Ilona M.
Pompano Beach, FL
Learning is life's adventure.
Florida Atlantic University
Music EducationFlorida Atlantic University
MEdFlorida Atlantic University
Master'sAbout Ilona
If you are interested in working with a dedicated professional with passion for education and a love of learning, I am sure I can help you.
My style of teaching is based on a holistic approach, minimum stress and maximum results. I believe that there is always a way to explain any problem, and it is my responsibility to find the right way for
Policies
Cancellation
24 hours notice requiredThe cancellation fee is your hourly rate, and the amount is based on your scheduled time. It is applied any time within 24 hours period from the scheduled tutoring. The music lessons start at $45/hr.
Travel Radius
Travels within 25 miles of Pompano Beach, FL 33069Ilona offers online lessons
Ilona is approved to conduct lessons through Wyzant Online. Wyzant Online allows students and tutors to work remotely via video, audio, and collaborative whiteboard tools. For more information about how online tutoring works, check out Wyzant Online.
If you’re interested in online lessons, message Ilona to get started.
"Excellent and patient tutor"
- Gina, Pompano Beach, FL on 2/24/17I have had more than five lessons with Ilona and I knew from the first lesson she was the perfect tutor for me. She is very patient and kind. She is also very proficient and detailed. She gives you guidelines and we both tackle the assignments together. I follow her guidelines and it makes learning so much easier. I plan to have her as a tutor for other upcoming college classes. She is the only tutor I want to use. She is very familiar with different subjects as well. Ilona is my permanent tutor. Thank you llona for all of your help. Gina
Thank you so much, I really appreciate your feedback and looking forward to help you with your other classes.
"Knowledgeable Tutor"
- Nadine, Fort Lauderdale, FL on 3/21/17Ilona is knowledgeable about the subjects and extends patience to my children. Three weeks and I've seen improvements! My children are comfortable around her which is a very important piece of the learning puzzle.
Thank you Ms. Ilona
"great tutor"
- Sheryl, Pompano Beach, FL on 12/21/16ilona did a great job with my 9 yrs old son struggling with 4th grade math, she came prepared, she brought materials that made maths so simple, even me the parent understood, i am looking forward to have her working with my son until he has mastered maths.
Thank you, I will make sure that Jaden is successful in math.
"Good Lesson"
- Soroya, Pompano Beach, FL on 7/29/16Had a good lesson yesterday. Spoke to llona on areas I feel we need to work on more in order to help me with my singing and distinguishing the notes just by hearing them with the ability to sing right on key. This is where I feel our focus needs to be going forward to help me execute my goal.
I also mentioned to her, to please be on time for our classes so it doesn't interrupt other things I need to do after our classes.
I also mentioned we need to focus more on singing than the book work since my goal is to be a well rounded singer with a great ear for music.
Overall went well today.
"Very patient and knowledgeable"
- Cynthia, Pompano Beach, FL on 12/13/15Ilona taught me the basis on multiplying, adding and dividing fractions, and how to change them to decimal form. With her help and my practicing I am confident I will be able to work on Algebra independently.
"Useful first lesson"
- Keila, Boca Raton, FL on 11/13/15My children had a short but a very useful time with Ilona. She knew all the subjects and could support them on their homeworks.
We're going to have more classes with her.
Thank you Ilona!
Approved subjects are in bold.
Approved subjects
In most cases, tutors gain approval in a subject by passing a proficiency exam. For some subject areas, like music and art, tutors submit written requests to demonstrate their proficiency to potential students. If a tutor is interested but not yet approved in a subject, the subject will appear in non-bold font. Tutors need to be approved in a subject prior to beginning lessons.
ACT English
ACT English requires similar skills as SAT, knowing academic vocabulary and basic English grammar. Knowledge of academic vocabulary helps to understand the text faster, especially that some words may have more than one meaning, and knowing grammar helps to find the subject of the text quicker. Both of them can also help in writing better paragraphs.
ACT Reading
ACT reading requires specific academic vocabulary as well as basic grammar. This also helps with future test taking such as SAT or writing. Vocabulary can be practiced together with grammar and also included in writing. Knowing types of vocabularies for this test helps understanding the reading part much faster and aslo helps with different questions about the vocabularies words.
