"Empathy with you, my student, is paramount. I make it clear from the beginning that I care for you, that I want you to master whatever we are studying together, that I will work hard to find and use your best paths to knowledge. A bit of subject-matter-related humour often helps. I have high expectations when I work as a tutor but I will never make my students suffer. I am an intellectually curious person; I play to whatever degree of intellectual curiosity I find in students. I aim to make learning both stimulating and enjoyable, so that you will have an honest and rewarding sense of accomplishment as we work together.

I have a Bachelor's degree from Amherst College/SUNY Geneseo in Art History and Russian Studies, and a University of Rochester Master's Degree in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). I also have a New York State Permanent teaching certificate.

Over the past 30 years I have tutored specifically in French and Russian as well as in reading and writing. But most of my work has been in an ESOL context (English to Speakers of Other Languages) with young people K-12, as well as college students and, additionally, adults coming from other countires. I have had the pleasure of introducing/developing mastery of English across a number of subject areas, including reading, writing, spelling, history, and arithmetic and biology. This experience should translate well to a non-ESOL context. Thus I have many ways to approach a tutoring challenge in many subject areas" less...