About Me

I am and always have been an English person I love to read, I love to write, I love words, and I love understanding the infinite ways language can work in our world. I majored in English in college (Virginia Tech), with a specialty in Creative Writing, completing my degree in three years and graduating summa cum laude. During my time there, I won several writing contests and awards for my poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. I'm currently preparing myself to go to grad school for a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, and so I continue to spend much of my spare time reading, writing, and studying. I've taught in various contexts, although my first teaching experience was working as a swim instructor a job I had all through high school and part of college. I also worked for a summer league swim team during college, coaching a team of about 200, with swimmers aged three to eighteen. That same summer, I worked as a private tutor for two elementary school students, tutoring them in Math and Spanish. After graduating, I obtained a TEFL certification and moved to South Korea, where I worked as an ESL teacher. I worked with students aged six to fourteen, some of whom were complete beginners to English, and some of whom were almost fluent and preparing to take the TOEFL exam. In the ESL field, I have experience teaching reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Given my academic and work background, I feel comfortable teaching to standardized tests as well as for general academic purposes (such as reading comprehension or essay writing).From a teaching perspective, I believe strongly that no two people learn the same way, and that it's my job as the teacher to tailor my teaching approach to fit the student's needs. In keeping with that, I believe it's important to get know my students so that I'm able to teach them to the best of my ability. I've found that people learn best when the topic is of interest, and I think it's always possible to individualize a lesson if you truly know your student. From my experiences working with young children as well as with older students, the most effective approach is striking the balance between structure/hard work and fun, as the second is often a motivator for the first. I like to laugh hard and often, and I like for my students to laugh as well! On a personal level, I love to have adventures. Anything I haven't done before is game I especially enjoy trying new restaurants and coffee shops with my friends. Besides eating my way through Richmond, I also go to a lot of concerts; I'll listen to anything, but I would say my musical roots are definitely of the rock variety! I'm a fan of sunshine, trampolines, and all things art. Finally, I love to travel, having recently returned from a gap year during which I traveled solo through the U.S. and parts of Latin America.

Education & Certifications

Q&A with Alaina

Tutoring Subjects