Jo Ann N. - Tutor in Colorado Springs, CO (80909)

I am a retired lawyer with a graduate degree in theology. I've had extensive experience in tutoring people as a volunteer and for a corporate relocation company.

The best way to help people is find out what their interests and aptitudes are and then to focus lessons on those interests and aptitudes so far as is possible. The most important thing to do is to have fun while learning. This is not just true for children, but it's also true for adults.

My TEFL Certification is from a company in Prague where I spent 5 weeks in 2004. Due to that and to a fair amount of international travel, I am very sensitive to cross cultural issues.

I look forward to tutoring in the coming year and to meeting some new and exciting students.

ESL/ESOL

I received my TEFL Certificate in the spring of 2004 from TEFL Worldwide Prague. Since then I’ve taught English as a second language to Russians, Koreans, Spanish speakers and Japanese. I love doing it. It’s so much fun working with people from different cultures. I try to see that my students have fun, too. When I find out what their interests and aptitudes are, I use them as vehicles for improving conversation, vocabulary, writing and grammar. For example, if a student is interested in music, we use musical terms, instruments and personalities in our lessons as much as possible. Grammar can be boring, so I use video, audio and the written and spoken word to get the point across. The more variety, the better we learn. Even if you don’t speak a word of English, I can get you started and keep you going toward your goal whether it’s speaking English fluently or just enough to be understood and to understand. If reading comprehension alone is your goal, we can do that too.