What is your teaching philosophy?

My teaching philosophy focuses more on the student than how I teach. I believe it's important to adjust to the student's learning capabilities. Everyone learns differently. I like to get a sense of a student's learning style and personally form to it. For example, if a student learns best with visual thinking I would like to use as many visual learning tools as possible. In this way, the student is not only learning more efficiently but trusts me as their tutor more because of this. It's important for me to treat every student I have with respect and validity. Everyone can learn; they just need to find how they learn best.

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

This question depends on the student, but I always ask the student their overall goal in tutoring and what they would like to accomplish in that specific session. If I get a student that would like to go over an essay or some reading, I address the essay or reading and take steps to understand it and have the student so this with me. For an essay, I would like to point out common mistakes and explain how they would fix it and have them fix each one with my supervision. Ultimately, I would like the essay to be in its final draft stage at the end of the session. For reading, I would start with comprehension, but asking questions and having the student explain their thoughts on the material. For a student in Chinese, it would be a similar fashion.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

I would help a student by giving them examples to learn the specific topic / problem area and have them follow on their own. I believe many people learn by example, so watching someone else do it and attempting it in your own way shows you have the skills to learn and adapt materials to yourself. I would also encourage them with words as much as possible. They will be willing to learn on their own if they are confident in the way they learn.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

I believe encouragement is essential. If no one is helping the student and complimenting them throughout their learning process, they won't be motivated to keep growing. If someone recognizes their effort and encourages them to keep up the good work, they will continue to do so. I think it's important to keep the material fresh; with English and Chinese, you can change up the way you present it or even the topics, so it never becomes boring and the student stays motivated because the material is interesting.

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

I would first break it up and analyze before I begin to help them learn it. Once I know all the different approaches to the concept, I can bring it to them and see which way they absorb it better. Having different methods to teach them is important because no one person learns the same. I would apply many methods to ensure they could begin to understand it.