Owen: East Chicago tutor

Certified Tutor

I am a graduate of The University of Vermont, Spanish B.A. and Business B.S., I am also a member of Sigma Delta Pi the National Collegiate Hispanic Honors society. In college I worked with faculty to complete a 35 page research paper of Mexican American history. Since graduation I have been working full time for a Life Sciences consultant and volunteering as an ESOL instructor for new immigrants to the United States. I also became fluent in Portuguese and I am currently learning Italian. Don't ask me why I'm not learning French ;)

I started tutoring Spanish students in college, and since then, I've shifted to teaching English. In the past, I've taught English in Spanish to two students, and last year I taught English in Portuguese to one student. Because they were brand new to English, it really helped me narrow down strategies that actually work in the language learning process. Languages are incredibly complex. I am a strong believer that, in order to learn a new language you need to possess a somewhat holistic view of your own. This is a philosophy that I find very useful in teaching.

I learned Spanish and Portuguese, and I'm currently learning Italian, so I know it's hard! I've also taught English in Spanish, so I know how to use connections between languages to make things easier. I have methods and strategies that can help you pick up fluency faster or I can pick up at any level you are studying and implement real-life examples that are interesting to you.

I incredibly passionate about languages because they are truly what connect us. One of my proudest moments was helping my Brazilian student who started with no English get to a point where she could understand and participate in basic conversations.

I have some other outside teaching experience as well, I am about to start my third season coaching youth soccer ages 9-11 with my local club. I worked full time at a K-9 school as a secretary/after school director. I have also been involved with multiple summer camps and was a nanny for 7 kids.