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CTC Credentialed English, Reading, Writing teacher with PhD
Nima N.

5.0 (12 ratings)

36 hours tutoring

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Hourly Rate: $200
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Response time: 9 hours

About Nima

Bio

I love to teach because I love to learn. The two make for a very symbiotic relationship. As a PhD, I know that hard work and a passion for research and education pay off. I started tutoring while an undergraduate student at UCLA and have continued tutoring and formally teaching, both at the high school level as well as at the university level, since 2005. I have enjoyed working with students from varying age groups, from early adolescence to late adulthood. Regardless of their ages, I help my...

I love to teach because I love to learn. The two make for a very symbiotic relationship. As a PhD, I know that hard work and a passion for research and education pay off. I started tutoring while an undergraduate student at UCLA and have continued tutoring and formally teaching, both at the high school level as well as at the university level, since 2005. I have enjoyed working with students from varying age groups, from early adolescence to late adulthood. Regardless of their ages, I help my students realize their potentials and achieve the outcomes toward which they strive. Their success is also my success and, therefore, I find my work extremely rewarding.

I specialize in tutoring English, especially reading and writing, but have also tutored students in preparation for the CBEST, TOEFL, GRE, ACT, and SAT tests. Whether we are working on textual analysis or syntax and sentence structure, I try to keep my students engaged and excited about our work without overwhelming them. I am not a strong believer in added homework; I teach with long-term, procedural memory practices in mind. However, if I feel that my students may benefit from homework, I assign work that engages them without burdening them unnecessarily. To that end, I may also assess their progress and draft reports highlighting their improvements and my concerns.

I am flexible time-wise and work around your schedules as well. Although I do have a 24-hour cancellation policy, I am happy to offer make-up classes.

My goals for my classes stem from my belief in developing a reciprocating environment that is both stimulating and challenging. I emphasize the importance of multiple perspectives and underline the value of individual inquiry and insight. In my classes, students choose their subjects in an environment that motivates them to discover the subject’s unknown sides, which encourages them to seek out the work of others and look at their own thinking and writing on that subject, a process that allows for them to appreciate the value—the responsibilit

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Education

UCLA
English
Saint Mary's College of California
Masters
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
PhD
  • Licensed teacher

Additional Languages

Iranian Persian

Policies

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Approved Subjects

CBEST

CBEST

I hold a PhD in English and I have taught English writing and reading comprehension and composition at the university level for over six years, which qualify me to help students successfully prepare for and pass both the Reading and Writing sections of the CBEST. Furthermore, my knowledge of mathematics up to Pre-Calculus easily enables me to help my students prepare for the Math section of the CBEST. I have successfully tutored adults preparing for the CBEST. I have passed the CBEST myself, scoring a near perfect on all three sections.
Elementary (K-6th)

Elementary (K-6th)

I have worked with children between grades one and eight as part of the No Child Left Behind Program sponsored by Newton Learning and Edison Schools. This work required that I meet with my students individually for two hour sessions and work with them on reading, writing, and math. I had twenty students each semester between the ages of seven and thirteen. I utilized specific worksheets and lesson plans designed to help raise their proficiencies in each subject area and prepare them for their school's summative assessments. I am also a California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) certified teacher. As part of my credential, I am educated in educational psychology and developmental psychology, dealing predominantly with early childhood education and the pedagogical fundamentals associated with children in the elementary grades.
English

