English (ESL) with Ronica W.

I started tutoring as a volunteer with the Ozark Literacy Foothills Project in 2012; I had one student I worked with for a year or so. In 2014, I became an Americorps member, and continued to work at the Literacy Project as an Americorps member. I took on more students, tutoring mostly adult ESL students. I enjoyed it, but struggled with feeling like the lessons were a little "dry". I realized that if I was bored, my students probably were, too. I started looking for creative ways to make the lessons a little more fun, and started making index cards for my students to take with them to study. I also used the cards for sentence building games, and started really focusing on grammar. The Literacy Project sent me to a few training sessions, and I learned how to make the lessons even more hands-on and relevant, and how to have the student do most of the talking in class. My students had enjoyed my lessons before, but the effectiveness really took off when I applied what I had learned in my training! After two years with Americorps, I left to go to India for five months. I took language lessons while I was there, and it really gave me some perspective on what it's like to have to learn a new language to get around and to be able to communicate with other people. When I came back, I realized that I really enjoyed helping people learn English; I enjoyed the relationships I built with my students, and I loved watching them start to understand a concept of English, and to have fun doing it! I realized that teaching English was something I wanted to do for a living, so I went for my CELTA certification, and finished July of 2018. I firmly believe that you're not too old to learn, until you think you are. The youngest student I've tutored was sixteen, and most of my students were my age or older. I've tutored parents and grandparents. Everyone learns at different paces, but everyone is able to learn. If you are struggling with a concept, that's okay. We can go over it as many times as you need to, and if you find yourself getting frustrated, we can move on to something else, and come back to it later. You can expect to be an active learner; you won't just listen to a lecture. You will get plenty of practice speaking and listening, and I will probably assign listening and reading homework to help seal in what you've learned. If you want, we can set "fluency goals", so you can see your progress. I look forward to meeting you!