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Polyglot: ESL, French, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Greek, Russian, German
Mary G.

5.0 (138 ratings)

276 hours tutoring

Your first lesson is backed by our Good Fit Guarantee
Hourly Rate: $90
Contact Mary

Response time: 44 minutes

Mary G.'s Photo

Polyglot: ESL, French, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Greek, Russian, German
Polyglot: ESL, French, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Greek, Russian, German
Mary G.

5.0 (138 ratings)

276 hours tutoring

Your first lesson is backed by our Good Fit Guarantee
5.0 (138 ratings)

276 hours tutoring

Your first lesson is backed by our Good Fit Guarantee

About Mary

Bio

Everyone that knows me knows I love languages: all of them! I've studied 17 so far. (Swahili is next!) I have a B.A. in English, one in Biblical Languages, and an M.A. in German Translation (form Kent State). Even as a professional translator/editor, I've found time to teach and coach students on their foreign-language journeys for over 20 years. I really enjoy being a mentor to language-learners, and we often form friendships that last long after our lessons end because they know I care both...

Everyone that knows me knows I love languages: all of them! I've studied 17 so far. (Swahili is next!) I have a B.A. in English, one in Biblical Languages, and an M.A. in German Translation (form Kent State). Even as a professional translator/editor, I've found time to teach and coach students on their foreign-language journeys for over 20 years. I really enjoy being a mentor to language-learners, and we often form friendships that last long after our lessons end because they know I care both about their linguistic progress and their success in life.

My specialties are English (including TESOL & IELTS), Russian, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Koine Greek, Braille, and Morse code. I've taught everything from university courses to one-on-one tutoring. I love working with students of all ages and abilities, helping them excel in a wide variety of subjects. My students say I'm a good listener, patient, and teach in a thorough and understandable way that takes their questions and learning challenges into account and addresses them well.

I use visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning techniques, incorporating colors, props, songs, hand motions, etc., to aid in understanding and vocabulary acquisition. We draw flash cards, come up with mnemonic devices, play games, make videos, and do anything else that makes language study fun and motivating for students. Occasionally,, we go to a store, visit a zoo or park, make a recipe, etc., to provide even more practical language use.

There are few things in life I enjoy more than teaching others to speak the languages I love, so message me, if you've ever been told or thought you "can't" learn a language. In my experience, it's the teaching methods that don't work, not the student that can't learn, and believe me, I have a lot of experience. I look forward to hearing from you and showing you that you can learn that language you've always wanted to speak, but were afraid to start. My mission is to show others language-learning is fun and easy. Let me show you!

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Education

York College
English and also Biblical Studies
Kent State University
Masters

Policies

  • Hourly Rate: $90
  • Rate details: *Discounts for SUMMER, multiple bookings, etc. Contact me for details. *Group: $37.50/hr/student; *2+ subjects/hr: +$5/hr/extra subject; *2+ hr sessions: +$5/hr/student after 2 hrs
  • Lesson cancellation: 24 hours notice required

  • Background check passed on 9/22/2015

  • Your first lesson is backed by our Good Fit Guarantee

Schedule

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Subjects

Business

GRE,

GRE

In preparing students for the GRE, I review each section of the test with them—the Analytical Writing, the Verbal Reasoning, and the Quantitative Reasoning Sections—focusing on all the types of questions students will encounter. I give my students tips to help them successfully complete each section and I administer mini-tests, which focus on the various question types, so that from their answers I can determine and point out to students both their strengths and their weaknesses. I then work with them more specifically in the areas they struggle with, giving them more focused tips and practice tests and training them to work up to being able to complete the test questions in the amount of time they ought to allot for similar questions on the GRE itself. I generally begin by reviewing for the Analytical Writing section with students. We work on developing both their critical thinking and their analytical writing. I start them off by having them practice the Analysis of an Argument portion of the writing section, testing their ability to find flaws in arguments that merely seem logical. In order to do this, we go over basic rules of logic to help them be able to identify the premises and assumptions that make an argument true or false. Armed with this knowledge, we then proceed to the Analysis of an Issue portion. In addition to helping my students learn to build logical arguments, I also help them learn the fundamentals of good writing (including structure, specificity, tone, voice, and even occasionally grammar and spelling, among others) to help them excel in writing their essay on the GRE. In working to get students an outstanding score on the Verbal Reasoning portion of the test, we practice text completion (25% of the section’s questions), sentence equivalence (25%), and reading comprehension questions (50%). Since vocabulary plays such an important role in this section (particularly in the first two types of questions), I provide word lists, containing vocabulary commonly tested on the GRE. I make the list
Microsoft Word

Computer

Microsoft Word

Corporate Training

Czech,

Czech

I studied Czech at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. There is a large ethnic Czech population in that part of NE, so my studies also included cultural events, information about which I like to share with my students. I also have experience in comparative linguistics and how Czech and Russian are similar and relate to each other.
ESL/ESOL,

ESL/ESOL

I became a certified ESL tutor in 2007, but I have been tutoring students in ESL and teaching ESL classes since the year 2000. I am glad to help students prepare for the TOEFL or IELTS, but I also often simply have conversational English lessons with students to improve their speaking skills, work on English idioms, or help them with one specific area they find very challenging. I teach with a lot of enthusiasm and so I always use props, colorful illustrations, students' personal experiences, controversial topics, etc., as the basis of the lesson to make sure students stay interested and continue learning. Sometimes we even go on field trips to places that are relevant to the topic of the day's lesson. For example, if we are talking about retail, we may go to the mall and talk about the different aspects of retail that we encounter. Even though American culture is not technically a part of "English as a Second Language," I also often have students talk to me about the frustrations they have adapting to the culture in this country, because having gone through culture shock here myself, I know it can be quite a hard step to take toward a successful life in America. Often this conversation provides an opportunity to explain some of the U.S.'s cultural traits and it always leads to very good discussions and a lot of excellent speaking practice.
French,

French

I was born in Brussels, and as that is part of the French-speaking portion of Belgium, I grew up with a native accent and I went to a French-speaking school through third grade, at which point we moved to Austria. I later did undergraduate and graduate coursework in French translation, linguistics, and literature at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I got my start in tutoring in college from a work/study job and I have been tutoring French for years. I am also a French<>English translator, as well as a consecutive and simultaneous French interpreter, specializing in medicine, as well as literature and religion.
German,

German

I grew up in Vienna, Austria and went to a German school, so I have an authentic German accent. After moving to the States, I did graduate coursework in German literature and linguistics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and am now finishing Kent State University's Master of Arts in Translation with German as my focus language. I also taught German at Kent State University for two years, from 2011 to 2013, and have since been working as a German medical translator. When I tutor German, I focus on the areas that my student in covering in class, of course, but I also get the student working with and on all areas of the language. For beginning learners, we work on a student's ability to listen and differentiate syllables (morphemes) and words and make sense of them, as well as their ability to think in German. I emphasize correct spelling and tie that to reading and to proper pronunciation by showing my students the relationships letters have to the sounds they represent and helping them be able to anticipate which syllables do not carry the emphasis and therefore will not sound like they are "supposed to" when used by native speakers. I help students work backwards to "un-collapse" the sounds, so that the unrecognizable words students hear can, in fact, be recognized. Grammar is a focus, no matter what level of German I am tutoring, but I teach it in innovative and interesting ways (using colorful charts, popular German songs, puzzles, Jenga (a game), etc.) I help students learn cases and tenses by comparing and contrasting them with their English counterparts. And we spend quite a bit of time on prepositions, since they have been known to cause nightmares before exams. My students also receive training in vocabulary and German idioms, as well as German conventions. We learn these topically and using a variety of visual, auditory, and tactile means. I build in reading comprehension and writing practice in my teaching of vocabulary and before they know it, my students have read and written their first German
Grammar,