English

I have taught English writing and reading comprehension and composition for over ten years. I have taught English literature, creative writing, argument, and research at the University level for over six years. I have a bachelor's degree in English Literature from UCLA (Cum Laude). I have a Master of Fine Arts in Poetry writing from Saint Mary's College of California. I also have a PhD in English, with focuses in Poetics, Nineteenth Century Studies (British Literature), and Film Theory from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (ranked top 10 in PhD programs). I am a published author. I have poems, articles, and interviews published in both domestic and international journals and magazines. I have also taught a diverse range of students, ranging from private liberal arts colleges like Saint Mary's College of California, to Midwestern universities like the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, to conducting poetry workshops for special privileges inmates at the San Francisco Department of Corrections, to tutoring inner city school kids as part of the No Child Left Behind Program, to aiding adults preparing for the TOEFL test, to helping high school ninth and eleventh grade world and US history students required to write proper analytical history papers at Acalanes High School in Lafayette, CA. I have also been selected to judge writing competitions, including the 2008 Walnut Creek Poetry Contest as well as the 2014 Laurus Magazine annual creative writing competition. Finally, I am one of the readers for the country's oldest literary journal, _Prairie Schooner_.
ESL/ESOL

ESL/ESOL

I get to know more about my students so that I can learn what matters most to them. My teaching strategy, therefore, understands what it is you wish to learn in English. For instance, you may not be interested in understanding the grammatical conditions for future perfect; instead, you would much rather know how to order a taxi or discuss a payment with your bank. Furthermore, my students who desire to learn the essentials of grammar are taught them through an emphasis on real-life subjects like their working environment, how to deal with their finances, how to maneuver their everyday world by filling in forms, sharing real conversations with people, learning idioms, understanding maxims, paying bills, and meeting new people. I listen to my students, because they often show me how best to teach them. When you tell me what you believe that you need to learn, I develop the best possible strategies for you to learn it. The world in which you live is your textbook and greatest source. We will explore this world together and learn how it communicates with us and requires us to communicate with it. Advertisements, signs on windows, streets, and headlines on newspapers and magazines all function as lessons and interactions; when we interact with them, we are stimulating our retention, which helps us remember the interaction and, consequently, the language. We use the real world to learn the language of that world. It is this language that will most help you in your real life as well. Rest assured, it doesn't matter at what level of English you are, we can approach the English speaking world one step at a time until you feel comfortable enough to take additional steps. Trust me, you will learn the English language like you learned your first language, through gradual and steady immersion.
Film

Film

I have worked in the entertainment industry since 1999. My IMDb profile attests to that fact. I started as a Production Assistant, and have worked as a Production Coordinator, as well as an assistant to producers. I have also worked as a script reader and a script consultant with independent film legend and producer's representative Jeff "The Dude" Dowd. I helped professional screenwriters edit and strengthen the structure of their screenplays. I've also taught film theory courses at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. These courses involve viewing films and discussing them with theoretical frameworks in mind (Freudian theory, Lacanian theory, etc.). Heavy focus is given to the technical aspects of shot composition: camera angle, sound, dialogue, music, etc. and how these aspects contribute to the rhetoric inherent within shot composition as well as how they relate, support, or speak to certain theoretical frameworks.
Grammar

Grammar

I have taught English writing and reading comprehension and composition for over ten years. I have taught English literature, creative writing, argument, and research at the University level for over six years. I have a Bachelor's degree in English from UCLA (Cum Laude). I have a Master of Fine Arts in Poetry writing from Saint Mary's College of California as well as a PhD in English, with specializations in Poetics, Nineteenth Century Studies (British Literature), and Film Theory from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (a top ten ranked school in this field). I am a published author. I have poems, articles, and interviews published in both domestic and international journals and magazines. I have taught a diverse range of students, ranging from private liberal arts colleges like Saint Mary's College of California, to Midwestern universities like the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, to conducting poetry workshops for special privileges inmates at the San Francisco Department of Corrections, to tutoring inner city school kids as part of the No Child Left Behind Program, to aiding adults preparing for the TOEFL test, to helping high school ninth and eleventh grade world and US history students required to write proper analytical history papers at Acalanes High School in Lafayette, CA. I have also been selected to judge writing competitions, including the 2008 Walnut Creek Poetry Contest as well as the 2014 Laurus Magazine annual creative writing competition. Finally, I am one of the readers for the country's oldest literary journal, "Prairie Schooner."
Phonics

