Literature of the Hart

by Jenny Hartland As EAL tutors, we are often asked to help people to expand their English vocabulary. A strong and wide vocabulary increases both your confidence in the second language, and your ability to communicate more precisely what you want to say. At Hartland Educational Consultancy Services we usually like to start by looking at adjectives. Frequently, learners stick with the common adjectives - such as ‘ nice ’, ‘ good ’ and ‘ great ’ - because they are seen as reliable and safe to use in multiple contexts. But adjectives can be powerful and can totally transform a piece of writing - and the English language contains a wealth of them. So let your EAL tutor take you on a journey of discovery as you explore the huge range of alternatives to those overused words. Find out more about our tuition services here .

by Michael Hartland Our ethos at Hartland Educational Consultancy Services is to inspire and nurture excellence .   One of the ways we do this is to help students access top grades by understanding and writing about an author’s style and language - and for the text Jekyll and Hyde , this means looking at how Stevenson uses animal imagery. As an experienced English tutor and teacher, I know that students quickly understand this aspect once it’s pointed out to them.  For example, reference is made to the “ ape-like fury ” when Hyde commits a murder, and later in the text Dr. Jekyll mentions the "ape-like spite" of Mr. Hyde. Having identified this pattern of language used by Stevenson, we then go on to explore its significance by interpreting and understanding the concepts of the novel. Book a free consultation with us here  if you would like to know more about our tuition services.

By Michael Hartland As an experienced English tutor, I always introduce the the text Jekyll and Hyde by getting students to read an extract from the gothic novel Frankenstein (the extract I use is here ). Students need to understand that what they call “ horror ” has its roots in English literature in the Gothic novel of the late eighteenth century. Being able to write about this enables students to access top grades in English literature . For example, Stevenson uses typical Gothic elements in his settings: impenetrable fog; dark and deserted streets; shocking events that take place in the small hours of the morning. Past exam questions have focused on setting and atmosphere in the novel, so the Gothic background to this text is a really important aspect to grasp. Our  About  page tells you more about our tuition services Book a  FREE introductory session here

by Michael Hartland The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson is one of the most popular GCSE literature texts for pre-twentieth century literature across all the exam boards.  As an English tutor, I am usually helping a number of students who are either reading it early in Year 9, in the middle of studying it in Years 10-11 or revising it in Year 11. Its appeal is obvious: it’s dramatic, intriguing and it’s fairly short, making it accessible for a wide range of abilities. This is what one of my tutees, Aarav, had to say about the book after reading Chapter 1: Today I want to talk about whether The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a good book, based  on the first chapter. Now, I know some people think it’s boring. After all, most first chapters of other books don’t jump straight into action. But I actually think the first chapter is powerful and sets up a lot of interesting ideas and potential plots. First, let’s look at what actually happe...

by Jenny Hartland We find that many of our EAL students at Hartland Educational Consultancy Services have difficulty with pairs of English words like these. It’s a good example of the kind of detail we can focus on in our one-to-one EAL lessons. It is very important to understand the difference. Otherwise it can lead to some embarrassing (not “embarrassed”) situations. You would not want to call yourself “boring” when you are actually bored! Of course, it is sometimes possible to describe yourself using both words in these pairs - we discover that all of our students who are “interested” in EAL lessons are also very “interesting”! You can book a free introductory session to meet us and find out more via this link

Frankie has just joined our team of tutors at Hartland Educational Consultancy Services.  We’ll let her introduce herself in her own words… I am a friendly, positive, and experienced French tutor and German tutor with a passion for modern languages, studying an Integrated Masters in French, German, and Linguistics at the University of Southampton. I offer individualised tutoring in French and German to students from a range of different backgrounds. My specialisms in linguistics ( phonetics, sociolinguistics, and language acquisition ) and my deep understanding of grammar mean that I can offer an in-depth and enriching experience for my tutees. I offer tuition for A Level, GCSE or below, while sharing my enthusiasm for languages.  Having studied languages myself for 15 years, most recently gaining academic awards at university,  I am very familiar with the most effective techniques for making quick progress in the target languages. As a tutor, I am known for being bo...

by Michael Hartland A GROUP of children find themselves on a desert island with no adults around.  What could be a better start for an adventure story?  Or a disaster story, which is what Lord of the Flies turns out to be… As an English tutor, I love to use classic English literature to extend students’ experience of written English.  Our ethos at Hartland Educational Consultancy Services is to inspire and nurture excellence , and Lord of the Flies certainly challenges students with its concepts of the fragility of civilisation and “the beast”. Some schools choose Lord of the Flies as their modern text at GCSE, though the majority choose the play An Inspector Calls.    But Lord of the Flies would be an excellent summer read. It’s poetically written, dramatic, thoughtful and definitely a text to expand the mind. Our About page tells you more about our tutors Book a FREE introductory session here

by Michael Hartland AS ENGLISH TUTORS, we are always looking for ways to inspire and nurture excellence - which is at the heart of the ethos of Hartland Educational Consultancy Services . Many students are limited in their writing because they just haven’t encountered the wide range of vocabulary and sentence structures used by classic authors.  Without good models to imitate, it’s hard to write well.   I’ve used The Time Machine by H.G.Wells with both British and international students, and teenagers find it fascinating.  After reading Chapter 1 recently, a tutee immediately started to use some of the new vocabulary like “ incandescent ” and “ introspective ”. Here’s an extract from the novel where the Time Traveller experiences journeying into the future: “I am afraid I cannot convey the peculiar sensations of time travelling. They are excessively unpleasant. There is a feeling exactly like that one has upon a switchback of a helpless headlong motion! I felt the s...

