learning to learn, matilda-style

Everyone loves Matilda, right? Whether it’s Quentin Blake’s iconic illustrations and the heart-warming tale of Danny DeVito and Mara Wilson (now a Twitter icon, honestly…)’s unbeatable Hollywood depictions, Roald Dahl’s creation is a timeless classic.

Not to mention we’re always here for a strong female protagonist. With vigilante magic. But we digress.

Two Manchester-based parents are advertising through a freelance tutoring service to find a tutor willing to dress and act the part of the unforgettable Miss Honey, Matilda’s sweet, nurturing schoolteacher to tutor their daughter. 

The “Matilda-obsessed” little girl, aged eight, is ‘extremely timid and struggles with teachers at school’, but her passion for stories shines through – she’s devoured the book, frequented the musical on several occasions and watched the movie over fifty (!) times.

Though she struggles with traditional learning environments, she has said she’d love to have Miss Honey as her teacher. So her parents are trying to make it happen.

And that would be pretty cool, right? There aren’t many teachers we’d have preferred as eight year olds.

Her parents are advertising for a maths tutor to teach her for one hour a week ‘whilst in character as the lovely Miss Honey, costume and all.’ They’re even willing to shell out £60/hour for the perfect candidate.

Be right back, we’re off to buy floaty summer dresses and big round 90s glasses.

It might seem a bit mad, but it demonstrates just how differently certain people learn, how many different ways there are of making yourself comfortable in a learning environment and engaging with materials.
This little girl’s ideal scenario is a fantastical world she feels safe in. Kinetic learning – i.e. role playing, acting, dynamic scenarios and movement – works for lots of people.

And that’s just the tip of the learning iceberg.

There’s auditory learning, where you retain information you’ve heard. Making recordings of you reading your revision notes aloud, writing songs or raps about key facts and figures or listening to lectures might work for you if you’re an oral learner.

There’s also learning that comes from reading and writing. This is where you remember best when you’ve written your notes out in lists, spider diagrams, or when you’ve read chunks of information from textbooks or online sources.
Finally there’s visual learners, who work best with images, diagrams and charts, or videos, demonstrations and productions.

There’s no right or best option – try a few methods out and see what’s ideal for you.

Feel like you might need to brush up on your study skills? Watch our CEO, Johnny Rich’s video on information recall and idea association to help you nail your revision. Miss Honey would be so proud.

Author

LUCY HARDING is the Editorial manager for Push. She is an English Literature grad and an MA Publishing student at UCL. She is passionate about international relations and cultural diversity, having worked closely with her university’s Erasmus society to support European students. She also spent a year abroad studying at California State University: Long Beach