Algebra 1
Algebra can be sometimes tricky with word problems, and requires creative thinking and use of different rules and graphs. I like get involved in these challenges and help students understand different approaches.
Algebra 2
Algebra 2 requires a good knowledge of Algebra 1, and that includes multiplication table. I found that that sometimes I have to review with my students some topics from Algebra 1 before I can help them with Algebra 2 problems. The word problems are very logical, so the main problem is to get idea how the problems are being set up, and follow their pattern.
American History
Learning about American History requires organization and knowing how to use the cause and effect. A new vocabulary helps, mostly asking why certain events happened, and what caused them.
Cello
I have BA in Music Education. During my studies I had to learn to play all of the orchestral instruments. I also did independent cello study for 3 months as part of my violin/cello studies. I teach cello for 4 years to elementary and intermediate level students from 9 years old to adult.
CLAST
Before studying at Broward College I had to take the CLAST myself, and now I have been preparing students for this test for over 10 years. The main components are reading comprehension, writing and Math. This test's skills are similar to SAT test.
Composition (Music)
I have BA in Music Education where I had to learn music theory as part of composition. I also have 4 years of music theory, form, analysis and harmony experience from Poland, where I finished music high school.
Ear Training
Ear training was part of my music lessons. I had an ear training class in Poland for 12 years.
Elementary (K-6th)
I substitute for Broward County Schools since 2010, mostly K-12 academic subjects. I utor for 5 years and always use customized methods to meet every student's individual needs. I find that most subject are connected to the ability of reading and comprehensive understanding, especially when it comes to science and social studies.
English
The subject of English comes down to three skills, comprehension, grammar, and vocabulary. At any level students need help with most of those components, and reading comprehension directly relates to vocabulary that includes spelling and grammar.
I always try to use flashcards and teach all of three skills together. My students have excellent results on ACT, SAT and GRE test, but that also depends how much work they put themselves.
ESL/ESOL
I teach ESOL to both young students and adults. I like concentrating on the academic aspect of learning English. not many teachers have the experience to be able to combine academic and English needs at the same time.
Flute
I have been teaching flute for 4 years and playing for 6, as part of my BA in Music Education.
General Music
I have been teaching music for 24 years as a private instructor, and studying it for 18 years as part of my music education in Poland. I also received a BA in Music Education.
Geometry
Geometry has a lot to do with Pythagorean Theorem and its triples. I usually like to work on real life examples as their applications work the best with my students. Multiplication table is very useful here especially when it come to squaring numbers and finding its square roots. Having basic knowledge of different formulas for areas and perimeters, types of angles and triangles is very important. I usually start with this basic knowledge and work with current problems and functions.
IELTS
IELTS test is similar to TOEFL, however it maybe used for employment purposes. Therefore it requires English reading comprehensions, writing and business speaking skills. Business vocabulary depends on the profession, and this is the main difference in this test. It id geared mostly for business professionals, and the reading and vocabulary has to be geared towards specific profession. I use different materials to concentrate on a business English.
Microsoft Excel
MS Excel is very user friendly, however it requires knowledge of certain formulas as it is a numerological program. It is very use to set up different types of charts, and it is helpful to have a basic knowledge of MS Word to navigate in Excel.
I usually evaluate the knowledge of MS Word before I go on to teach MS Excel. There are many different charts that can be used with this program, as well as helpful calculations. The functions are programmed in the help option. It is also possible to work with graphics, it all depends what are the needs of the Excel project.
Microsoft Windows
As part if my BA degree I took Microsoft Office classes and use them daily, I teach those skills to many of my students that have to do academic writing or presentations. I am fluent in MS Word, PowerPoint and Excel.
Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word is the most common used software on bot Mac and PC. It has many different functions, and it takes practice to know how to use them to format a document. Most of my students use this software and based on their knowledge I always teach them something new to help them format their documents. Most of the functions I use is spacing, use fonts, inserting tables, formatting tables, and inserting images to work with the text.
Music History
I studied music history for 4 years in Poland and 2 years (4 terms) at Broward College and Florida Atlantic University.
Piano
I have played the piano for 30 years as part of my music education in Poland and BA in Music Education from Florida Atlantic University.
Polish
I was born in Poland. Polish is my first language. I am fluent in reading, writing and speaking. The Polish language has difficult pronunciation but its grammar is very similar to Spanish language. I have about 2 adult students that I work with to teach them this language.
