Elisa: Newark tutor

Certified Tutor

I am Latina and grew up in a bicultural and bilingual household; my mom is from Costa Rica and my dad is from the US. For this reason, I have a deep appreciation for new cultures as well as new languages.

I am a graduate of Dickinson College where I received my Bachelor of Science in Math with a minor in Spanish. During my junior year of college, I studied abroad in Ecuador and Argentina. One of my most profound experiences of this time was serving as an Education Intern at Fundacin Sobran Motivos in Mendoza, Argentina, a refugee center for women who were sexually abused. I increased efficiency in the English teaching program as well as designed and implemented English classes. During college summers, I worked as a Youth Leader at Casa San Jose (a nonprofit Latino organization) in Pittsburgh, PA. I tutored Math and English, entirely in Spanish for students ranging from elementary school to high school.

Upon graduation from college, I was granted a Fulbright Scholarship as an English Teaching Assistant at Universidad Industrial de Santander in Bucaramanga Colombia. At this university, I was an assistant for English classes, American Studies classes, as well as Culture classes. I also tutored faculty and staff at the university and held workshops and language clubs. I am currently an ESL teacher for Open English where I tutor English to students ranging from 8-14 across Latin America.

I have extensive experience tutoring and teaching English and Spanish (as I am bilingual). I have some experience tutoring math and as a college math major, I am confident in my abilities to provide this type of tutoring. I am passionate about creating bilateral relationships and exchanges and I think languages do just this and math is such a universal language of its own.

I love working with all ages. My teaching approach has been inspired by the work of Paulo Freire where he challenges the notion of teacher as expert whose primary role is to disseminate knowledge to students who are passive recipients of the teacher's great wisdom. Instead, Freire imagines a bilateral relationship in which teachers enable students to become actively involved in the production of knowledge.

In my spare time, I love rock climbing, teaching and practicing yoga, running, and traveling.