MATESOL, with 9 years English language teaching experience

Marcus J.

Hi I'm Marcus! I am originally from Los Angeles but I now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time I like to cook (especially Persian and Turkish food!), hike, play the lute, play video games, and hang out with my two cats. I'm a professional teacher with an MA in TESOL and over 9 years of professional language teaching experience at universities, non-profits, private language schools, and K-12 public schools. I'm not just a teacher, but also a learner. I've studied Turkish, Mongolian, and have a basic proficiency in Spanish as well as a wide variety of academic interests such as history, literature, political philosophy, and, most recently, renaissance and early baroque lute music.

My teaching style is highly personalized and follows modern pedagogical practices built to suit your needs as a learner. I try to build confidence in my learners through critical thinking skills and reflective practice. Rather than solely explicit instruction, I prefer to guide the student critically so they may come to their own conclusions and compare their answers to the norm and thereby build meaning internally.

I specialize in academic English, communicative English, American culture, pronunciation, creative writing, and literacy development. I've taught in a wide variety of contexts and with a wide variety of students over the course of my career, from beginners with little to no experience with formal education to international graduate students purusing their PhD. I have many credentials besides my MATESOL, I also hold an SIT TESOL certificate, as well as Ohio and New York state teaching licenses for ESOL, ELA, and literacy development.

Learning must center around the student's needs, context, learning style, and goals. So I welcome any resources, tools, comments, and suggestions from the student so I can make sure they're getting what they need from their education :)