Grammar

It wasn't until I took Koine Greek as a senior in high school that I really started understanding English grammar. In fact, I even started LIKING grammar! Having spent the first 18 years of my life avoiding it, though, I definitely understand where students are coming from when they say they don't get and don't like grammar. The thing about grammar, though, is that if you understand it and if you know how to use it, you can do and say so much more than you can if you don't. For one thing, you can make people laugh, if you know how to (mis)use grammar. For instance, what would you think in a situation like this? You're chatting with someone online and they say they're going over to a friend's house for dinner and ask if you want to go. You don't know the friend and ask what she's like, and the response you got is that "she <3 cooking wild flowers & her pets." Would you want to go? How about if they had told you that "she loves cooking, wild flowers, and her pets" instead? See the difference? That's just one example of how I explain grammatical concepts and their importance to students. I try to keep it interesting and entertaining, so that students will keep learning and will not see my tutoring sessions as just more lessons they have to sit through. I am pleased to admit that I am frequently able to help students stop seeing grammar as the enemy, but rather as an ally in their speaking and writing arsenal. I work with students on punctuation; on prefixes, suffixes, and word roots; on homophonic heterographs (like "there," "their," and "they're"); on the correct use of verbs and participles (e.g., "I have already eaten," not "I have already ate."); on the parts of speech, in general; on syntax; and on any other topics students find difficult. I help students with English grammar, but I also work with students on grammar in my other languages. It is often helpful to students to compare and contrast English grammar to the grammar of the new language they are learning, so I often work with students on understan
Greek,

Greek

I have a Bachelor or Arts in Biblical Studies/Biblical Languages and I took three years of Koine Greek. I have translated large portions of the Biblical manuscripts into English. In tutoring Koine Greek, I focus on showing students the patterns, while highlighting the differences. We use a variety of means to learn including student-drawn flash cards, colorful charts, mnemonic devices, etc. And lots, and lots, and lots of practice translating sentences and phrases they can relate to--things they want to say. Even though it's a dead language, I try to make learning it interesting and fun: my students enjoy our lessons and their grades and understanding of Greek improve.
Latin,

Latin

I decided to take Latin for several reasons: because I hadn't studied it yet, to find out more about the background of many of the other languages I know, and to supplement my knowledge of biblical manuscripts. However, I like to tell people that first year Latin was the only class, where a teacher has ever kicked me out. He "kicked me out" when he found out how many languages I had already studied, telling me to take the next level up instead, because I already knew too much about linguistics and would be bored in his class. So I started with Accelerated Latin instead, did very well, and went on from there. In teaching Latin, I will teach you (or your child) not only the vocabulary and the grammar of the language, but also how to learn a language like Latin. Students often have trouble learning dead languages, because things tend to take place only on paper or in a book, rather than in person-to-person conversation, as with other languages still spoken today. However, I will help you "bring it back to life," as it were, as you learn. For visual learners, we will use methods like colored charts and funny flash cards. For aural learners, we will learn by using varying pitches for various parts of speech, sounds that correspond to vocabulary words, and audio flash cards. And for tactile learners, we will do activities like writing sentences fragments on puzzle pieces and figuring out why some pieces can and others can not fit together. I have found that even for college students, these teaching methods are effective learning tools, because they are so different from what students' experiences with Latin have been otherwise, which allows the linguistic facts students pick up on from these types of methods to stick with them that much better.
Proofreading,

Proofreading

I have been proofreading things for people, paid or not, for over 20 years. In addition to looking over my friends' school papers and homework in high school, I became an academic writing tutor in 2002 for my work/study job at college and proofread papers and projects students brought in, and I have just never stopped proofreading. I am actually a German, French, and Spanish translator, professionally, which always involves proofreading my own work, but ironically on my LinkedIn profile, I have more endorsements for proofreading than I do for translation, because I also work as a freelance editor and proofreader and have helped so many people find their mistakes and improve their writing. I proofread anything from papers written for school, to resumes and cover letters, to medical and other types of reports, to book manuscripts, etc.
Russian,

Russian

I studied Russian at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln under a wonderful teacher, who had an extensive background in linguistics and teaching methodologies and who has significantly influenced my tutoring style. I did both undergraduate and graduate work there and have since continued to work on my Russian. I work with students on whatever Russian skills they need help with in whatever ways help them most. The areas that I usually focus on, though, are the case system and its endings, for lower level students, and for more advanced students, Russian participles. I use a variety of means of tutoring Russian, which include everything from comparisons of Russian linguistic traits to English traits (and often teaching students things they did not realize about English), to using color-coded charts, to discussing Russian movies and Russian-as-a-foreign-language news websites (in Russian, of course), to just plain practicing the difficult parts over, and over, and over, and over again.
Spanish,

Spanish

Spanish is the first of the many languages that I studied after moving back to the States as a teenager, so I have the most history with it. From high school all the way up through graduate school, I have been taking Spanish classes: classes in the language (just in general), in Spanish linguistics (including phonetics), in medical Spanish, in Spanish translation, and in Spanish literature. I have worked as an over-the-phone Spanish interpreter, doing consecutive interpretation into and out of Spanish. (My clients needed help in medical, human services, and accounting situations.) I have done simultaneous conference interpreting from Spanish into English, and had I not moved out of state, I would definitely still be doing it, because I enjoyed it so much. I also work with an author, who publishes books in Spanish, then translates them into English and publishes that version, as well. I edit his Spanish manuscripts and cross-check his translation into English. So, I have lots of varied experiences with the Spanish language. Spanish is a beautiful language and I would love to help you master it.
Italian, Microsoft Word

Elementary Education

Grammar,

Grammar

It wasn't until I took Koine Greek as a senior in high school that I really started understanding English grammar. In fact, I even started LIKING grammar! Having spent the first 18 years of my life avoiding it, though, I definitely understand where students are coming from when they say they don't get and don't like grammar. The thing about grammar, though, is that if you understand it and if you know how to use it, you can do and say so much more than you can if you don't. For one thing, you can make people laugh, if you know how to (mis)use grammar. For instance, what would you think in a situation like this? You're chatting with someone online and they say they're going over to a friend's house for dinner and ask if you want to go. You don't know the friend and ask what she's like, and the response you got is that "she <3 cooking wild flowers & her pets." Would you want to go? How about if they had told you that "she loves cooking, wild flowers, and her pets" instead? See the difference? That's just one example of how I explain grammatical concepts and their importance to students. I try to keep it interesting and entertaining, so that students will keep learning and will not see my tutoring sessions as just more lessons they have to sit through. I am pleased to admit that I am frequently able to help students stop seeing grammar as the enemy, but rather as an ally in their speaking and writing arsenal. I work with students on punctuation; on prefixes, suffixes, and word roots; on homophonic heterographs (like "there," "their," and "they're"); on the correct use of verbs and participles (e.g., "I have already eaten," not "I have already ate."); on the parts of speech, in general; on syntax; and on any other topics students find difficult. I help students with English grammar, but I also work with students on grammar in my other languages. It is often helpful to students to compare and contrast English grammar to the grammar of the new language they are learning, so I often work with students on understan
Vocabulary,

Vocabulary

Vocabulary is one of my favorite things to tutor because it broadens students' knowledge base and increases their capacity for learning. I can tutor anyone from an elementary school student to an adult in vocabulary, because there are so many different types of vocabulary-learning needs: School-age kids may have trouble with vocabulary quizzes they get in their English classes; learners of any age may struggle with vocabulary in a foreign language (including English, in the case of ESL students); and college students and adult learners may find the jargon they need to know for their current job or future career challenging. I help all of these groups of students. Being an avid reader with a Bachelor of Arts in English with training in literature, linguistics, and ESL; I have an expansive vocabulary. I also have studied a variety of languages and I have used many, many learning strategies, so I can help students of foreign languages learn those annoying tricky words they can never remember. Also, in my medical interpreter training, I was trained in medical terminology, prefixes, suffixes, etc. For those seeking help in other fields, though, I can also help you, because most English jargon comes from Greek or Latin, which I have also studied. I know how to break the words down into manageable bits and show my students how these pieces of words come together to form the really long, hard words like antidisestablishmentarianism that are so tough to remember. It is important to me to help students figure out how to learn new words in ways that work well for them. I have a long list of vocabulary learning strategies for visual, auditory, and tactile (kinesthetic) learners that includes writing, colors, taking pictures, audio recordings, cell phone apps, YouTube, skits, drawing, collages, crafts, many different types of games, and a whole lot more. Some of the techniques only focus on one learning style, but others combine learning styles because the more senses a student (child or adult) uses in learning a new word
Phonics, Spelling

