As a senior in high school, I tutored at my math teacher's request a Japanese male student in Geometry. He didn't know any English, but he was bright and used a Japanese-English dictionary when necessary, He consistently got high B's in his Geometry grades. As a Ph.D. candidate, I tutored students in Semitic languages (Arabic, Akkadian, Aramaic). I have also tutored Biblical Hebrew to interested students (in high school I also tutored Hebrew to Bar Mitzvah candidates). I also tutored writing to students interested in getting a GED at the Rochambeau School in White Plains.
My father was a rabbi, and he was an excellent teacher. I learned much from him. I attended a wonderful high school in which I had excellent teachers--I learned from them a great deal about teaching. It was called Horace Greeley and was listed as one of the ten best high schools in the country.
Although I had a brief stint at teaching at Hunter College in NYC and have taught Hebrew Bible to a class at the Hebrew Institute of White Plains (an Orthodox synagogue), I excel at one-on-one teaching. I am a very empathetic person, and I adjust my teaching to the level of the student, while attempting to challenge the student to improve at whatever the subject matter is. I am also flexible; if one method isn't working I try another method. For instance, I taught Biblical Hebrew to a student for three years. While I began teaching using exercises from a Biblical grammar book, the student didn't find this method congenial, so I switched to teaching simple passages from the Hebrew Bible itself. I spent three years with that particular student.
My significant other is an English tutor with thirteen years experience, which she has shared with me (she is a licensed teacher). I have learned a lot from her about tutoring, and from time to time I have also been able to assist her (when she needed help in math, for instance). Tutoring for me is a way to help people help themselves.
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