Experience Summary
I spent the last two years in Warsaw, Poland teaching English as a Foreign Language. My duties included planning and preparing daily lesson plans as well as semester course programs, traveling to different locations to teach school-aged children or adults in different environments, keeping records of material covered, preparing and administering exams at the end of each term, and completing reports about students at the end of the year. I have experience teaching children (ages 5 to about 15) and adults. The children I worked with ranged in ability from beginners (at most a few words of English) to upper-intermediate (teenagers with a fairly high level of understanding and communication). As to my education, I have a total of five years of college education, two at Highline and three at WSU. In that time I took a variety of classes, including creative writing, philosophy, psychology, basic economics, and literature.
Teaching Style
My experience teaching English has taught me that everyone has the ability to learn. The challenge is to identify the needs and style of the learner and adapt to them. I had students who were mostly visual learners and needed everything written down or printed on handouts; I had students who were mainly auditory learners and needed to have everything said to them, sometimes two or even three times in different ways. Some of my students wanted to be able to speak with their boss or participate in meetings held in English; others needed to write or proofread documents in English. My main goal in teaching is to figure out what my students want and need and help them achieve their goals. Teaching English was a very learner-centered approach, with the students fully engaged and participating throughout the lesson. I think that tutoring should be the same way, with the focus on how the student best learns and how to help them achieve their goals. I did and will continue to do whatever I can to help my students achieve the goals they have set for themselves.