What is your teaching philosophy?

I like to build a rapport with my student, knowing they trust me and feel comfortable with me. Any struggle the tutee may have is always turned into a positive and I ensure to instill optimism into the tutee. As a language lover/major/minor, I especially love tutoring foreign languages, Linguistics, and ESL. It is so interesting meeting all the students I work with and getting to know their learning styles and strategies. Additionally, my sheer passion for the subjects allows me to fully engage in an effective and personalized tutoring session.

What might you do in a typical first session with a student?

I get to know my tutees so that I can help them understand why the class they're taking is relevant to their future goals. It is difficult to motivate yourself if you don't know why or don't care why you are doing something. I often empathize with students that come in because I myself had difficulty with many of the same topics they do. From personal experience, it helps knowing that you are not alone when you are having difficulties.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

Oftentimes I let students know that what they are doing is not easy and I completely understand why they may find certain topics tricky or difficult. If I had a hard time with it, I like letting the student know that I have had trouble with it too at one time. From then, I let the student know how to go about studying, utilizing resources, and solving exercises and problems. This allows them to strive for better, while learning things on their own along the way.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

As I mentioned before, I always make sure the student feels comfortable asking me questions and is not afraid to tell me if they don’t truly understanding something. Furthermore, I also make sure they let me know if I am explaining something too fast. I learn why the student is taking the class, and what they are trying to get out of it so we can set realistic and practical goals. I always try to gauge whether the student is following my explanations or not. If I feel they are not, I will explain in several other ways until they understand.

If a student has difficulty learning a skill or concept, what would you do?

Oftentimes I let students know that what they are doing is not easy, and I completely understand why they may find certain topics tricky or difficult. If I had a hard time with it, I like letting the student know that I have had trouble with it too at one time. From then, I let the student know how to go about studying, utilizing resources, and solving exercises and problems.