Natalia: Wood Dale tutor
Certified Tutor
I am a graduate from the University of Pennsylvania. I received my Bachelor's in Visual Studies with a concentration in Architecture Practice and Technology. I also had a double minor in Architecture and Italian Studies, as well as received a certificate in Portuguese. While in college, I tutored Italian for college students of all levels including some professionals that wanted to use Italian in the workplace. I also spent a summer in Rio de Janeiro working for an education-consulting firm that specialized in SAT and College Prep for Brazilian students that want to study in the United States. Outside of academia, I enjoy traveling and meeting new people all over the world. Through the University of Pennsylvania, I was able to travel to Italy, Croatia, Spain, Egypt, Brazil, Switzerland, and back to Colombia were I am from. Because of my love of traveling, I love languages and teaching languages. I find that the best way to learn a language is by speaking, so I try to hold short conversations in the language I am teaching at least once per session.
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Undergraduate Degree: University of Pennsylvania - Bachelors, Visual Studies
- ACT Science: 31
I like to travel and meet new people. I enjoy learning new architecture software. I enjoy some light reading every now and then.
What is your teaching philosophy?
I have the most experience teaching and tutoring in languages. When I tutor languages, I push more for conversation techniques to get the students more comfortable with the language, assuring them that messing up is okay, they begin to formulate own sentences as opposed to translating word for word. I also encourage reading in the language to gain a better instinct on the rhythm and fluidity of the language so that it becomes more intuitive. I also encourage repetition for verb conjugations, so that the student becomes more comfortable in conjugating verbs. In other subjects, my techniques are more in practice and finding the student's best learning technique. When I tutored SAT math in Brazil, I found that the student's learned more by working through problems and identifying the steps needed to solve the problem than by sitting and staring at the problem. I generally try to work with the student to push him/her to solve the problem on their own, before stepping in and explaining the problems.