English

ACT English,

ACT English

I received a B.A. in English and have been tutoring students in all areas of English since 2002. In preparing a student for the English section of the ACT, we go over both the elements graded by the Usage/Mechanics subscore (punctuation [10%-15% of the subscore], grammar and usage [15%-20%], as well as sentence structure [20%-25%]) and the elements graded by the Rhetorical Skills subscore (strategy [15%-20%], organization [10%-15%], as well as style [15%-20%]). In working on getting a student an excellent subscore in Usage/Mechanics, we cover punctuation conventions, focusing on how punctuation affects sentences meaning; we extract the student's intuitive understanding of the proper relationships between parts of speech and examine some idiomatic usage of English expressions; and we explore relationships between clauses, focus on modifier placement, and see what happens when there are shifts in various constructions within a sentence. To ensure the student excels in his or her rhetorical skills, we work on developing an essay topic in an audience- or purpose-appropriate manner, examining effects of supporting statements and their contexts; we organize ideas and examine what constitute effective opening, transitional, and closing sentences; and we practice precise and appropriate expression, keeping style and tone consistent, managing the elements of a sentence in a rhetorically effective fashion, and avoiding characteristics of negative writing.
ACT Reading,

ACT Reading

My B.A. in English focused on literature and I now work as a professional translator, so I have a great deal of experience and practice extracting meaning from written texts. This has been very helpful in knowing how to help students strengthen their reading comprehension, both for the ACT and in school and life, in general. When I tutor ACT Reading, I help students develop their reasoning skills, so that on Test Day, even if they know nothing about the subject(s) they encounter in the reading portion of the exam, neither the social studies, the natural sciences, the literary narrative, nor the humanities passage will seem as intimidating. In preparation, we focus on analyzing voice and style, determining the main ideas that occur in a passage, finding and interpreting important details of a text selection, identifying and correctly evaluating context-dependent elements in a text, understanding cause and effect relationships, internalizing sequences of events, making comparisons within a passage or to elements outside of the text, and making generalizations about the passages we examine,
Braille,

Braille

I learned to read Braille at the Nebraska Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired in 2006. I tutor students in Grade 1, Grade 2, and Grade 3, and I have my own materials. I teach how to both read and write and I help the students explore the various types and brands of Braille note takers and their pros and cons. I also help students learn about community and national resources for the blind, incl. accessibility software and study skills, resources for travel (various types of canes or guide dogs), support from other blind community members and national organizations for the blind.
English,

English

My native language is "English," but I speak it with an American Midwestern accent. (This is the accent U.S. newscasters are trained in, because it is considered neutral and most understandable.) Having traveled and studied as much as I have, however, I know a good deal about other variations of the English language (British English, Australian English, etc., but also the English generally taught in China, the English generally taught in many European countries, and the English generally taught and spoken in many African countries). I have significant training in English vocabulary, grammar, and style and I use these skills every day in my work as an editor and translator into English. I have been teaching students these building blocks of the English language since the year 2000 in a variety of ways: -by teaching ESL courses and tutoring students in ESl, - by tutoring students in academic writing, - by teaching and tutoring students to understand their own language better as they learned a foreign language (e.g., parts of speech, etc.), -and by tutoring students in the history of the English language. I also have a B.A. degree in English with a focus on literature. I have training in adolescent lit, mythology and folklore (Greek and Roman), world lit, British lit, Shakespeare, American lit, and biblical literature.
ESL/ESOL,

ESL/ESOL

I became a certified ESL tutor in 2007, but I have been tutoring students in ESL and teaching ESL classes since the year 2000. I am glad to help students prepare for the TOEFL or IELTS, but I also often simply have conversational English lessons with students to improve their speaking skills, work on English idioms, or help them with one specific area they find very challenging. I teach with a lot of enthusiasm and so I always use props, colorful illustrations, students' personal experiences, controversial topics, etc., as the basis of the lesson to make sure students stay interested and continue learning. Sometimes we even go on field trips to places that are relevant to the topic of the day's lesson. For example, if we are talking about retail, we may go to the mall and talk about the different aspects of retail that we encounter. Even though American culture is not technically a part of "English as a Second Language," I also often have students talk to me about the frustrations they have adapting to the culture in this country, because having gone through culture shock here myself, I know it can be quite a hard step to take toward a successful life in America. Often this conversation provides an opportunity to explain some of the U.S.'s cultural traits and it always leads to very good discussions and a lot of excellent speaking practice.
Grammar,

Grammar

It wasn't until I took Koine Greek as a senior in high school that I really started understanding English grammar. In fact, I even started LIKING grammar! Having spent the first 18 years of my life avoiding it, though, I definitely understand where students are coming from when they say they don't get and don't like grammar. The thing about grammar, though, is that if you understand it and if you know how to use it, you can do and say so much more than you can if you don't. For one thing, you can make people laugh, if you know how to (mis)use grammar. For instance, what would you think in a situation like this? You're chatting with someone online and they say they're going over to a friend's house for dinner and ask if you want to go. You don't know the friend and ask what she's like, and the response you got is that "she <3 cooking wild flowers & her pets." Would you want to go? How about if they had told you that "she loves cooking, wild flowers, and her pets" instead? See the difference? That's just one example of how I explain grammatical concepts and their importance to students. I try to keep it interesting and entertaining, so that students will keep learning and will not see my tutoring sessions as just more lessons they have to sit through. I am pleased to admit that I am frequently able to help students stop seeing grammar as the enemy, but rather as an ally in their speaking and writing arsenal. I work with students on punctuation; on prefixes, suffixes, and word roots; on homophonic heterographs (like "there," "their," and "they're"); on the correct use of verbs and participles (e.g., "I have already eaten," not "I have already ate."); on the parts of speech, in general; on syntax; and on any other topics students find difficult. I help students with English grammar, but I also work with students on grammar in my other languages. It is often helpful to students to compare and contrast English grammar to the grammar of the new language they are learning, so I often work with students on understan
IELTS,

IELTS

When I tutor IELTS prep classes, I generally focus on getting students a Band 7 or above, although I definitely work with the student on his or her individual level and help them meet their individual goals. I have (flexible) schedules for preparing for the IELTS in one week, one month, and several weeks or months. We cover the speaking, writing, reading, and listening skills needed to succeed on the test, and I use multiple IELTS training resources to help strengthen these skills.
Proofreading,

Proofreading

I have been proofreading things for people, paid or not, for over 20 years. In addition to looking over my friends' school papers and homework in high school, I became an academic writing tutor in 2002 for my work/study job at college and proofread papers and projects students brought in, and I have just never stopped proofreading. I am actually a German, French, and Spanish translator, professionally, which always involves proofreading my own work, but ironically on my LinkedIn profile, I have more endorsements for proofreading than I do for translation, because I also work as a freelance editor and proofreader and have helped so many people find their mistakes and improve their writing. I proofread anything from papers written for school, to resumes and cover letters, to medical and other types of reports, to book manuscripts, etc.
Vocabulary,

Vocabulary

Vocabulary is one of my favorite things to tutor because it broadens students' knowledge base and increases their capacity for learning. I can tutor anyone from an elementary school student to an adult in vocabulary, because there are so many different types of vocabulary-learning needs: School-age kids may have trouble with vocabulary quizzes they get in their English classes; learners of any age may struggle with vocabulary in a foreign language (including English, in the case of ESL students); and college students and adult learners may find the jargon they need to know for their current job or future career challenging. I help all of these groups of students. Being an avid reader with a Bachelor of Arts in English with training in literature, linguistics, and ESL; I have an expansive vocabulary. I also have studied a variety of languages and I have used many, many learning strategies, so I can help students of foreign languages learn those annoying tricky words they can never remember. Also, in my medical interpreter training, I was trained in medical terminology, prefixes, suffixes, etc. For those seeking help in other fields, though, I can also help you, because most English jargon comes from Greek or Latin, which I have also studied. I know how to break the words down into manageable bits and show my students how these pieces of words come together to form the really long, hard words like antidisestablishmentarianism that are so tough to remember. It is important to me to help students figure out how to learn new words in ways that work well for them. I have a long list of vocabulary learning strategies for visual, auditory, and tactile (kinesthetic) learners that includes writing, colors, taking pictures, audio recordings, cell phone apps, YouTube, skits, drawing, collages, crafts, many different types of games, and a whole lot more. Some of the techniques only focus on one learning style, but others combine learning styles because the more senses a student (child or adult) uses in learning a new word
Writing,

