Brian
Certified Tutor
Hello! Hola! Ciao! Ola! Salut! Hallo! Cze! My name is Brian, I am a language learning and linguistics tutor. I graduated from College of DuPage with an Associates of Arts with a concentration in Foreign Languages and Linguistics and graduated from UIC with a BA in Hispanic Linguistics. I am a graduate student at UMB studying Applied Linguistics with a concentration in Foreign Language Pedagogy/Language Acquisition. I aspire to be a university professor some day. I have worked hard to be able to earn 4.0 cumulative GPAs at both COD and UIC and have received several honors and accolades that have enhanced my profession as a tutor. I have also been involved in several clubs and organizations as an officer or leader position, such as being the President of COD's Spanish and Italian Clubs and Alpha Mu Gamma Honor Society, and the Vice President of UIC's Linguistics Club.
I am a Professional Tutor/Academic/Teacher's Assistant at the College of DuPage and have been working there for over eight years. I have fortunately been nominated and featured for a staff spotlight story for COD outlining my experiences and endeavors throughout my 8-year career. If you would like to read or know more, please let me know. I am an avid linguist who speaks English natively, fluent Spanish and Italian, a lot of French, a decent amount of German and Portuguese, a little Polish, and a tiny bit of several miscellaneous languages. I also am an ESL tutor/teacher who has worked with several English language learners from all over the world in small and large classroom settings. Helping students learn and study languages is one of my absolute passions. I tutor for personal, professional, or academic purposes. I can tutor/teach Spanish, Italian, French, some German, ESL (English as a Second Language), Linguistics, Psychology, Sociology, Music, etc. I have an immense amount of foreign language and ESL tutoring and over 13 years of rich one-on-one and group delivery tutoring/teaching experience having worked with a diverse range of clientele. I am flexible and ready to assist you with all of your linguistic skills and needs! Thanks so much! Muchas gracias! Grazie mille! Muito obrigado! Merci beaucoup! Dankeschn! Bardzo dzikuj!
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Undergraduate Degree:College of DuPage- Current Undergrad, Spanish and Italian
我的一些兴趣和爱好是跳舞、唱歌ing, playing Saxophone, learning and teaching foreign languages, spending time with family and friends, going out to eat, playing sports, traveling, and so much more!
- ACCUPLACER ESL
- ACCUPLACER ESL - Listening
- ACCUPLACER ESL - Reading Skills
- ACCUPLACER ESL - Sentence Meaning
- ACCUPLACER Language Use
- Adult ESL/ELL
- AP Spanish Language & Culture
- CLEP Prep
- CLEP French
- CLEP Introductory Sociology
- CLEP Spanish
- College Application Essays
- College English
- Conversational French
- Conversational Italian
- Conversational Spanish
- English
- English Grammar and Syntax
- French
- French 1
- French 2
- Homework Support
- Italian
- Languages
- Linguistics
- Other
- SAT Subject Test in Italian with Listening
- Social Sciences
- Sociology
- Spanish
- Spanish 1
- Spanish 2
- Spanish 3
- Spanish 4
- Study Skills and Organization
- Summer
What is your teaching philosophy?
I like to build a rapport with my student, knowing they trust me and feel comfortable with me. Any struggle the tutee may have is always turned into a positive and I ensure to instill optimism into the tutee. As a language lover/major/minor, I especially love tutoring foreign languages, Linguistics, and ESL. It is so interesting meeting all the students I work with and getting to know their learning styles and strategies. Additionally, my sheer passion for the subjects allows me to fully engage in an effective and personalized tutoring session.
What might you do in a typical first session with a student?
我了解我的受监护者,这样我就可以帮助他们derstand why the class they're taking is relevant to their future goals. It is difficult to motivate yourself if you don't know why or don't care why you are doing something. I often empathize with students that come in because I myself had difficulty with many of the same topics they do. From personal experience, it helps knowing that you are not alone when you are having difficulties.
How can you help a student become an independent learner?
Oftentimes I let students know that what they are doing is not easy and I completely understand why they may find certain topics tricky or difficult. If I had a hard time with it, I like letting the student know that I have had trouble with it too at one time. From then, I let the student know how to go about studying, utilizing resources, and solving exercises and problems. This allows them to strive for better, while learning things on their own along the way.
How would you help a student stay motivated?
As I mentioned before, I always make sure the student feels comfortable asking me questions and is not afraid to tell me if they don’t truly understanding something. Furthermore, I also make sure they let me know if I am explaining something too fast. I learn why the student is taking the class, and what they are trying to get out of it so we can set realistic and practical goals. I always try to gauge whether the student is following my explanations or not. If I feel they are not, I will explain in several other ways until they understand.
If a student has difficulty learning a skill or concept, what would you do?
Oftentimes I let students know that what they are doing is not easy, and I completely understand why they may find certain topics tricky or difficult. If I had a hard time with it, I like letting the student know that I have had trouble with it too at one time. From then, I let the student know how to go about studying, utilizing resources, and solving exercises and problems.