: The First Month!

Since we launched our small-group English tutoring programs 5 weeks ago, we’ve been busy here at Centauri Arts. We have students every evening of the week and on Saturdays, with the youngest student being 10 years old, and the oldest 18. Here is a look at two of the small-group tutoring sessions now underway… English Tutoring with our Grade 5-6 students We began by exploring Roald Dahl’s autobiography, Boy. We wrote scenes from our own childhoods, and looked at how Dahl develops character. From there, we moved to nature poetry, enhancing our appreciation of language as we enjoyed William Blake’s The Tyger, Snake by D H Lawrence and Tennyson’s The Eagle. While on the subject of nature, we looked at an excerpt from Last Chance [...]

October 27th, 2020|Academy, English Tutoring|