Writing

I have a Bachelor of Arts in English, with training in ESL, linguistics, and literature. My work as a freelance editor and proofreader over the past several years has given me lots of experience with all sorts of writing styles and genres, as well as with many different style guides. Also as a professional translator, I am constantly trying to find just the perfect way to express in writing the content and sentiments that are in my source text, which is a wonderful way to continually refine my writing skills. I help two types of students improve their writing: non-native speakers and native speakers (whether [non-]native speakers of English or of another language). When a non-native speaker (for example, an ESL student) asks me to help them learn to write better, I work with them on several aspects that will influence their writing: on their ability to think in English (or another language) and to understand spoken or written communication, on pronunciation and the connections between the way words sound and the way they are spelled, on their reading comprehension and vocabulary (including idioms), and on grammar and English writing conventions (or those of another language). The reason I work with students (at least a little bit) on all their language skills is because research shows that speaking, listening, and reading are all connected to writing, and that students learning a new language will do better in their writing skills, if they also use their other skills to help them acquire information that they can use in their writing. In my lessons with native speakers (of whatever language) who struggle either with spelling, handwriting, or simply how to write papers or essays the "right" way, I either use some of the same strategies as with my non-native students (for example, in teaching spelling), or I help students get used to writing the kinds of texts they struggle with by using text samples they find interesting. We being by choosing topics to work with that the students like and then finding examples o
SAT Writing, Spelling, TOEFL

History

Bible Studies,

Bible Studies

I have a bachelor of arts in Biblical studies with an emphasis in Biblical languages. This program included training in the both the Old Testament, the New Testament, the development of the Bible, and church history and world religions. I have studied with many people about the Pentateuch, the books of history, the books of poetry, the major and the minor prophets, the Gospels, the epistles, and the book of revelation. My tutoring includes lessons in any of the following areas: the authorship of the Bible, the various Biblical manuscripts, how the Bible relates to and compares to or differs from other religious books, Biblical times (cultures, moras, language, etc.), Biblical prophesies, Jesus, the early church, and hermeneutical study of the various books of the Bible.
Religion

Religion

I received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biblical Studies (emphasis in Biblical Languages) and in this program I received training not only in principles of Christian religion, but also in the Religions of the World (including Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Animism, Shintoism, and even Taoism, though it is not strictly-speaking a religion. I have also had training in cultural anthropology with an emphasis on religion, again reviewing those same religions, minus Taoism and Shintoism. I have also done case studies in Animism and Hinduism, as well as on how both Hinduism and Islam are similar to and different from Christianity.

Homeschool

English,

English

My native language is "English," but I speak it with an American Midwestern accent. (This is the accent U.S. newscasters are trained in, because it is considered neutral and most understandable.) Having traveled and studied as much as I have, however, I know a good deal about other variations of the English language (British English, Australian English, etc., but also the English generally taught in China, the English generally taught in many European countries, and the English generally taught and spoken in many African countries). I have significant training in English vocabulary, grammar, and style and I use these skills every day in my work as an editor and translator into English. I have been teaching students these building blocks of the English language since the year 2000 in a variety of ways: -by teaching ESL courses and tutoring students in ESl, - by tutoring students in academic writing, - by teaching and tutoring students to understand their own language better as they learned a foreign language (e.g., parts of speech, etc.), -and by tutoring students in the history of the English language. I also have a B.A. degree in English with a focus on literature. I have training in adolescent lit, mythology and folklore (Greek and Roman), world lit, British lit, Shakespeare, American lit, and biblical literature.
ESL/ESOL,

ESL/ESOL

I became a certified ESL tutor in 2007, but I have been tutoring students in ESL and teaching ESL classes since the year 2000. I am glad to help students prepare for the TOEFL or IELTS, but I also often simply have conversational English lessons with students to improve their speaking skills, work on English idioms, or help them with one specific area they find very challenging. I teach with a lot of enthusiasm and so I always use props, colorful illustrations, students' personal experiences, controversial topics, etc., as the basis of the lesson to make sure students stay interested and continue learning. Sometimes we even go on field trips to places that are relevant to the topic of the day's lesson. For example, if we are talking about retail, we may go to the mall and talk about the different aspects of retail that we encounter. Even though American culture is not technically a part of "English as a Second Language," I also often have students talk to me about the frustrations they have adapting to the culture in this country, because having gone through culture shock here myself, I know it can be quite a hard step to take toward a successful life in America. Often this conversation provides an opportunity to explain some of the U.S.'s cultural traits and it always leads to very good discussions and a lot of excellent speaking practice.
French,

French

I was born in Brussels, and as that is part of the French-speaking portion of Belgium, I grew up with a native accent and I went to a French-speaking school through third grade, at which point we moved to Austria. I later did undergraduate and graduate coursework in French translation, linguistics, and literature at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I got my start in tutoring in college from a work/study job and I have been tutoring French for years. I am also a French<>English translator, as well as a consecutive and simultaneous French interpreter, specializing in medicine, as well as literature and religion.
Spanish,

Spanish

Spanish is the first of the many languages that I studied after moving back to the States as a teenager, so I have the most history with it. From high school all the way up through graduate school, I have been taking Spanish classes: classes in the language (just in general), in Spanish linguistics (including phonetics), in medical Spanish, in Spanish translation, and in Spanish literature. I have worked as an over-the-phone Spanish interpreter, doing consecutive interpretation into and out of Spanish. (My clients needed help in medical, human services, and accounting situations.) I have done simultaneous conference interpreting from Spanish into English, and had I not moved out of state, I would definitely still be doing it, because I enjoyed it so much. I also work with an author, who publishes books in Spanish, then translates them into English and publishes that version, as well. I edit his Spanish manuscripts and cross-check his translation into English. So, I have lots of varied experiences with the Spanish language. Spanish is a beautiful language and I would love to help you master it.
Writing,

Writing

I have a Bachelor of Arts in English, with training in ESL, linguistics, and literature. My work as a freelance editor and proofreader over the past several years has given me lots of experience with all sorts of writing styles and genres, as well as with many different style guides. Also as a professional translator, I am constantly trying to find just the perfect way to express in writing the content and sentiments that are in my source text, which is a wonderful way to continually refine my writing skills. I help two types of students improve their writing: non-native speakers and native speakers (whether [non-]native speakers of English or of another language). When a non-native speaker (for example, an ESL student) asks me to help them learn to write better, I work with them on several aspects that will influence their writing: on their ability to think in English (or another language) and to understand spoken or written communication, on pronunciation and the connections between the way words sound and the way they are spelled, on their reading comprehension and vocabulary (including idioms), and on grammar and English writing conventions (or those of another language). The reason I work with students (at least a little bit) on all their language skills is because research shows that speaking, listening, and reading are all connected to writing, and that students learning a new language will do better in their writing skills, if they also use their other skills to help them acquire information that they can use in their writing. In my lessons with native speakers (of whatever language) who struggle either with spelling, handwriting, or simply how to write papers or essays the "right" way, I either use some of the same strategies as with my non-native students (for example, in teaching spelling), or I help students get used to writing the kinds of texts they struggle with by using text samples they find interesting. We being by choosing topics to work with that the students like and then finding examples o
Spelling

Language

Braille,

Braille

I learned to read Braille at the Nebraska Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired in 2006. I tutor students in Grade 1, Grade 2, and Grade 3, and I have my own materials. I teach how to both read and write and I help the students explore the various types and brands of Braille note takers and their pros and cons. I also help students learn about community and national resources for the blind, incl. accessibility software and study skills, resources for travel (various types of canes or guide dogs), support from other blind community members and national organizations for the blind.
Czech,

