ESL & Literature Tutor

Introduction: Learning new languages, whether they are for a Literature class or an English as a Second Language class, can test a student's level of confidence which is the foundation of what makes them open to learning it in the first place. All of my tutorial services go to help establish and secure that confidence while we build speaking, comprehension, vocabulary retention and usage, and grammar skills. I start each session off with a clear goal that we will work to accomplish for that hour. Additionally, when it comes to tutoring someone in ESL, I make sure that our sessions focus on the act of conversation; in other word, I keep the student talking as much as possible to encourage fluency while I take note of patterns of errors that re-occur so we can discuss those together in a question-like format, continuing to maintain that confidence and keeping the power of learning the language in the student's hands. And when it comes to tutoring someone in literature (poetry/fiction/plays, etc.), I give the student tools to organize info (such as characters and plot) and "decode" meaning in the content itself. Having actual tools to apply to literature is very important because so many students haven't been taught evaluative skills - they are just expected to know how to read the work, which makes it challenging for so many. Tutoring for me is all about empowering a student to feel like they've got a grasp on each goal "skill" we've set out to accomplish for each session, so I love seeing a student light up when they have that "a-ha" moment of understanding about that goal because it means I've done my job right and they have are now armed with a new language skill under their belt. Building and sustaining confidence with students is so satisfying to me as I love being a part of the process of helping someone overcome a language hurdle, giving them the foundation to really get into the nuts and bolts of learning a language.