I have lived on four continents and adjusted to many different cultures, learning different languages, and teaching in very widely varying circumstances. I have published about one journal article, or chapter in a book, per year over the past 20 years. I have taught at a number of Chicago area universities as an "adjunct professor" continuously for the past seven years.
My greatest strengths are an ability to quickly discern the "gist" of some intellectual material, and be able to translate that into simpler language and concepts for others to understand. The second part of that, communicating to others, I do both through spoken word and through written word. I believe I can help you learn to do those - writing and/or speaking - better.
As a college teacher for over 14 years, both in the United States and in west Africa, I have adapted to very diverse student populations in universities as different from one another as North Park University, Elmhurst College, Trinity University (Deerfield), and University of Phoenix. Many, if not most, of my students over the past 6 or 7 years have been adults who returned to college later in life.
Previously, on three different occasions I worked for about a year each as a daily substitute teacher in the DuPage County school systems. In the 1980s, then 1999-2000, I taught mostly high school or junior high as a substitute; then in 2005-06 I taught mostly with first through third graders, often in Spanish, a language which I use comfortably, though I would not claim to be anywhere near "bilingual."
As an ordained minister, I regularly speak to congregations comprised of widely varying degrees of education and am able to make myself understood, they tell me, to both children and well-educated adults.
Content-wise, I'm a liberal arts guy - history, theology, literature, and communication skills, as suggested above, are what I can probably best help you with.
We can figure out what you most need to concentrate on, and adapt our times together to make them most productive and fruitful for you.
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