Czech

I studied Czech at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. There is a large ethnic Czech population in that part of NE, so my studies also included cultural events, information about which I like to share with my students. I also have experience in comparative linguistics and how Czech and Russian are similar and relate to each other.
ESL/ESOL,

ESL/ESOL

I became a certified ESL tutor in 2007, but I have been tutoring students in ESL and teaching ESL classes since the year 2000. I am glad to help students prepare for the TOEFL or IELTS, but I also often simply have conversational English lessons with students to improve their speaking skills, work on English idioms, or help them with one specific area they find very challenging. I teach with a lot of enthusiasm and so I always use props, colorful illustrations, students' personal experiences, controversial topics, etc., as the basis of the lesson to make sure students stay interested and continue learning. Sometimes we even go on field trips to places that are relevant to the topic of the day's lesson. For example, if we are talking about retail, we may go to the mall and talk about the different aspects of retail that we encounter. Even though American culture is not technically a part of "English as a Second Language," I also often have students talk to me about the frustrations they have adapting to the culture in this country, because having gone through culture shock here myself, I know it can be quite a hard step to take toward a successful life in America. Often this conversation provides an opportunity to explain some of the U.S.'s cultural traits and it always leads to very good discussions and a lot of excellent speaking practice.
French,

French

I was born in Brussels, and as that is part of the French-speaking portion of Belgium, I grew up with a native accent and I went to a French-speaking school through third grade, at which point we moved to Austria. I later did undergraduate and graduate coursework in French translation, linguistics, and literature at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I got my start in tutoring in college from a work/study job and I have been tutoring French for years. I am also a French<>English translator, as well as a consecutive and simultaneous French interpreter, specializing in medicine, as well as literature and religion.
German,

German

I grew up in Vienna, Austria and went to a German school, so I have an authentic German accent. After moving to the States, I did graduate coursework in German literature and linguistics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and am now finishing Kent State University's Master of Arts in Translation with German as my focus language. I also taught German at Kent State University for two years, from 2011 to 2013, and have since been working as a German medical translator. When I tutor German, I focus on the areas that my student in covering in class, of course, but I also get the student working with and on all areas of the language. For beginning learners, we work on a student's ability to listen and differentiate syllables (morphemes) and words and make sense of them, as well as their ability to think in German. I emphasize correct spelling and tie that to reading and to proper pronunciation by showing my students the relationships letters have to the sounds they represent and helping them be able to anticipate which syllables do not carry the emphasis and therefore will not sound like they are "supposed to" when used by native speakers. I help students work backwards to "un-collapse" the sounds, so that the unrecognizable words students hear can, in fact, be recognized. Grammar is a focus, no matter what level of German I am tutoring, but I teach it in innovative and interesting ways (using colorful charts, popular German songs, puzzles, Jenga (a game), etc.) I help students learn cases and tenses by comparing and contrasting them with their English counterparts. And we spend quite a bit of time on prepositions, since they have been known to cause nightmares before exams. My students also receive training in vocabulary and German idioms, as well as German conventions. We learn these topically and using a variety of visual, auditory, and tactile means. I build in reading comprehension and writing practice in my teaching of vocabulary and before they know it, my students have read and written their first German
Greek,

Greek

I have a Bachelor or Arts in Biblical Studies/Biblical Languages and I took three years of Koine Greek. I have translated large portions of the Biblical manuscripts into English. In tutoring Koine Greek, I focus on showing students the patterns, while highlighting the differences. We use a variety of means to learn including student-drawn flash cards, colorful charts, mnemonic devices, etc. And lots, and lots, and lots of practice translating sentences and phrases they can relate to--things they want to say. Even though it's a dead language, I try to make learning it interesting and fun: my students enjoy our lessons and their grades and understanding of Greek improve.
IELTS,

IELTS

When I tutor IELTS prep classes, I generally focus on getting students a Band 7 or above, although I definitely work with the student on his or her individual level and help them meet their individual goals. I have (flexible) schedules for preparing for the IELTS in one week, one month, and several weeks or months. We cover the speaking, writing, reading, and listening skills needed to succeed on the test, and I use multiple IELTS training resources to help strengthen these skills.
Latin,

Latin

I decided to take Latin for several reasons: because I hadn't studied it yet, to find out more about the background of many of the other languages I know, and to supplement my knowledge of biblical manuscripts. However, I like to tell people that first year Latin was the only class, where a teacher has ever kicked me out. He "kicked me out" when he found out how many languages I had already studied, telling me to take the next level up instead, because I already knew too much about linguistics and would be bored in his class. So I started with Accelerated Latin instead, did very well, and went on from there. In teaching Latin, I will teach you (or your child) not only the vocabulary and the grammar of the language, but also how to learn a language like Latin. Students often have trouble learning dead languages, because things tend to take place only on paper or in a book, rather than in person-to-person conversation, as with other languages still spoken today. However, I will help you "bring it back to life," as it were, as you learn. For visual learners, we will use methods like colored charts and funny flash cards. For aural learners, we will learn by using varying pitches for various parts of speech, sounds that correspond to vocabulary words, and audio flash cards. And for tactile learners, we will do activities like writing sentences fragments on puzzle pieces and figuring out why some pieces can and others can not fit together. I have found that even for college students, these teaching methods are effective learning tools, because they are so different from what students' experiences with Latin have been otherwise, which allows the linguistic facts students pick up on from these types of methods to stick with them that much better.
Russian,

Russian

I studied Russian at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln under a wonderful teacher, who had an extensive background in linguistics and teaching methodologies and who has significantly influenced my tutoring style. I did both undergraduate and graduate work there and have since continued to work on my Russian. I work with students on whatever Russian skills they need help with in whatever ways help them most. The areas that I usually focus on, though, are the case system and its endings, for lower level students, and for more advanced students, Russian participles. I use a variety of means of tutoring Russian, which include everything from comparisons of Russian linguistic traits to English traits (and often teaching students things they did not realize about English), to using color-coded charts, to discussing Russian movies and Russian-as-a-foreign-language news websites (in Russian, of course), to just plain practicing the difficult parts over, and over, and over, and over again.
Spanish,

Spanish

Spanish is the first of the many languages that I studied after moving back to the States as a teenager, so I have the most history with it. From high school all the way up through graduate school, I have been taking Spanish classes: classes in the language (just in general), in Spanish linguistics (including phonetics), in medical Spanish, in Spanish translation, and in Spanish literature. I have worked as an over-the-phone Spanish interpreter, doing consecutive interpretation into and out of Spanish. (My clients needed help in medical, human services, and accounting situations.) I have done simultaneous conference interpreting from Spanish into English, and had I not moved out of state, I would definitely still be doing it, because I enjoyed it so much. I also work with an author, who publishes books in Spanish, then translates them into English and publishes that version, as well. I edit his Spanish manuscripts and cross-check his translation into English. So, I have lots of varied experiences with the Spanish language. Spanish is a beautiful language and I would love to help you master it.
Italian, TOEFL

Math

ACT Math

ACT Math

The first thing I do when I tutor ACT Math is to help my student improve his or her computation ability without a calculator. Although calculators are allowed on the ACT, students who are completely dependent on them tend to miss errors when they look back over their test at the end, because their eyes aren’t trained to spot computational mistakes. My goal is to shift students’ thinking from “The CALCULATOR is the answer to all my problems,” to “The calculator is an aid to help ME find the answers to all the problems I am given.” This subtle shift in thinking, I have found, not only boosts students’ self-confidence about taking the test, but boosts their score on the test, as well. After this first preparatory step, we naturally move into the various types of math students can expect to find on the exam. We review prealgebra (20%-25% of the ACT’s math); focusing on integers, decimals, fractions, absolute value, scientific notation, factors, proportions, percentages, simple probabilities, data representation and interpretation, descriptive statistics, etc. We cover elementary algebra (15%-20%) and look at exponents and square roots, variables, algebraic operations, factoring, etc. We go into intermediate algebra (15%-20%); practicing rational and radical expressions, complex numbers, absolute value equations/inequalities, functions, polynomial roots, systems of equations, the quadratic formula, quadratic inequalities, modeling, matrices, sequences and patterns, etc. We wade through coordinate geometry (15%-20%) and work on graphing points, lines, polynomials, curves and circles, and inequalities; also on slope, distance, midpoints, conics, etc. We delve into plane geometry (20-25%); using proofs, plane figures, circles, triangles, types of quadrangles, volume, 3D-geometry, etc. We then finish with everybody’s favorite (or mine, at least) trigonometry (5-10%) and master right triangles, trigonometric functions, trigonometric identities, trigonometric equations, etc.

