Daniel
Certified Tutor
From 2012 until 2014, I attended The United States Air Force Academy and completed my first two years. I then left the Academy in order to serve a two-year religious mission. During my two years at the Academy, I greatly improved my study habits, workout routines and military proficiency. I worked hard in order to give each class and duty all my effort. In addition to the academics, military, and physical requirements, I volunteered for many extra duties and loved being involved. Some of the extracurricular activities were; I received the German Armed Forces Proficiency Badge my 3rd class year, participated in the Body Building Club my 4th class year, in the Eagles Club both years. participated in the Boys’ and Girls’ Club youth mentoring program, and volunteered collecting data for the satellite program for at least five hours a week.
Living among and serving the people of Taiwan, I was able to learn and become more culturally diversified as well as become conversationally fluent in Mandarin Chinese. I live and work among Taiwanese people daily and have gained a better understanding of the role of customs and traditions in a completely different culture and society than what I grew up in. I have learned the importance of leading by example, working as a team and committing to a positive cause. I strongly feel all of these aspects are important when seeking self improvement by any means.
I am very motivated and self driven, but also love to have a good time! I expect the same from my students. Can't wait to see you in our next session!
Connect with a tutor like Daniel
Undergraduate Degree:United States Air Force Academy- Current Undergrad, Economics
Snowboarding, Weightlifting, Fitness, Military, Cars, Outdoor Rec, NFL, USAF
- College English
- Conversational Mandarin
- English
- ESL/ELL
- High School English
- Languages
- Mandarin Chinese
- Mandarin Chinese 1
- Mandarin Chinese 2
- Mandarin Chinese 3
What might you do in a typical first session with a student?
Get to know the student and their preferred method of learning, establish their expectations (short/ long-term), cover fundamentals and establish a baseline for future lessons.
How would you help a student stay motivated?
Establish a good teacher/ student relationship (they should be able to look forward to these tutor sessions). Go over fun concepts and interesting real world applications of the material we are covering.
If a student has difficulty learning a skill or concept, what would you do?
Reassure them that it's okay, and that it does take A LOT of time to learn Chinese (I still study everyday)! Attempt to establish a solid base in that concept, and assign a homework that will help to solidify the concepts we covered in class.
What strategies have you found to be most successful when you start to work with a student?
Don't ignore the basics! It's so easy to feel like you can ignore simple mechanics, tones, or stroke orders, but that will only hurt you in the long run. If we can establish a solid foundation, learning will come much faster in the long run! Walk before you run.
How would you help a student get excited/engaged with a subject that they are struggling in?
Try to make personal connections with them and provide fun and interesting lessons. If we can increase a student’s interest in the subject material, it will be much easier to keep them engaged in our tutor session as well as in school work.
What techniques would you use to be sure that a student understands the material?
Ask questions covering concepts we covered in class, using different problems than the in class examples. Assign short/ manageable homework that will keep the student engaged after our sessions are over.
How do you build a student's confidence in a subject?
Positive reinforcement. This is an extracurricular learning environment, and should be something that the student can enjoy and look forward to.
How do you adapt your tutoring to the student's needs?
Keep a small manageable pool of students that I can get to know personally. Following this strategy, I can better match individual student needs, especially as time goes on and a student/ teacher relationship really begins to develop.
What is your teaching philosophy?
Basics first, last and always. I also tend to be very thorough in my approach. Slow and steady wins the race, especially when learning a difficult language like Mandarin Chinese.