As an educator for the past 40 years, I believe that education is the key to success and a high quality of life. Regardless of your race, ethnicity and economic status, obtaining a high- quality education will provide opportunities to improve your life. One of the most important elements in obtaining a good educational foundation, is the development of reading, writing and communication skills early on. Literacy is key across all the academic subjects. That is why I am passionate about helping young students develop their literacy competencies in English as well as in Spanish. I have taught for 35 years in the NYC public school system. During that time, I taught reading and Spanish as a second language to students in grades K-12. For the past 5 years, I have tutored students in reading/writing to prepare them for the standardized test, and in Spanish for second language enrichment. I have also tutored high school students on the SAT ELA test component. It has been very rewarding for me to see my students succeed in attaining their academic goals through the tutoring strategies they learn from my tutoring lessons.