Most Popular

English,

English

My native language is "English," but I speak it with an American Midwestern accent. (This is the accent U.S. newscasters are trained in, because it is considered neutral and most understandable.) Having traveled and studied as much as I have, however, I know a good deal about other variations of the English language (British English, Australian English, etc., but also the English generally taught in China, the English generally taught in many European countries, and the English generally taught and spoken in many African countries). I have significant training in English vocabulary, grammar, and style and I use these skills every day in my work as an editor and translator into English. I have been teaching students these building blocks of the English language since the year 2000 in a variety of ways: -by teaching ESL courses and tutoring students in ESl, - by tutoring students in academic writing, - by teaching and tutoring students to understand their own language better as they learned a foreign language (e.g., parts of speech, etc.), -and by tutoring students in the history of the English language. I also have a B.A. degree in English with a focus on literature. I have training in adolescent lit, mythology and folklore (Greek and Roman), world lit, British lit, Shakespeare, American lit, and biblical literature.
ESL/ESOL,

ESL/ESOL

I became a certified ESL tutor in 2007, but I have been tutoring students in ESL and teaching ESL classes since the year 2000. I am glad to help students prepare for the TOEFL or IELTS, but I also often simply have conversational English lessons with students to improve their speaking skills, work on English idioms, or help them with one specific area they find very challenging. I teach with a lot of enthusiasm and so I always use props, colorful illustrations, students' personal experiences, controversial topics, etc., as the basis of the lesson to make sure students stay interested and continue learning. Sometimes we even go on field trips to places that are relevant to the topic of the day's lesson. For example, if we are talking about retail, we may go to the mall and talk about the different aspects of retail that we encounter. Even though American culture is not technically a part of "English as a Second Language," I also often have students talk to me about the frustrations they have adapting to the culture in this country, because having gone through culture shock here myself, I know it can be quite a hard step to take toward a successful life in America. Often this conversation provides an opportunity to explain some of the U.S.'s cultural traits and it always leads to very good discussions and a lot of excellent speaking practice.
French,

French

I was born in Brussels, and as that is part of the French-speaking portion of Belgium, I grew up with a native accent and I went to a French-speaking school through third grade, at which point we moved to Austria. I later did undergraduate and graduate coursework in French translation, linguistics, and literature at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I got my start in tutoring in college from a work/study job and I have been tutoring French for years. I am also a French<>English translator, as well as a consecutive and simultaneous French interpreter, specializing in medicine, as well as literature and religion.
Spanish,

Spanish

Spanish is the first of the many languages that I studied after moving back to the States as a teenager, so I have the most history with it. From high school all the way up through graduate school, I have been taking Spanish classes: classes in the language (just in general), in Spanish linguistics (including phonetics), in medical Spanish, in Spanish translation, and in Spanish literature. I have worked as an over-the-phone Spanish interpreter, doing consecutive interpretation into and out of Spanish. (My clients needed help in medical, human services, and accounting situations.) I have done simultaneous conference interpreting from Spanish into English, and had I not moved out of state, I would definitely still be doing it, because I enjoyed it so much. I also work with an author, who publishes books in Spanish, then translates them into English and publishes that version, as well. I edit his Spanish manuscripts and cross-check his translation into English. So, I have lots of varied experiences with the Spanish language. Spanish is a beautiful language and I would love to help you master it.
Writing

Writing

I have a Bachelor of Arts in English, with training in ESL, linguistics, and literature. My work as a freelance editor and proofreader over the past several years has given me lots of experience with all sorts of writing styles and genres, as well as with many different style guides. Also as a professional translator, I am constantly trying to find just the perfect way to express in writing the content and sentiments that are in my source text, which is a wonderful way to continually refine my writing skills. I help two types of students improve their writing: non-native speakers and native speakers (whether [non-]native speakers of English or of another language). When a non-native speaker (for example, an ESL student) asks me to help them learn to write better, I work with them on several aspects that will influence their writing: on their ability to think in English (or another language) and to understand spoken or written communication, on pronunciation and the connections between the way words sound and the way they are spelled, on their reading comprehension and vocabulary (including idioms), and on grammar and English writing conventions (or those of another language). The reason I work with students (at least a little bit) on all their language skills is because research shows that speaking, listening, and reading are all connected to writing, and that students learning a new language will do better in their writing skills, if they also use their other skills to help them acquire information that they can use in their writing. In my lessons with native speakers (of whatever language) who struggle either with spelling, handwriting, or simply how to write papers or essays the "right" way, I either use some of the same strategies as with my non-native students (for example, in teaching spelling), or I help students get used to writing the kinds of texts they struggle with by using text samples they find interesting. We being by choosing topics to work with that the students like and then finding examples o

Music

French Horn,

French Horn

I played the French horn in middle school and high school, and was first chair in the high school band. I have also been a soloist for marching band (on the marching French horn). I was nominated for and played in Concert Honor Band multiple times. I love to show others the beauty of this instrument.
Music Theory

Other

Bible Studies,

Bible Studies

I have a bachelor of arts in Biblical studies with an emphasis in Biblical languages. This program included training in the both the Old Testament, the New Testament, the development of the Bible, and church history and world religions. I have studied with many people about the Pentateuch, the books of history, the books of poetry, the major and the minor prophets, the Gospels, the epistles, and the book of revelation. My tutoring includes lessons in any of the following areas: the authorship of the Bible, the various Biblical manuscripts, how the Bible relates to and compares to or differs from other religious books, Biblical times (cultures, moras, language, etc.), Biblical prophesies, Jesus, the early church, and hermeneutical study of the various books of the Bible.
ESL/ESOL,

ESL/ESOL

I became a certified ESL tutor in 2007, but I have been tutoring students in ESL and teaching ESL classes since the year 2000. I am glad to help students prepare for the TOEFL or IELTS, but I also often simply have conversational English lessons with students to improve their speaking skills, work on English idioms, or help them with one specific area they find very challenging. I teach with a lot of enthusiasm and so I always use props, colorful illustrations, students' personal experiences, controversial topics, etc., as the basis of the lesson to make sure students stay interested and continue learning. Sometimes we even go on field trips to places that are relevant to the topic of the day's lesson. For example, if we are talking about retail, we may go to the mall and talk about the different aspects of retail that we encounter. Even though American culture is not technically a part of "English as a Second Language," I also often have students talk to me about the frustrations they have adapting to the culture in this country, because having gone through culture shock here myself, I know it can be quite a hard step to take toward a successful life in America. Often this conversation provides an opportunity to explain some of the U.S.'s cultural traits and it always leads to very good discussions and a lot of excellent speaking practice.
Religion

Religion

I received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biblical Studies (emphasis in Biblical Languages) and in this program I received training not only in principles of Christian religion, but also in the Religions of the World (including Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Animism, Shintoism, and even Taoism, though it is not strictly-speaking a religion. I have also had training in cultural anthropology with an emphasis on religion, again reviewing those same religions, minus Taoism and Shintoism. I have also done case studies in Animism and Hinduism, as well as on how both Hinduism and Islam are similar to and different from Christianity.

