About Me I am a professional, focused teacher with a Bachelor's Degree in Education (English Lit. major) from the University of Alberta, a few TEFL certifications and many years of experience teaching ESL. I've also been editing and proofreading for many years. I'm originally from Alberta, Canada. I attended the UofA and then moved to South Korea where I taught ESL for 5 years. When I first moved to Poland in 2011, I lived in Radom for 9 months. It was a nice experience and I met a wonderful woman. It was, however, too quiet for my tastes and after traveling in Turkey for a few months we moved to Warsaw. Recently, we have moved to Targówek. I have been managing my own students for quite some time now and no longer work with language schools. My accent is similar to that of Americans from the Pacific Northwest and mid-western states. ______________________________________________________________________________________ Teaching Style I use real-life materials such as newspaper articles, editorials, radio broadcasts, TED Talks, political speeches and short stories in my lessons. I also create online vocabulary flashcards for my Advanced students to make review easier for them. For individual clients, my primary focus is to identify the student's needs and areas of difficulty. This includes your current level and any gaps you have from previous learning. I'm also interested in how and why you plan to use English so we can focus our work toward that end. Classes may include: English conversation with correction reading for comprehension and discussion vocabulary learning in context (identifying meaning in context) direct grammar instruction and practice reference to online materials for at-home practice pronunciation with a focus on clarity listening activities with or without transcripts writing casual correspondence such as emails semi-formal writing for business presentation and speech making skills job interview preparation _______________________________________________________________________________________ Education and Experience Bachelor's Degree in Education - English Literature major/Social Studies minor TEFL Certificate Business TEFL Certificate More than a decade of experience in teaching ESL at all levels to all ages. I have taught in public schools in Canada and South Korea, as well as a public library and a few private language academies. I have experience with groups of up to 45 students but prefer smaller groups or individual clients. I have also done exam preparation for Matura, FCE and CAE students in Poland. _______________________________________________________________________________________ Hobbies and Interests I have many hobbies including: playing guitar and didgeridoo (circular breathing for meditation) painting (I've had two exhibitions in Warsaw) screen printing (mostly t-shirts) reading (fiction or non-fiction) photography (sadly, only digital) woodworking and carving (small projects) travel (anywhere, anytime) climbing (mostly indoor) My most recent project was making a ring out of an old silver coin. I'm also interested in discussing any number of topics including: art and architecture – especially street art history and politics science and technology culture and anthropology psychology movies and music literature travel I have also been studying Polish.