April
Enthusiastic Spanish/ESL Teacher with 15 Years of Classroom Experience
I am a New York and Pennsylvania certified Spanish teacher, and have taught Spanish I-V, primarily to middle and high school students. As part of my master's degree program in Spanish, I participated in study abroad experiences in Peru, Spain and Mexico. I have also worked with adult students as a private tutor, and as an adjunct college instructor in both Pennsylvania and New York. In my Spanish classrooms, I use comprehensible input, and help students to naturally acquire language through...
social studies
SAT writing
TOEFL
I have tutored students in English as a Second Language for most of my adult life. While all of my experience has been as a volunteer, I have often taken a leading role in coordinating small (church-based) community ESL programs. My formal education and professional training is in Spanish foreign language education; however, my master's thesis focused on second language acquisition in general, and my years of professional experience as a Spanish teacher have always helped me immensely in my work as an ESL tutor. I am familiar with the TOEFL, and have worked with TOEFL students in the past.
spelling
I have always been a strong speller, and, because of my work in both the English and Spanish languages, usually see patterns and rules that can help students to master spelling. As part of my ESL program, I often taught phonics to non-native speakers, with the goal of making our crazy English spelling system a little more manageable for them.
study skills
ESL/ESOL
Praxis
I took the general Praxis exams, as well as subject-specific exams in Social Studies and Spanish to become certified as an educator by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. My scores on all tests (including general knowledge) were well above average, and far exceeded the minimum scores required to pass (usually by 30-40 points). I have tutored three Praxis students since working with WyzAnt, and all three have been very pleased with my work. I am aware of the recent changes to Pennsylvania's testing requirements, and have also developed materials to use in preparation for the PAPA.
SAT reading
literature
world history
proofreading
GED
geography
English
grammar
writing
geometry
Geometry was always my favorite math class. I was always a strong math student, and completed study through calculus. While I would prefer to tutor math in conjunction with other subjects, I am fully competent to tutor your child in Geometry.
prealgebra
Prealgebra and algebra have always interested me as fascinating ways to look at the world, identifying unknowns and following rational steps to quantify those unknown variables. I would be happy to help your child with prealgebra.
reading
Understanding what one reads is foundational to growing as a student. As a history teacher, I gave frequent reading quizzes and spent extensive time in class training my middle school students to read nonfiction materials effectively.
Spanish
vocabulary
I have always had a fairly well developed vocabulary because I read extensively and love words. Being fluent in Spanish has helped me to decipher Latin-based English words and has expanded my English vocabulary as well.
American history
biology
While the sciences are not my focus, I have helped students to master basic science concepts throughout my career. I have always found biology to be especially engaging, and (within the sciences) have the most experience tutoring this particular field of study.
algebra 1
Though I would not prefer to exclusively tutor Algebra I, I would be happy to include math while tutoring other subjects. I was a strong math student, and I tutored my middle school students in all subject areas. More recently, I have tutored a number of students in math and have seen them make significant improvement after working with me.
Kasia B. from Cranberry Twp, PA
April is a knowledgeable and talented teacher who successfully reaches students from diverse backgrounds and creatively adjusts program in order to focus on the areas of special attention. She’s been helping me to improve my skills in English as a second language at the advanced level, always demonstrating deep understanding of tutoring non-native speakers. April offers a strong academic knowledge with a creative style of teaching that makes learning both meaningful and fun.
Barb S. from Pittsburgh, PA
April is very patient, kind and smart. My son has ADD and is very difficult to keep on track. She was awesome!
Jeffrey B. from Ambridge, PA
With my time running out in order to pass the new PA required PAPA testing (writing module) to become licensed to teach elementary school in the state, April was able to successfully prepare me in every aspect of the test by doing her own research on the test itself, preparing mock exams and pointing me towards websites that could help me review and take practice tests prior to our next session. She did this all on her own time. The hour that we would spend together during tutoring sessions was focused on her understanding where I struggled during my practice tests and reviewing those target areas. I am happy to say that April was able to help me increase my score significantly in a short period of time thus enabling me to successfully pass the PAPA test. I found her to be someone that makes things easy to understand and someone who has a lot of passion for what she is doing. She was almost as happy as I was to hear that I passed!! I would highly recommend April!
Lauren B. from Pittsburgh, PA
April is great! She is flexible in her hours and always comes prepared. She is focused and enthusiastic, and has gone above and beyond as a tutor :)
Sue M. from Pittsburgh, PA
April is just what I was looking for and is a perfect fit for tutoring my 9th grade daughter. April is timely, organized, patient and thorough. We hired April to work on my daughter's weak time management skills and poor test scores. My daughter is now more prepared for class, and she acknowledges that she's more familiar with the subject material. We are starting to see improvement in the test scores, which makes us all happy! Equally important is that April and my daughter get along great and are working as a team.
Ed B. from Pittsburgh, PA
April is working with my high school son and preparing him for his upcoming SAT test. He believes that she is doing a great job breaking things down into a solid skill base. She is teaching him how to fish instead of feeding him a fish. She is strengthening his weak points as well as his assets. Thanks!
Joe S. from Mars, PA
April has been wonderful to work with. At our first meeting she asked me where I wanted her to help and what I needed to learn. She then put together the tutoring tailored to me and my schedule. I have found her to very patient and willing to work with someone that is challenged in learning a new language. With her as my tutor I will be able to speak Spanish within the time frame needed.