Hola a todos! Mucho gusto!
My name is Sara L. and I am a certified Spanish teacher in the Deer Valley School District. I have a love of the Spanish language and I hope that I share that love with my students. Yet, in my past five years as a teacher, I have realized that many students struggle with learning second languages. It is for this reason that I decided to seek out tutoring opportunities.
Although I am not a native Spanish speaker, I am fluent in the Spanish language. I started learning Spanish in junior high and continued to study Spanish even into my graduate degree. I have traveled extensively to central Mexico, and hope to travel more. Being that I am not a native Spanish speaker, I feel that it helps me to understand the errors that my students make and to help them see how to correct these mistakes. I also feel, that students whom I have taught over the past five years have been inspired by my level of Spanish fluency, and use it as a motivating factor for themselves.
In my past five years teaching, I have taught in the Chandler Unified District as well as Deer Valley School District at the high school level. Last year, while working on graduate level coursework in Spanish I also had the opportunity to teach at Northern Arizona University. For this reason I feel that I truly can help prepare my students for not only success in their current classrooms, but as well as what challenges might await them at the university level.
In December 2012, I completed my Master's Degree in Secondary Education. I feel that with this degree it has helped me to more fully understand my student's diverse needs, while at the same time helping me grow as an educator.
My methods for tutoring work to pinpoint where students are struggling, and help them to address these issues. Similarly, I find it important to review prior material. Since Spanish builds upon itself, lessons are often used to review prior material as needed. Finally, within all tutoring sessions the student and I devote a portion of the time to practice Spanish in authentic conversation, where we actually make sure the student is not simply learning grammar. Rather, this Spanish in context allows students to see their growth, and potentially want to continue their language learning beyond just the two years required to enter a four year university.
I look forward to working with you and/or your student to help you succeed and love Spanish.
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