Phonics

I am trilingual (Persian, German, English) with an added, but limited proficiency in Spanish. I have experienced my three languages within their native contexts; that is, I have lived in both Iran and Germany for a number of years and I am currently living in the US. My interaction with language exists on a phonetic level. In other words, I recognize phonics in order to bridge language acquisition, construction, and expression. Phonics complement morphemes which together complement the orthography of words within a given language. I have worked with children as part of the No Child Left Behind Program (NCLB), including children for whom English is a second and sometimes third or fourth language. I have also worked with adults preparing for the TOEFL. In these experiences, in order to help my students acquire proficiency in the phonetic representation of language, I have worked with them on the level of sound, meaning, and spelling. In this way, my students begin to understand language comprehension and acquisition as a process of decoding, which helps them in constructing thoughts using appropriate words. My education in English (B.A., M.F.A., Ph.D.) also highly qualifies me to work on the level of language acquisition, be it phonetically, morphemically, orthographically, or contextually. Furthermore, I am a California Commission on Teacher Credentialing certified teacher for secondary education, which also includes preparation in English acquisition, including English as a Second Language (ESL) or English Language Learners (ELL), English Language Development (ELD), and Limited English Proficient (LEP), to name a few.
Public Speaking

Public Speaking

I have lectured at the University level for over six years. I have also hosted and curated a reading series at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Each reading has been published as a podcast, which is available through iTunes, showcasing the poetry, fiction, nonfiction, or creative nonfiction of a writer introduced by me. These readings were held at a local establishment in the city of Lincoln and hosted an audience of between forty and seventy-five people regularly.
Spelling

Spelling

Having lived on three different continents throughout my childhood and adolescence and having adapted to and absorbed three different languages and cultures, I am uniquely qualified to work with students who are aiming to improve their spelling and literacy of the English language, because I know how to break down a language in order to see its structure on a phonetic level as well as a linguistic level, centering around the importance of the morpheme as well as placing an additional emphasis on cognates. I am also a California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) certified teacher. As part of my credential, I am knowledgeable about educational psychology and developmental psychology, dealing predominantly with early childhood education and the pedagogical fundamentals associated with children in the elementary grades. Additionally, I hold three degrees in English. I possess a Bachelor's degree from UCLA (Cum Laude). I have a Master of Fine Arts degree from Saint Mary's College of California (4.0 GPA), specializing in Poetry. I also have a PhD in English, with a specialization in Poetics, an emphasis in Nineteenth Century Studies (Literature), as well as a collateral field in Film Theory from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (ranked top ten in the nation for their PhD program).
Writing

Writing

I have taught English writing and reading comprehension and composition for over ten years. I have taught English literature, creative writing, argument, and research at the University level for over six years. I have a Master of Fine Arts in Poetry writing as well as a PhD in English, with specializations in Poetics, Nineteenth Century Studies (British Literature), and Film Theory. I am also a published author. I have poems, articles, and interviews published in both domestic and international journals and magazines. I have taught a diverse range of students, ranging from private liberal arts colleges like Saint Mary's College of California, to midwestern universities like the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, to conducting poetry workshops for special privileges inmates at the San Francisco Department of Corrections, to tutoring inner city school kids as part of the No Child Left Behind Program, to aiding adults preparing for the TOEFL test, to helping high school ninth and eleventh grade world and US history students required to write proper analytical history papers at Acalanes High School in Lafayette, CA. I have also been selected to judge writing competitions, including the 2008 Walnut Creek Poetry Contest as well as the 2014 Laurus Magazine annual creative writing competition. Finally, I am one of the readers for the country's oldest literary journal, _Prairie Schooner_.
ACT English
ACT Reading
American History
GED
GRE
Literature
Proofreading
PSAT
Reading
SAT Reading
SAT Writing
TOEFL
Vocabulary
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Reviews

Wonderful tutor

Nima came to this class well prepared. He was quite resourceful in offering study tips. A very smart and sincere teacher! Although our conflicting schedules prevented us from continuing lessons, we would recommend Nima to anyone!

Wannie, 1 lesson with Nima
Hourly Rate: $200
Response time: 9 hours
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