Experienced English Tutor for All Ages and Language Goals

Kevin D.

Welcome to my profile! I'm Kevin. I graduated summa cum laude with a BA in English (specifically, professional and creative writing) at Central Washington University. I have a Level 5 TEFL certificate (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) from the TEFL Academy and a TESOL certificate (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) from Arizona State University. I am presently working on a CELTA certificate.

I have been tutoring students of all ages since 2017. Though the bulk of my experience lies in working with middle-school and high-school students, I have also worked with adults and younger children. The focus of the lessons is typically on English and on developing writing skills, but I also instruct/reinforce concepts in other areas of English (along with math and history). It often happens that I guide students through the process of crafting an essay on various different academic subjects, and I am happy to study up on a topic to ensure that I am helping a student with content as well as with structure. Of course, I also enjoy working with adults on English skills that put them in a place to succeed at work, at university, or socially.

A foundational tenet of my teaching philosophy is to be responsive to the student. I prefer to personalize and shape lesson plans to the particular student and to the needs that they have demonstrated in our meetings (rather than follow a predetermined long-term curriculum). After assessing a student's level at the outset, I create a short-term plan for the next few meetings; along the way, other needs typically reveal themselves and I can cater future lessons to improvement in these areas. I balance the developmental needs that a student has particular to their level of English with the immediate demands they might have (i.e. a school or work assignment) and the skills needed to produce quality work in that respect.

In any case, I look forward to hearing from you and working with you and/or your child!