Tara Smith

As a former au pair, nanny, and camp counselor, I hate to be just the "tutor" who comes once or twice a week to force English on a child; I'd much rather be the big sister and friend that engages your children and makes learning English entertaining. For children, this means I love to use games, toys, and play to increase comprehension and speaking skills in a fun way that doesn’t feel like work. Learning a new language, even for kids, takes work and continuous exposure, so I find that lessons are more successful when the children look forward to our time together. Similarly, for older children and adults, I like to foster an atmosphere of confidence, so my students feel less pressure to be perfect, and invest more of their time and effort into practicing their skills and therefore improving. In this way, lessons for adults can be formatted in two ways: conversation classes and tailored classes. In conversation classes, I meet with my students and we practice talking back and forth in a comfortable manner, like the pace of a conversation, so the student can build their confidence in their everyday speaking skills, should that be their desire. In tailored classes, the lessons will be built around the wants and needs of the student: i.e. vocabulary, syntax, and grammar focused around a particular objective or goal. Conversation classes would be ideal for students who want to improve their English speaking skills in general, or who have a desire to learn more informal English. Tailored classes would be ideal for students who are working towards an exam or certification in English who have a set list of objectives they need to master. I am more than willing to individually tailor either type of class for the specific wants of each student.