  By Michael Hartland EVERYONE has heard his name, but how many people have actually read the many stories featuring the super-sleuth Sherlock Holmes? I find as an English tutor that the Sherlock Holmes short stories are an excellent way to introduce students to more demanding literature in a “bite-sized chunk”.  Each story can be read in a small number of sessions and students enjoy the many puzzles that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle builds into each short story. The stories are great for expanding vocabulary and learning about narrative writing skills, especially characterisation and dialogue, and at Hartland Educational Consultancy Services they are one of many of the classics that are used in our tuition.  You can read a previous series of posts about how to improve writing using Sherlock Holmes stories here . If you would like to know more about how we use the classics of English literature to stretch students in tuition, click here to book a free introductory session.

by Michael Hartland THE EXTRAORDINARY NOVEL Frankentein , written by an 18 year old young woman, Mary Shelley, explores what happens when a scientist’s experiments get out of hand.  It's a text studied at A Level and GCSE, and I've found that younger students also enjoy reading selected extracts. Here is one of my favourite extracts, as Victor Frankenstein (the scientist, not the monster) at last uses the newly-discovered power of electricity to infuse “a spark of being” into the creature he has made: “It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils. With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet. It was already one in the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it brea...

by Jenny Hartland In our EAL sessions at Hartland Educational Consultancy Services , we love a good ‘what happens next?’ story. Pictures like the cheetah eyeing up the packet of ‘Cheetos’ give us plenty of English language speaking skills practice, as we imagine every possible scenario! And while using a range of English verb tenses, we cover various storywriting skills, such as development of character and plot. Explore our About page to find out more about our tutoring services. What happens next is up to you!

by Michael Hartland As an English tutor, I love using Great Expectations , and not just because it has one of the greatest opening chapters in an English novel.  It’s also a model of how to write narrative effectively.  This is because Dickens knew how to interweave different kinds of writing. Many students just don’t know where to start with creative writing. Dickens shows that characterisation, description and dialogue are essential to engaging our interest as readers.  It’s not just about action, as this extract shows: Ours was the marsh country, down by the river, within, as the river wound, twenty miles of the sea. My first most vivid and broad impression of the identity of things seems to me to have been gained on a memorable raw afternoon towards evening. At such a time I found out for certain that this bleak place overgrown with nettles was the churchyard; and that the dark flat wilderness beyond the churchyard, intersected with dikes and mounds and gates, with sc...

by Michael Hartland Why should we read ‘Jane Eyre’ today? In my previous post on classics of English literature , I celebrated the many reasons why reading classics is so important.  Today’s post focuses on Charlotte Bronte’s classic novel Jane Eyre . Here is a dramatic extract from the novel: ‘I hardly know whether I had slept or not after this musing; at any rate, I started wide awake on hearing a vague murmur, peculiar and lugubrious, which sounded, I thought, just above me. I wished I had kept my candle burning: the night was drearily dark; my spirits were depressed. I rose and sat up in bed, listening. The sound was hushed. I tried again to sleep; but my heart beat anxiously: my inward tranquillity was broken. The clock, far down in the hall, struck two. Just then it seemed my chamber-door was touched; as if fingers had swept the panels in groping a way along the dark gallery outside. I said, “Who is there?” Nothing answered. I was chilled with fear.’ ‘Jane Eyre’ is full of dr...

Lam is currently completing her BA and has just been offered a place on an MA. This is a nother outstanding testimonial to our services. We currently work with children as young as 9, teenagers studying GCSEs and A Levels, and adults who are in higher education or run their own business. Working with Michael was incredibly helpful. He not only supported me with improving grammar and clarity in my writing, but also helped me think more critically about how to present my ideas. His advice was thoughtful and clear, encouraging me to reflect more deeply on my motivations, strengths, and future direction.  This time, the support went beyond language and grammar. He offered insightful feedback on how to communicate ideas clearly to a business-oriented audience and encouraged me to explore more realistic marketing and financial strategies. He also helped me consider different perspectives on consumer behaviour and market positioning.  Michael always took the time to understand the...

by Michael Hartland At Hartland Educational Consultancy Services we aim to inspire and nurture excellence. A lot of our teaching focuses on the classics of English Literature .  They are classics because they are just so well written, offer a real depth of reading experience and, when taught well, are great for inspiring young people . It’s worth remembering what classics offer us in terms of: Vocabulary Sentence structure and punctuation Complexity of plotting Depth of characterisation Ideas about life . You might be interested to read other recent articles on these topics: on vocabulary on our ebooks which teach creative writing as well as sentence structure and punctuation in a fun and engaging way To find out more about our services, visit our About page , and you can book a FREE 30 MINUTE INTRODUCTORY SESSION here .