Stasys: Northlake tutor

Certified Tutor

My higher education began at Fordham University in Bronx, New York. I attended Fordham from 1980-1984 earning a B.A. degree in English. I minored in Philosophy there as well. My education continued at CW Post University in Brookville, New York. I attended C.W. Post from 1994-1996 and earned an M.A. degree in TESOL, or more simply ESL, Teacher of English as a Second Language. During the twelve years between my undergraduate and graduate work I was a rock and roll musician and songwriter in a group called "The Chilly Dogs." My group released an album in 1987 and we toured The United States and Canada in support of the record. After The Chilly Dogs broke up in 1990, I joined a Lithuanian Polka Band called "She and the Three Amber Men," and I got to tour Lithuania, Australia, and The United States with this group. I also recorded an album with an artist called "Paleface" in 1993 and it did not sell many copies, so I decided to become a teacher as I always loved working with kids. I decided to become an ESL teacher because I myself spoke only Lithuanian when I entered kindergarten in 1967, when there was no such thing as ESL in schools yet. I got teased and harassed some by the kids that were fluent in English, and it wasn't a fun time for me for a few years until I learned English.
I got my first teaching job at The New York City Dept. of Education in December of 1995 as an ESL teacher. I taught ESL for the next nineteen years not only in school. Many of the newly arrived kids knew very little or no English at all and their parents often asked me if I could tutor their kids privately after or before school, sometimes even on the weekends. Many of the newly arrived parents of the kids I was teaching also asked me to tutor them in English. I really loved my job because I felt that I was a very important part of the newly arrived students' and their parents lives. When I got to tutor I felt that I was getting closer to my kids than teachers of other subjects would. I also didn't only tutor my kids in ESL. They came to my class for ESL once or twice a day and then had to go to their other four "core" subject classes, Science, Math, Social Studies, and English. I had to find out from the other teachers how my kids were doing in their other classes, and then I had to decide how I could best help them with those classes while they were in my class. I got interested in the other subjects the kids were taking and learned a lot about them.
I am able to tutor in at least ESL and the four "core" subjects my kids took and did so. I really don't have a favorite subject to tutor and don't want to sound arrogant, but I am interested in basically anything from A stronauts to Z ebras and once I get interested in some new subject, my mother was a librarian, and she can still get me books on any subject I become interested in. My dad was the Head of Engineering at Grumman and is now an inventor, and whenever I go over my parents' house I find that he can shut my car off from inside the house, and I don't know what he's exactly up to now, but my phone doesn't work anywhere near my house and he won't tell me why. He has told me that since he worked at Grumman he has had top secret clearance. Recently I punched in my last name, "Janusas" into Google, and up came a photo of a UFO in a newspaper from Brazil called "The Janusas Photo." You can try it yourselves, and you'll see what I saw. I actually printed out the article I accidentally "Googled" and made copies of it for my ESL kids for a lesson. They were extremely interested in what was written there, with my last name there, and I was quite amazed that my slightly above beginner level students were so interested in the picture and the article that all I basically had to do during that class was sit back and watch them all become team players, getting into a big group on their own. They were gleaning English words they knew from each other and after twenty minutes were able to give me a summary in English of what this advanced adult article was about.
That sums up my teaching/tutoring style. The kids are just like me...If they become really fascinated and challenged by something, I feel like my job is almost done. I may have to guide or help the students or student some, but if this becomes the case, both the student and teacher are reaching their maximum potential. This kind of interest is what I strive for every time a have to put a lesson together and teach or tutor.