Irina: White Plains tutor
Certified Tutor
I love to teach, and I am very patient and caring about my students: children and adults. I prefer to interact with them on a personal level, when I can give my full attention to a student and focus on what he/she needs to get to the next level. I like to develop lessons to suit the individual learning needs of each student.
As a former resident of Mexico, I am fluent in both spoken and written Spanish. As a Spanish tutor, I would not only be able to provide training and educational support service, but I would also make students comfortable with the language skills they have, and try to communicate effectively with them as they master new language skills. Due to my extensive knowledge of Mexican and Latino-American history, culture, traditions, and art, I can be a resourceful guide to them on different aspects of Spanish language and culture. I know a lot of Spanish games, songs, dances, rhymes, tongue twisters, cartoons and I can make learning interesting and exciting.
Russian is my native language. As a Russian tutor I can be very helpful in resolving the difficulties of Russian grammar and orthography. I'll do my best to transmit and to share my love of Russian culture, art, literature and cuisine.
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Undergraduate Degree: Moscow University - Bachelors, Automated Management System
Graduate Degree: Institute of Advanced Studies, Ministry of Natural Resources, Moscow - Masters, Analysis, Planning and Management in Industry
reading, literature, cooking, traveling, classical music, Latin American culture and dancing, zumba, spending time with family
What is your teaching philosophy?
My educational philosophy is anchored in building a solid foundation first, and then gradually progressing to more advanced topics. I strive to make learning interactive and fun. I believe that learning should be a creative and joyful activity. I rely on the power of encouragement rather than criticism. I know that it's easier to achieve a goal if we have a plan.
What might you do in a typical first session with a student?
I can evaluate a student's needs, asking what students know and where they are having trouble, where they get lost, and making a list of those areas for my own reference. Then I'll try to understand what the student's learning style is: - do they work better alone or if a tutor is working through the problem with them? - are they verbal (so they'll need to talk through the problem)? - are they aural (so they'll to need to listen to the concepts)? - are they visual (so they'll need graphic aids like pictures, charts, and video)? Then we can together set up goals. We will create a mix of major and minor goals that can be achieved in a reasonable amount of time.
If a student has difficulty learning a skill or concept, what would you do?
I would identify the lack of understanding, and determine whether or not we simply need to review or take a fresh approach to the concept to be learned. Sometimes we just have to go back to basics and use different teaching strategy. Sometime giving an example makes things more clear.
How do you help students who are struggling with reading comprehension?
First of all, I would suggest to study vocabulary. Then, I'd explain how to apply active comprehension strategies, including predictions, analyzing stories with respect to story grammar elements, question asking, image construction, and summarizing. And finally, I'd encourage students to monitor their comprehension, noting explicitly where decoded words make sense and where the text itself makes sense. When problems are detected, students should know that they need to reprocess (by attempting to sound out problematic words again or rereading).