Israel
I am native speaker from Mexico City! But for the last 17 years I have lived in the USA. I received a Bachelor's degree in Spanish Education from Berry College, a prestigious educational college in GA. As my resume details, I have experience working with learners in a variety of settings, such as classrooms, virtual, tutoring, and in groups. I have experience as a teacher in private schools at Middle & High School and adjunct faculty at NW Georgia Technical College. I have also been a tutor through Berlitz in person tutoring and Connections academy virtual tutoring. These experiences have prepared me to meet the strictest Spanish programs. I love tutor students because I can spend all my attention on one student. I have tutored students for more than 8 years now. I have had the opportunity to develop motivating activities and curriculum that show my outstanding success in tutor college students, soldiers, businessmen and middle to high school students. Whenever I tutor I cover all skills (reading, writing, speaking, and listening) unless the students wants to focus on one or more skills specifically. When I tutor I like to have fun, laugh and have a good time but at the same time I make sure that the student can actually see his/her progress immediately on his/her understanding of the languages as well as in her/his grades.
On the personal side, I love sports, music, movies, books, and food!
What is your teaching philosophy?
Spanish should be fun, interesting and interactive. All students are different and should learn at their own pace and level. In addition, the student should be able to see her progress in a matter of weeks.
What might you do in a typical first session with a student?
Questions, questions, questions. I need to know what the student’s goals are. I need to know what skills she is having problems with (speaking, writing, reading or listening).
How can you help a student become an independent learner?
By giving her answers about her specific issues and providing extra practice so that she can master that specific issue on her own terms.
How would you help a student stay motivated?
By making sessions fun and real life oriented, the student will be able to see the application of what she is leaning in her own life.
If a student has difficulty learning a skill or concept, what would you do?
Ask a lot of questions and break down the information so that she can learn with small chunks of information. Making the curriculum easier to understand.
How do you help students who are struggling with reading comprehension?
By increasing their vocabulary and explaining sentence structure.
What strategies have you found to be most successful when you start to work with a student?
Questions, questions, questions. Practice practice, practice.
How would you help a student get excited/engaged with a subject that they are struggling in?
By making sessions fun and interesting!!
What techniques would you use to be sure that a student understands the material?
I provide worksheets, audio files and videos, so that they can do/watch on their own time. In the next sessions we quickly check the extra practice for any questions.
How do you build a student's confidence in a subject?
By focusing on her strengths.
How do you evaluate a student's needs?
By asking questions. What Spanish level is she in? We can also have a level assessment in which we evaluate all four skills.
How do you adapt your tutoring to the student's needs?
By analyzing the student’s needs. Is the student in a basic level or advanced? Does she needs more speaking time or more writing time?
What types of materials do you typically use during a tutoring session?
Videos, audio, worksheets, drawings, question-answer, short conversations.
