"Tutoring is serious fun for me. I have just returned from living and working for two years in Moscow, where I tutored Russian students of all ages and at all levels in English as a foreign language. I also taught classes for Language Link Russia, the biggest (and most prestigious) language school in Moscow. There, my students were adults, and I taught all levels of English, including Advanced Business English. Before going to Russia, I was an adjunct college professor for about ten years, teaching English to foreign students planning to attend colleges or universities in the USA. In that capacity, I usually taught reading and communication classes, but I have experience teaching writing, too. I also have taught Russian language courses in adult education programs at two colleges. Tutoring is my favorite mode of teaching, however, as it seems to allow for more spontaneity in the teaching-learning relationship.

My educational background is in anthropology (undergraduate degree) and linguistics (two years of graduate school), the combination of which has served me well in teaching English to people from different countries. A knowledge of linguistics allows me to diagnose language learning problems specifically and to offer tailored solutions to those problems. One of my most successful niches, for example, has been accent reduction, which can be very important, as in the case of healthcare workers.

My teaching style is eclectic, relaxed, and supportive, with emphasis on actually using the language as opposed to just learning about the language. My approach is student-centered, paying attention first of all to what students want and need from me, and then depending on my substantive knowledge of the material to find creative ways to help students reach their goals.

Personally, reading has always been as natural and necessary to me as breathing. My interests are broad, so I enjoy reading about all kinds of things, and this helps in my teaching, too. Besides a lot of novels, I read about science, art, history, p" less...