I'm Brendan. I enjoy hiking, being with family, and all things music. I specialize in teaching Mandarin Chinese. I have been taking Chinese classes ever since I was 13, but what got me seriously interested in the language and the culture was when I lived in Taiwan for 2 years in a service capacity. During this time, I had the opportunity to serve in a number of cities in southern and western Taiwan and speak constantly with native Chinese-speakers. I gained a love for the language, the food, the culture, and the people there so I decided to continue my studies as I returned to the United States. Since being home, I have been taking advanced Chinese grammar and culture classes and loving it! During this past year, I have also had experience teaching new language learners Mandarin. They, like I had previously done, were going to serve in Chinese-speaking parts of the world. I helped them go through an intensive 9-week program aimed to help them learn the language and culture of the area they would be serving in, so they could be functional when they got to their areas of service. I found through this experience that every student has different needs and strengths and my job as a tutor isn't so much to lecture as it is to create an environment in which the student is willing to express questions or concerns and be desires to increase their skills. I believe that it's easiest to help a student when you have a shared vision and goal for what you can accomplish together and work hard to reach it. I help my students accomplish their goals by aiding them in discovering what methods best help them become passionate and proactive about learning and then practicing the implementation of those methods with them, so that when they don't need me anymore, they will be equipped with the tools they need to keep learning on their own. I appreciate your consideration! I hope to be able to help you achieve your learning goals.

Writing, recording, and performing music; hiking; exercising; thrifting; reading