Patricia: Chester County tutor

Certified Tutor

In May, 2015, I graduate from Temple University with a BA in English, completing a degree program begun in 1968. Since I returned to Temple a year ago, I have maintained a straight-A average in all courses. Furthermore, I am honored to receive Temple's Florence Duckworth Award for excellence in scholarship and leadership in English studies. This past year at Temple has been one of the most rewarding and delightful years of my life.

Since 2009 I have been a trained volunteer tutor in Adult Basic English (ABE) and English as a Second Language (ESL) sponsored by Delaware County Literacy Council (DCLC). For ABE I have helped adult students with low-level literacy learn to read and write. For ESL I have helped adult legal immigrants master the language of their adopted country, the USA. I love this work so much that I left a successful career in investment accounting in order to complete my degree and teach English to adults. As part of an internship at Temple I am currently teaching an ESL evening class of six students at DCLC until July, 2015.

As one can tell from my years of study, I am grounded in the old-fashioned instruction of English grammar and composition. This contributes to my tutoring success because I understand the basics that support a platform of literacy: elements such as the ABCs, sensible but flexible grammar, coherent sentence structure and functional parts of speech. My recent studies at Temple provided the latest research and theory in rhetoric, linguistics and the newest forms of digital literacy. Moreover, my recent experiences in the classroom provided bonding with college-age people in a peer relationship. I connect with the younger generation in special ways that were unavailable to me a year ago. As a result of my experience, I'm quite comfortable in both worlds of the English language: essential fundamentals and the new digital age.

My writing skills are strong, as my Duckworth award attests. My first love is American and English literature. I'm a voracious readerso much so that I haven't owned or watched TV in decades. After all, I figure, why watch TV if I can read a book instead?