Award-Winning Languages Tutors in Tulsa, OK

That "click" moment when a student "gets" the material and realizes "I DO understand and CAN successfully advanced" - that's why I love teaching and tutoring. I WANT students to reach their goals. I thoroughly agree with Socrates' famous maxim, "Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel." My desire is to challenge, motivate, encourage and help each student to accomplish the task set for them....... Personal Philosophy of Teaching Robin E. Tinley No matter how well I may teach, if learning is not taking place the purpose of education is defeated. I thoroughly agree with Socrates’ famous maxim, “Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.” My philosophy of education is to challenge, motivate, encourage and help each student to light that flame of passion for learning as a life-long pursuit and application. I want to tap into the knowledge the student already has, to help develop, strengthen, build upon, and apply that knowledge. I want to help them leverage that knowledge so they can successfully learn now, prepare for further learning, and have firm mastery of a tool which will be a meaningful and useful addition to their toolbox, necessary for life beyond the classroom walls. My philosophy of education also means tailoring learning as much as possible to the individual class body and student, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. The articulate S.M. Lockridge once quaintly said in a dialect of the times, “If I shoots above the heads of my people, it does not mean I have superior artillery. It means I am a poor shot.” Additionally, I consider it of paramount importance in this rapidly changing world to challenge students to have a comprehensive understanding of their world, to be competent to face these unique times, to become men and women of integrity and strong values who can invest in their community, country, and world. Specifically in the area of language, I believe a bi-lingual or multi-lingual person has an edge not only in the competitive work world but in the joys of learning for pleasure. As a learner myself, and a lover of learning, I want to teach and inter-act with students with such enthusiasm and passion that the student not only learn at the time but also become a self-starting learners for life, acquiring skills, knowledge, and the ability to become independent and motivated learners in the future. I believe in a varied and participatory learning atmosphere. I am familiar with and use principles of TPS (Total Physical Response) for language acquisition. In conjunction with language learning, I consider it of great value and importance for students to also acquire a familiarity with other countries, cultures, and worldviews. I want students to see that their present learning situation has great potential for a practical – as well as enjoyable – effect on their future. I believe it is necessary and right to clearly articulate and convey to the student the expectations, to work with the student in accomplishing those expectations, and to lead the student in cross-cultural awareness. I intend to clearly define for them the concrete course requirements and the concrete means by which they may achieve their best possible results. Why do I teach with enthusiasm, passion, and an understanding of the students? The following brief anecdote demonstrates to a large degree how I formed my philosophy of teaching and why I bring to teaching what I do. As part of my degree plan I was required to take a course in a subject of no interest whatsoever to me: Economics. I took the course merely to complete a requirement and check off a box on my path toward a degree in my chosen area. That same semester I took a course I’d looked forward to with great anticipation: Latin American Areas Studies. What a surprise was in store! My Economics professor was knowledgeable, articulate, compelling, and above all passionate about his subject. A new hitherto unknown window on the world was opened to me. I learned so much in that course. Meanwhile, my LatAm Areas professor, although he may have been knowledgeable, was not articulate, not compelling, and not passionate about his subject. I still resent how he cheated us, his students. I want to be the teacher who inspires to greater learning and practice those who already have an interest in - perhaps even a love of - Spanish and French, challenging them to an ever-greater understanding of other peoples and cultures so that they may gain access to new worlds through mastery of another language. I want to be the teacher who opens a window on a new world for those who think they are merely completing a course and checking off a requirement, so that they will be surprised into new thinking and learning, and perhaps even a new love. I am vastly privileged to have lived and worked in Latin America for over thirty-five years. I have traveled or lived in all of Middle America and some of the Caribbean. During the past 4 years I have worked in, and taught in every Spanish- or Portuguese-speaking country in South America, as well as Cuba. What a wealth of experiences, information, knowledge, and areas for further exploration has been mine, that can now be translated to the classroom setting. What an opportunity and challenge for thoughtful and thought-provoking teaching and learning in a purposeful and meaningful way.

I'm a college professor with more than 7 years of experience teaching writing, critical reading and history at the college level. I love working with students as they gain confidence and overcome challenges - watching kids come to truly love learning instead of seeing it as a chore just makes my day. And if it takes some pop culture to do that, so be it. I'm not above using video games or historical TV shows...

...of Tulsa's Opera Theater and am currently singing in the Tulsa Opera Chorus for the 2016-2017 season. I studied 3 semesters' worth of music theory and 3 semesters of ear training while at the University of Tulsa and I strongly believe that enhancing both one's aural skills and one's knowledge of theory brings a great deal of pleasure and novelty to the experience of all music, be it classical, pop, jazz, or death metal!

...upward mobility in many fields is analytical thinking, reading, and writing. Another crucial skillset I foster in my students is having a growth mindset, the philosophy by Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck which posits that challenge as an opportunity for growth. This means helping students shift their thinking from "I can't do it" to "I can't do it YET." This small grammatical change can be a powerful tool that means the difference between giving up...

I graduated from a French school in Egypt (Sacre-coeur). I have a BA in French literature from Cairo University, and a minor in Arabic. I've been teaching French at Tulsa Community College since 2006. I also have years of experience teaching Arabic to elementary and middle school students at a private school in Tulsa, as well as teaching Arabic to adult learners at Sunday schools. I master three languages: Arabic , French and English. I...

...things down to a rudimentary level and rephrasing when needed. Also, having experienced learning difficulties as a child (which were long ago rectified) forced me to become very skilled at developing personalized learning strategies. And having learned from experience how to elevate my own standardized test score from the 32nd percentile to the 85th percentile on the MCAT has been invaluable for teaching peers how to approach a difficult test and succeed. See me teach...

I'm a native Spanish speaker from Honduras. I moved to the U.S. when I was 13 years old, and have loved language, communication, arts, and literature for my entire life. I seek to assist students in fulfilling their academic goals. I understand that there are many ways to learn and retain information, and I focus on creativity and critical thinking. ... I believe we all learn in different ways. Whether it be through listening, drawing, painting, acting, or writing. I believe the most motivated students are driven by intent and not external rules. I strive to awaken this intent in my students, so that they may be successful.

...5 years old to students in college. Whether it is helping someone with basic grammar or teaching them how to analyze French literature, I have helped students through it all. One thing that sets me apart from most tutors is that I have recently been in the shoes of the student. I understand the curriculum that is being taught because I recently had to learn it myself. I am also still taking French courses, so...

...my goal to help my clients develop the abilities they need to succeed in writing and literature courses. I can help with any phase of the writing process, from brainstorming and developing ideas to final revisions and editing, as well as with reading comprehension and literary analysis for literature courses and standardized tests. I use a collaborative approach to tutoring which involves working one-on-one with students to help them develop their current skill set as...

...majoring in English Ed. I graduated in 1991 with degrees in English Ed. and Spanish. Since then, I have taught Spanish and English at the high school level, and Spanish at home school co-ops, corporations, a private classical college prep high school, ORU and Tulsa Community College. I've taught conversational Spanish, Spanish 1-4, and Intermediate Spanish. I have also tutored many high school and college students, invariably helping raise their Spanish grades. I love to...