CELTA Certified English tutor with 6 Years Experience

Lauren G.

Hello! My name is Lauren, and I'm a native English speaker from the US (Texas, more specifically). I've spent the last six years living abroad — three in St. Petersburg, Russia, and three in Belgrade, Serbia — and along the way, I learned Russian from scratch to C1. I know the struggle firsthand, and I use everything I’ve learned about how to learn a language to inform my teaching.

I am CELTA certified and have six years of experience teaching students from A2 to C2. I help learners develop conversational fluency and confidence, strengthen reading and listening comprehension, build vocabulary and grammar, and improve their writing. My specialty is working with Russian-speaking students, since I understand the specific challenges and L1 interferences they face, but I've also worked with learners of many other native languages.

My personal interests lean toward culture, sociology, psychology, history, and travel, but my students' interests always come first. I believe an interesting conversation can be had about almost anything if you know how to ask the right questions.

I believe the key to mastering a language is interest, motivation, and a friendly, open environment. That's why, alongside structured ESL materials, my approach uses authentic, engaging content created by native speakers: articles, videos, podcasts, books, and films. We use these materials to fuel real discussion, pulling out the grammatical structures and vocabulary that native speakers actually use in daily life. My goal is to give you the tools to express yourself not only clearly, but with the same wit and clarity you have in your native language.

Engaging with the cultural artifacts of a language also means you don't just speak English — you learn to think in English and understand the humor, mindset, and cultural references of native speakers.

Please note: I do not teach children under 13 or Business English.