"I am a 2012 graduate of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. My goals as a tutor are to ensure a better understanding of foreign language skills and future development in overall language proficiency.

I was only eight years old when I emigrated from St. Petersburg, Russia, to Cleveland, Ohio. Immediately upon my arrival, I was put in school where I was forced to speak English not only in an academic setting but also for conversational purposes. As such a young child, English came a lot easier to me than it did to my parents, and within a few short months I found myself conversing in a language which was previously foreign. Using this newly acquired skill, I was able to assist my parents by translating and interpreting aspects of English that they did not understand. This was the beginning of a lifelong passion for learning both language and culture. I have tutored all levels of Russian that are offered at Miami University.

While still in high school I began my studies of the Japanese language and culture. It was here that my passion for the language deepened, and I eventually found myself pursuing an undergraduate degree in East Asian Languages and Cultures with an emphasis in Japanese. A year later, I found myself in Osaka, Japan, where I spent two semesters living with a host family where I had complete language immersion. Upon my return to the United States, I found myself able to freely converse with my Japanese professors in a way that felt natural. Having completed all of the upper-level Japanese courses at my home university, I was concerned with losing the language abilities that I had acquired overseas. To prevent this, I became an Undergraduate Assistant to the Japanese Department and tutored all levels of Japanese classes offered.

My second Bachelor's Degree from Miami University is in Music. I grew up in a musical family and started my musical training in St. Petersburg, Russia. I have been playing the piano for over 15 years and I have played the violin for over 9. I have extensive training an" less...