Science

ACT Science

Special Needs

Braille,

Braille

I learned to read Braille at the Nebraska Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired in 2006. I tutor students in Grade 1, Grade 2, and Grade 3, and I have my own materials. I teach how to both read and write and I help the students explore the various types and brands of Braille note takers and their pros and cons. I also help students learn about community and national resources for the blind, incl. accessibility software and study skills, resources for travel (various types of canes or guide dogs), support from other blind community members and national organizations for the blind.
Phonics

Summer

ESL/ESOL,

ESL/ESOL

I became a certified ESL tutor in 2007, but I have been tutoring students in ESL and teaching ESL classes since the year 2000. I am glad to help students prepare for the TOEFL or IELTS, but I also often simply have conversational English lessons with students to improve their speaking skills, work on English idioms, or help them with one specific area they find very challenging. I teach with a lot of enthusiasm and so I always use props, colorful illustrations, students' personal experiences, controversial topics, etc., as the basis of the lesson to make sure students stay interested and continue learning. Sometimes we even go on field trips to places that are relevant to the topic of the day's lesson. For example, if we are talking about retail, we may go to the mall and talk about the different aspects of retail that we encounter. Even though American culture is not technically a part of "English as a Second Language," I also often have students talk to me about the frustrations they have adapting to the culture in this country, because having gone through culture shock here myself, I know it can be quite a hard step to take toward a successful life in America. Often this conversation provides an opportunity to explain some of the U.S.'s cultural traits and it always leads to very good discussions and a lot of excellent speaking practice.
French,

French

I was born in Brussels, and as that is part of the French-speaking portion of Belgium, I grew up with a native accent and I went to a French-speaking school through third grade, at which point we moved to Austria. I later did undergraduate and graduate coursework in French translation, linguistics, and literature at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I got my start in tutoring in college from a work/study job and I have been tutoring French for years. I am also a French<>English translator, as well as a consecutive and simultaneous French interpreter, specializing in medicine, as well as literature and religion.
German,

German

I grew up in Vienna, Austria and went to a German school, so I have an authentic German accent. After moving to the States, I did graduate coursework in German literature and linguistics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and am now finishing Kent State University's Master of Arts in Translation with German as my focus language. I also taught German at Kent State University for two years, from 2011 to 2013, and have since been working as a German medical translator. When I tutor German, I focus on the areas that my student in covering in class, of course, but I also get the student working with and on all areas of the language. For beginning learners, we work on a student's ability to listen and differentiate syllables (morphemes) and words and make sense of them, as well as their ability to think in German. I emphasize correct spelling and tie that to reading and to proper pronunciation by showing my students the relationships letters have to the sounds they represent and helping them be able to anticipate which syllables do not carry the emphasis and therefore will not sound like they are "supposed to" when used by native speakers. I help students work backwards to "un-collapse" the sounds, so that the unrecognizable words students hear can, in fact, be recognized. Grammar is a focus, no matter what level of German I am tutoring, but I teach it in innovative and interesting ways (using colorful charts, popular German songs, puzzles, Jenga (a game), etc.) I help students learn cases and tenses by comparing and contrasting them with their English counterparts. And we spend quite a bit of time on prepositions, since they have been known to cause nightmares before exams. My students also receive training in vocabulary and German idioms, as well as German conventions. We learn these topically and using a variety of visual, auditory, and tactile means. I build in reading comprehension and writing practice in my teaching of vocabulary and before they know it, my students have read and written their first German
Russian,

Russian

I studied Russian at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln under a wonderful teacher, who had an extensive background in linguistics and teaching methodologies and who has significantly influenced my tutoring style. I did both undergraduate and graduate work there and have since continued to work on my Russian. I work with students on whatever Russian skills they need help with in whatever ways help them most. The areas that I usually focus on, though, are the case system and its endings, for lower level students, and for more advanced students, Russian participles. I use a variety of means of tutoring Russian, which include everything from comparisons of Russian linguistic traits to English traits (and often teaching students things they did not realize about English), to using color-coded charts, to discussing Russian movies and Russian-as-a-foreign-language news websites (in Russian, of course), to just plain practicing the difficult parts over, and over, and over, and over again.
Spanish,

Spanish

Spanish is the first of the many languages that I studied after moving back to the States as a teenager, so I have the most history with it. From high school all the way up through graduate school, I have been taking Spanish classes: classes in the language (just in general), in Spanish linguistics (including phonetics), in medical Spanish, in Spanish translation, and in Spanish literature. I have worked as an over-the-phone Spanish interpreter, doing consecutive interpretation into and out of Spanish. (My clients needed help in medical, human services, and accounting situations.) I have done simultaneous conference interpreting from Spanish into English, and had I not moved out of state, I would definitely still be doing it, because I enjoyed it so much. I also work with an author, who publishes books in Spanish, then translates them into English and publishes that version, as well. I edit his Spanish manuscripts and cross-check his translation into English. So, I have lots of varied experiences with the Spanish language. Spanish is a beautiful language and I would love to help you master it.
Writing,

Writing

I have a Bachelor of Arts in English, with training in ESL, linguistics, and literature. My work as a freelance editor and proofreader over the past several years has given me lots of experience with all sorts of writing styles and genres, as well as with many different style guides. Also as a professional translator, I am constantly trying to find just the perfect way to express in writing the content and sentiments that are in my source text, which is a wonderful way to continually refine my writing skills. I help two types of students improve their writing: non-native speakers and native speakers (whether [non-]native speakers of English or of another language). When a non-native speaker (for example, an ESL student) asks me to help them learn to write better, I work with them on several aspects that will influence their writing: on their ability to think in English (or another language) and to understand spoken or written communication, on pronunciation and the connections between the way words sound and the way they are spelled, on their reading comprehension and vocabulary (including idioms), and on grammar and English writing conventions (or those of another language). The reason I work with students (at least a little bit) on all their language skills is because research shows that speaking, listening, and reading are all connected to writing, and that students learning a new language will do better in their writing skills, if they also use their other skills to help them acquire information that they can use in their writing. In my lessons with native speakers (of whatever language) who struggle either with spelling, handwriting, or simply how to write papers or essays the "right" way, I either use some of the same strategies as with my non-native students (for example, in teaching spelling), or I help students get used to writing the kinds of texts they struggle with by using text samples they find interesting. We being by choosing topics to work with that the students like and then finding examples o
GED, Italian

Test Preparation

ACT English,

ACT English

I received a B.A. in English and have been tutoring students in all areas of English since 2002. In preparing a student for the English section of the ACT, we go over both the elements graded by the Usage/Mechanics subscore (punctuation [10%-15% of the subscore], grammar and usage [15%-20%], as well as sentence structure [20%-25%]) and the elements graded by the Rhetorical Skills subscore (strategy [15%-20%], organization [10%-15%], as well as style [15%-20%]). In working on getting a student an excellent subscore in Usage/Mechanics, we cover punctuation conventions, focusing on how punctuation affects sentences meaning; we extract the student's intuitive understanding of the proper relationships between parts of speech and examine some idiomatic usage of English expressions; and we explore relationships between clauses, focus on modifier placement, and see what happens when there are shifts in various constructions within a sentence. To ensure the student excels in his or her rhetorical skills, we work on developing an essay topic in an audience- or purpose-appropriate manner, examining effects of supporting statements and their contexts; we organize ideas and examine what constitute effective opening, transitional, and closing sentences; and we practice precise and appropriate expression, keeping style and tone consistent, managing the elements of a sentence in a rhetorically effective fashion, and avoiding characteristics of negative writing.
ACT Math,

ACT Math

The first thing I do when I tutor ACT Math is to help my student improve his or her computation ability without a calculator. Although calculators are allowed on the ACT, students who are completely dependent on them tend to miss errors when they look back over their test at the end, because their eyes aren’t trained to spot computational mistakes. My goal is to shift students’ thinking from “The CALCULATOR is the answer to all my problems,” to “The calculator is an aid to help ME find the answers to all the problems I am given.” This subtle shift in thinking, I have found, not only boosts students’ self-confidence about taking the test, but boosts their score on the test, as well. After this first preparatory step, we naturally move into the various types of math students can expect to find on the exam. We review prealgebra (20%-25% of the ACT’s math); focusing on integers, decimals, fractions, absolute value, scientific notation, factors, proportions, percentages, simple probabilities, data representation and interpretation, descriptive statistics, etc. We cover elementary algebra (15%-20%) and look at exponents and square roots, variables, algebraic operations, factoring, etc. We go into intermediate algebra (15%-20%); practicing rational and radical expressions, complex numbers, absolute value equations/inequalities, functions, polynomial roots, systems of equations, the quadratic formula, quadratic inequalities, modeling, matrices, sequences and patterns, etc. We wade through coordinate geometry (15%-20%) and work on graphing points, lines, polynomials, curves and circles, and inequalities; also on slope, distance, midpoints, conics, etc. We delve into plane geometry (20-25%); using proofs, plane figures, circles, triangles, types of quadrangles, volume, 3D-geometry, etc. We then finish with everybody’s favorite (or mine, at least) trigonometry (5-10%) and master right triangles, trigonometric functions, trigonometric identities, trigonometric equations, etc.
ACT Reading,

