Dear Prospective Student (and Parents, too),
Greetings! How are you today? How may I help you reach your educational goals?
My name is David and I am an experienced, clear-speaking, and patient ESL teacher who wants to help you improve your English abilities. I use a communicative, learner-centered approach to teaching that emphasizes interaction and makes learning enjoyable. My aim is to discover your learning needs, work toward fulfilling them, and help you gain confidence in communicating.
I believe that effective teachers use a variety of strategies and technologies to create a stimulating educational environment in which students feel safe to take risks. This involves establishing high, though fair, expectations for students, diversifying instruction to enhance their personal learning styles and assessing their progress in authentic ways. Effective teachers demonstrate a command of the subject material and teach so as to empower their students.
Dear student, what can I offer you? Skilled as an instructor in the classroom and online, I may have the type of background you are looking for in a tutor. In my career as an English teacher, I have had the good fortune to work with dedicated and inspiring children, teens, and adults from diverse countries in domestic and international programs and online. To this end, I would like to further introduce myself and present my qualifications for the position.
Various parts of my ESL career have helped shape my abilities as a teacher. One formative period was the comprehensive process of researching and writing my Master of Education thesis and conducting action research. The topic of this paper, teaching speaking skills to intermediate-level, adult ESL students in a communicative, learner-centered environment, reflected my determination to address my students' needs and my own need for improvement as their teacher.
As an ESL/EFL instructor, I have developed a knowledge of competency-based learning and assessment techniques and increasingly utilized educational software and other instructional technology in working with immigrant students in North Carolina and Virginia, military personnel at the Defense Language Institute, learners in Latin America and Vietnam and, most recently, with pre-academic students and professionals from Asia, South America, the Middle East and Europe in the Intensive English Programs at the University of Delaware and Angelo State University.
Last spring I fulfilled a longtime goal by participating in the Rassias Method Teacher Workshop at Dartmouth College. Appropriately applying these dynamic and stimulating techniques will allow me to more rapidly and enjoyably enhance student learning. Other professional development activities have included doing online training on the ProLiteracy Education Network to expand my ESL skill base, attending webinars, and assessing and assisting students in their online speaking and writing efforts.
Thank you for considering me to work with you in your quest to increase your English proficiency. It would be my pleasure.
I wish you the best of success!
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