Elizabeth: Washington Park tutor

Certified Tutor

I have a Bachelor's in English and Spanish from William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri; and a Master's in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Throughout my undergraduate years, I tutored at a center for learning disabled children in Kansas City. In some ways, the work was out of my comfort zone, but I loved feeling like I was making a difference. As someone with a lifelong love of reading, I was happy to be able to help students who struggle with comprehension or language processing to get beyond those barriers and have the opportunity to enjoy reading as I did. In all of the work I do, from tutoring to librarianship, my goal is to use the skills I've been blessed with to help others do things I think are important--whether it be as fundamental as learning to communicate effectively in writing or more complicated literary analysis skills.
I tutor mostly English and history-related subjects, as well as Spanish and GRE test prep. English has always been my favorite subject to learn, but foreign language is a close second. Taking eight years of Spanish classes opened so many doors for me. It allows me to communicate with and better understand the culture of people around me here in the US, as well as abroad. When I took a trip to Spain during my year abroad in the UK, I was able to feel more comfortable traveling by myself because I knew the language the people around me were speaking. English isn't just about classic literature (as much as I love it). It's about being able to say what you want to say and articulating it in a way that helps other people understand your point of view. I love language almost more than I love books--grammar and structure--the building blocks of accurate communication. Those are the key to writing a good essay. What I really hope to impart, though, is an enjoyment of learning. Few people are truly interested by a list of facts to memorize, verbs to conjugate, etc. When learning has a purpose and a context, students are more motivated to do it. As a tutor, my goal is to give that purpose and context.