What is your teaching philosophy?

My philosophy is to bridge what someone is learning to how it intersects in her/his life. To use creative analogies to make abstract concepts easier to grasp and promote questions and encourage curiosity.

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

Learn about what their interests and hobbies are so that, when possible, lessons can be catered to those interests.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

By encouraging them to look for opportunities to learn outside the places where learning stereotypically occurs. For example, names of places that derive from a language they are learning. Where does the name come from?

How would you help a student stay motivated?

By keeping up the pace of tutoring sessions and establishing constructive, realistic and obtainable goals.

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

If it's something multifaceted and complex, I might advise just putting it down for a day and coming back to it another time. In other cases, try to present it as a cube that you need to rotate and look at from another angle.