ACT Reading

My B.A. in English focused on literature and I now work as a professional translator, so I have a great deal of experience and practice extracting meaning from written texts. This has been very helpful in knowing how to help students strengthen their reading comprehension, both for the ACT and in school and life, in general. When I tutor ACT Reading, I help students develop their reasoning skills, so that on Test Day, even if they know nothing about the subject(s) they encounter in the reading portion of the exam, neither the social studies, the natural sciences, the literary narrative, nor the humanities passage will seem as intimidating. In preparation, we focus on analyzing voice and style, determining the main ideas that occur in a passage, finding and interpreting important details of a text selection, identifying and correctly evaluating context-dependent elements in a text, understanding cause and effect relationships, internalizing sequences of events, making comparisons within a passage or to elements outside of the text, and making generalizations about the passages we examine,
GRE,

GRE

In preparing students for the GRE, I review each section of the test with them—the Analytical Writing, the Verbal Reasoning, and the Quantitative Reasoning Sections—focusing on all the types of questions students will encounter. I give my students tips to help them successfully complete each section and I administer mini-tests, which focus on the various question types, so that from their answers I can determine and point out to students both their strengths and their weaknesses. I then work with them more specifically in the areas they struggle with, giving them more focused tips and practice tests and training them to work up to being able to complete the test questions in the amount of time they ought to allot for similar questions on the GRE itself. I generally begin by reviewing for the Analytical Writing section with students. We work on developing both their critical thinking and their analytical writing. I start them off by having them practice the Analysis of an Argument portion of the writing section, testing their ability to find flaws in arguments that merely seem logical. In order to do this, we go over basic rules of logic to help them be able to identify the premises and assumptions that make an argument true or false. Armed with this knowledge, we then proceed to the Analysis of an Issue portion. In addition to helping my students learn to build logical arguments, I also help them learn the fundamentals of good writing (including structure, specificity, tone, voice, and even occasionally grammar and spelling, among others) to help them excel in writing their essay on the GRE. In working to get students an outstanding score on the Verbal Reasoning portion of the test, we practice text completion (25% of the section’s questions), sentence equivalence (25%), and reading comprehension questions (50%). Since vocabulary plays such an important role in this section (particularly in the first two types of questions), I provide word lists, containing vocabulary commonly tested on the GRE. I make the list
IELTS,

IELTS

When I tutor IELTS prep classes, I generally focus on getting students a Band 7 or above, although I definitely work with the student on his or her individual level and help them meet their individual goals. I have (flexible) schedules for preparing for the IELTS in one week, one month, and several weeks or months. We cover the speaking, writing, reading, and listening skills needed to succeed on the test, and I use multiple IELTS training resources to help strengthen these skills.
ACT Science, GED, PSAT, SAT Writing, TOEFL

Ratings and Reviews

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See all reviews approachable really liked helped me feel confident explains things definitely would use

Patient and uses a brain-friendly approach

I like that Mary will adapt the lesson to whatever you want to work on which allows for stress-free learning. Today, we explored the words that I have learned from Duolingo and used it to form sentences and engage in a conversation.

Ana, 4 lessons with Mary

Introduction to Tutoring

Mary did a great job of talking with my daughter and asking questions about her interests and how she prefers to learn. I appreciate Mary’s attention to detail.

Tammi , 47 lessons with Mary

Super helpful

We started learning songs and the alphabet, pronunciation and some basic familiar words. Mary is easy to work with and knows what she’s doing!

Jaimee, 2 lessons with Mary

Carter

Mary did an outstanding job breaking down information to help me understand it in a 48 hour window. She wants to make sure you understand the information before moving on to the next section. Mary teaches at a nice and controlled pace to allow the student to understand. We reviewed verbs, present & past tenses, and masculine and feminine grammar. Absolutely recommend to anyone else. She’s also extremely flexible with her time slots!

Carter, 3 lessons with Mary

Knowledgeable and dedicated tutor

Mary helped my son prepare for a Latin test over Labor Day weekend on short notice. She went out of her way to make room for him in spite of the holiday weekend. She spent the time needed and made sure she assessed his needs and baseline learning skills. Her plan took everything needed into account. My son, who had struggled with Latin from the first day of school, went into his test confident and came out with a good grade. Mary is a gem!

Sade, 3 lessons with Mary

Mellophone lesson

I knew my daughter was nervous heading into tutor lessons, Mary was extremely knowledgeable, patient and was able to put my daughter at ease. Thank you

Daniel , 2 lessons with Mary

I am so glad Mary is my tutor.

I have been using other sources to assist me with my learning process but without Mary in my corner I would be spinning my wheels. I look forward to a long and successful year with Mary at my side.

Amelia , 7 lessons with Mary

Utilizes multiple intelligences

Mary has been such a blessing for our son. He has a writing disability and an anxiety disorder. She modifies her lesson as she goes based on whether he is feeling stressed or more in control. It is more important to her that he internalizes the material and feels confident in the skills rather than pushing too hard in order to check off all portions of her lesson plan. Mary is comfortable asking questions about my child, his interests, and his learning style so that her lessons are engaging and fun. My boy is active and has a fantastic visual memory, so she routinely uses color-coding of spelling patterns to help bolster his weak spelling skills. She also invents active games to practice spelling skills. This is so beneficial because research shows that the more sections of the brain are utilized in acquiring a skill, the more permanent the knowledge will be. Mary is patient, kind, and easily approachable with any questions or comments we have. It is evident that she invests quite a bit of time in her lessons and she cares about her students. I give her five stars!

Heather, 14 lessons with Mary

Patient but Sometimes Difficult to Understand.

I met Mary for my first tutoring session at a local bookstore. She was almost 30 minutes late, but she had called me to let me know so I didn't mind as much. I think Mary's approach in tutoring has merit. She asks students to read questions out loud, which helps the student catch an issue his/her self. I found this very effective. However, I was very unimpressed with her ability to actually explain concepts, particularly algebra and more conceptual math. It was hit or miss - either she explained it very well, or it was very very difficult to understand what she was trying to teach. She seemed to lack confidence in her tutoring and I left the session more confused than not. After thinking about the lesson for a while, I decided not to continue my tutoring with her. I think her personal tutoring style (mostly auditory) and my learning style (visual) conflicted. Still, Mary was very pleasant and professional.

Elizabeth, 1 lesson with Mary
Tutor responded:

This student asked me to do something I had never done before and I agreed in order to try to help her, but this experience has taught me that I really should not depart from my tried-and-true approach, even if the student thinks they need me to. It is my policy to have an initial consultation session with each student at our first meeting, but this student asked me to just go right into a trial session, skipping the consultation session. I agreed to do it that way that one time, but I shouldn't have because the reason I start with the consultation session in the first place is so that I can learn about a student's learning style, his or her current skill level in the subject, and specifically how and what the student wants to learn. I have a Learning Goals sheet that I type or write up for each student during the consultation with all of this information on it and I have each potential student sign it to indicate that s/he agrees that we have come up with the most effective way to tutor him or her. In this case, though, all I had time for before we started the math lesson was to get a very brief idea of her math skills and what she wanted and to tell her that because we were doing the session this way, it would have to still be partially an assessment of her learning style and needs and that future lessons would actually be significantly more tailored to what she needed. She said she understood and that this was fine, but I realize that a trial session that differs so much from what future lessons would have been like can't serve as much of a trial, so I can't honestly say that I'm too surprised that even though she said at the time that it had been helpful to her that she changed her mind before our next lesson. It is a shame, though, because she never got a chance to experience how I normally tutor visual learners in math. I normally tutor math online, where I have several resources to help visual learners learn math, or else I tutor in my home, where I have plenty of props. Being at a bookstore, tho

Hourly Rate: $90
Response time: 44 minutes
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