FAQs
- What should the customer know about your pricing (e.g., discounts, fees)?
I offer separate hourly rates for in-person, online lessons based on whether the lessons requested will be private, semiprivate, or small group as well as offer discounted prepaid packages and recurring monthly plans.
- What is your typical process for working with a new customer?
For all subjects I teach, before I even commit to the assignment, I always set up an initial meeting at NO CHARGE during which I take the time to discuss my prospective student needs and goals, break the ice, make sure we are comfortable working together but most importantly, that I AM indeed the best fit for them. TEST PREP - Free initial mock test to assess prior content knowledge and identify areas on which to focus first. ALL WORLD LANGUAGES - During our initial meeting, discuss my approach to teaching my languages, share resources that compare ‘my approach’ to second language acquisition and the ‘traditional approach’, share samples completed by students I have taught/I am teaching (students’ identification witheld) to demonstrate how and why teaching languages is different from teaching math, science, or even English Language Arts. I spend some time on the front end to do this because I want my students to ‘trust the process’ (aka trust themselves!): I want them to be confident that, akin to how we ALL learnt our first languages, our focus will be on understanding the new language first and production will start later (Teaching Communicative Language, Teaching with Comprehensible Input, Natural Approach to Language Acquisition) but this doesn’t mean that they aren’t LEARNING anything... We would never dream of asking a toddler or even a preschooler to conjugate verbs, recite vocabulary lists, or give a presentation on a cultural tradition, why should we expect it when WE are learning a second one?! I want ALL my students to realise that language acquisition is attainable, even those of you that always believed “they were not good at languages”! When I used to be in the classroom, we had classroom rules: my most important one was “come to your lessons with an open mind and do your 50% (listen carefully)”. The next one would have been to “trust the process”: know that our ability to use our first language has prepared our brains to learn new ones and enabled us to do so in a fun and relaxed setting! So sit back, listen carefully, and ENJOY the journey! SPANISH, ITALIAN, & ESOL - I offer all my prospective students an initial (complimentary) language assessment and interests survey to ensure that, from our very first meeting, we can focus our work together on their needs and goals.
- What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
I studied neurobiology at university (Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy) and completed two comprehensive graduate programs: one on teaching sciences and one on second language acquisition. I completed numerous trainings and professional development workshops; the following ones are a few that are directly relevant to my day to day work with my students: - Wilson FUNdations - Wilson Reading System - UFLI’s Fundations, Univ. of FLA Literacy Institute reading curriculum [NOT related to Wilson’s, IN PROGRESS] - Teaching Languages with Stories and Storytelling - Eureka Math (Eng. and Span. editions), - Spanish literacy: Estrellita, Escalera, and Lunita - Graduate level coursework on: *Dual Language Instruction; *Science-of-Reading-based reading instruction and remediation. - Handwriting without Tears. Last, I maintain GA teaching certification in the current fields: - Biology - Broad Field Sciences - Mathematics - Special Education General Curriculum - Special Education Science & Math - Spanish - Italian - ESOL Endorsement.