I am a native New Yorker with over 30 years of ESL/EFL teaching experience in New York and abroad. I also have a Master's Degree in History from Hunter College and have taught Citizenship Classes at Bronx Community College.
Coming from a family of immigrants I have a passion for working with New York's diverse cultures. I also believe that teachers should be able to learn from their students and their life experiences that they bring to class.
I believe that tutoring ESL classes should be thematic and contextualized regardless of the level. Getting students interested in the class is half the battle because language acquisition is both a means of communicating and thinking. It is of the utmost importance that as a teacher I find out what my students' interests are.
As far as History is concerned, it is more than just a bunch of dates and events to memorize. Living in a city of immigrants students will find History much more interesting if they can link their immigrant experience to the different immigrants that preceded them in New York and the US. We are all making History in NYC.
Besides being an ESL teacher I was a Staff Developer and Lead Teacher for BEGIN Managed Programs, NYC's welfare to work program where I wrote curriculum and lesson plans for subjects as diverse as Health Literacy, Work Readiness, and the History of Welfare Reform.
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