Prealgebra
Prealgebra requires basic math skills as well as knowledge of multiplication table.
The topics require word problems, and setting up numbers and this is where my students have most problems. if there are 3 variables and one is missing the set up is always the same, and they can follow a pattern.
Proofreading
I find this skills very useful for any subject that requires writing. The knowledge of punctuation and basic grammar is a must to be able to prepare for ACT or SAT writing tests or any writing assignment. I always encourage my students to proofread their assignmets and to ask somebody else to do it, sometimes the person who wrote the paper may not see some mistakes.
Public Speaking
Public speaking skills are required in any work environment, but the real life school of public speaking is Toastmasters. I have been a member of Toastmasters since 2012. I learned a lot more skills with them than just public speaking. Public speaking is an art, and they made an artist from me.
I teach at a college and oral presentations are part of the ESOL program. I also encourage my ESOL students to check out local Toastmasters clubs.
Reading
Academic reading is different than everyday reading and it requires diverse approaches, depending on types of reading such as persuasive, narrative or cause of effect. I have been teaching it for over 5 years, and also at a college level.
SAT Reading
SAT Reading requires to know academic vocabulary, and English grammar. The vocabulary helps to understand the test quicker, and as many words can have more than one meaning, it helps to get the text comprehension faster. Both vocabulary and grammar helps also in SAT writing, and understanding the text in what tense it is written, as well as who or what is the subject.
SAT Writing
Being an ESOL instructor I can help your international student with academic reading and writing which maybe totally different than it is in his country. Not every instructor has this type of experience.
Sight Singing
I studied sight singing for 10 years in Poland and 4 years at Florida Atlantic University.
Songwriting
Song writing skills are part of music theory that I teach in most music lessons for over 24 years. Song writing requires good knowledge of music theory and its relation to different music styles. Often time the melody is more important than the harmony.
Good start is to find words that you like and try to to figure out a melody that will work with those words, and then add the harmony. Piano could be helpful in this process.
SSAT
The Secondary School Admission Test (SSAT) is designed as an aptitude test to measure a student's ability in core subject areas independent of a student's school record. This test is similar to ACT test, and the teaching principles are similar as well. I use handouts for areas of problems, and make sure that any underlying areas are addressed as well.
Study Skills
I Have been tutoring for over 15 years and mentoring for 5 years. Music and academic subjects require different study skills and they have to be personalized. Study skills should be based on individual learning style, and this can be find by taking a test about learning abilities. Knowing how you learn will help you to develop study skills. I find that consistency is the most important part in studding any subject, but especially in music as it requires development of muscle memory. My students have 90% success rate when taking ACT or SAT tests, or GED and GRE, if they practice preparations on a consistent basis and do their homework. I emphasize the importance of good study skills in every of my tutoring sessions. Part of it following up with homework, or extra exercises. Some examples of study skills is to use flash cards for vocabulary learning or multiplications, that you can create yourself, looking for reading examples to practice finding main ideas, also word problems require everyday practice. Flash cards are very useful and can be used in any situation. Also, finding patterns in reading and in math can help to understand it faster and to apply it better across all subjects. Having MA in TESOL helped me understand that most of the skills used to teach English language, and that many if these skills can be applied to any other subject.
TOEFL
I am teaching English to speakers of other languages for 4 years. I took a TOEFL sample test to know what my students should know and how to teach them effectively to pass this test. I prepared students to take TOEFL by implementing in all of my classes reading, writing, speaking and listening exercises as well as oral presentation. I have MA in TESOL and am teaching ESOL to a college level students.
Violin
I am a violinist for 38 years and perform professionally. Violin was my major instrument when I received a BA in Music Education.
Writing
I love to work on essays and to make them good for academic format. I use APA and MLA styles. Creativity is very important here as well as good knowledge of vocabulary and grammar. I also teach different types of paragraphs or essays to ensure consistency in format.
Other Pompano Beach, FL Tutors
Ilona M.
Pompano Beach, FL
Learning is life's adventure.
Social Studies
I substitute for Broward County Schools since 2010, many times in Social Studies subjects.
Social studies requires variety of knowledge and good research skills. It is important to to focus on the topic and look for the right sources that will give valid information.