Skills Taught

I teach English Language Learners the skills needed for everyday communication as well as for academic and professional settings. My lessons are tailored to individualized needs. I have personal experience that helps me understand the challenges that come with thinking in a second language and with learning a new cultural viewpoint.
I provide writing and presentation coaching to succeed in the academic and business worlds.

Academic Writing

I teach all aspects of writing, from sentence level to overall organization of texts and ways to achieve coherence. I coach students to:

Master English language sentence patterns to convey compelling messages.
Learn communication patterns underlying writing.
Become independent editors of their papers.

Written texts are clear to readers when texts follow writing conventions. These conventions are cultural, and they differ from language to language. I provide explicit instruction about the expectations of readers of texts written in English. In addition, while teaching principles of different types of writing, I integrate grammar instruction and vocabulary enrichment activities.

Research Skills

I teach writing and research skills required from undergraduate and graduate students. These are general skills, including information literacy skills, necessary to write strong literature reviews or response papers in all kinds of majors. These skills are also helpful in making academic readings easier to read.

I assist students in:

Formulating research questions and conduct library searches on a given topic.
Thinking through the compiled data.
Structuring a well-supported argument.
Writing in an academic tone.
Editing for coherence and cohesion.

Writing a research or academic paper is a continual process of composing, analyzing, evaluating, and revising. I will work with you through every step, starting with choosing scholarly sources, analyzing selected articles, refining your search, and crafting a vision and a coherent argument from the selected material.

In the process, I will help you refine your writing skills in general, including proper use of tenses and other grammar structures, so that you gain overall confidence in writing that can carry over to all other writing scenarios.

Grammar for English Language Learners

Learn how to use English language grammar to express what you want to say!

Learn tenses and other structures explained in context.
Practice a variety of grammar structures to express ideas and feel that you have gained freedom of expression.
Master self-correction of your mistakes.

My goal in teaching grammar is for my students to feel empowered right away and become aware of the purpose of grammar structures. However, gaining mastery of tenses, voices, modals, or conditionals requires intensive practice. I assess the current level of English language proficiency in my students and design grammar courses accordingly to provide the necessary practice alongside the presentation of new concepts.

Speaking, Listening, and Presentation Skills

To understand spoken English, you need to rely on many simultaneous mental operations. When English Language Learners have difficulty understanding the fast-rate speech of English speakers, it may have to do with a lack of vocabulary, knowledge of grammar, or knowledge of spoken-English rules. If your goal is to improve your pronunciation and aural comprehension, I will help you learn:

English pronunciation rules and many exceptions.
Intonation patterns.
Spoken shortcuts (that obscure meaning for non-native speakers).

I also work with students interested in improving their presentation skills and public speaking skills in the following areas:

Planning presentations with a clear focus.
Trimming unnecessary information.
Listening to one’s own presentation to identify areas of improvement.
Delivering presentations with confidence.

IELTS Preparation

IELTS is not just a test of English language proficiency; it also tests academic skills. While working with me to reach the desired score, in addition to working on your weaknesses in taking IELTS, you will also:

Build academic reading skills.
Improve general writing skills while practicing IELTS written responses.
Improve test taking strategies in English.