If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart. ‒ Nelson Mandela
OVERVIEW AND TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
My name is Troy and I am a professional, certified, and experienced English as a Second Language (ESL) Teacher and Private Tutor. I have taught English both internationally, including about two-years in Seoul, South Korea.
I have taught in both Public and Private Schools, Hagwons (학원) also known as Private English Academies. I have taught all ages from kindergarten (three-years-old) to working professionals in their 50s, including CEOs, Managing Directors, Doctors, Software Engineers, University Professors, Government employees, and more. Please don't take just my words, but read what my previous students have said about my abilities and effective methods of English tutoring (CLICK HERE).
Since, I am LEGAL to work as a private tutor in Korea I can also provide reimbursement/repayment receipts for working professionals. I also have NDAs (Non-Disclosure Agreements) that I am more than happy to provide for sensitive clients.
I have a very simple, yet extremely effective method through teaching English as a Second Language (ESL). I have also taken the time of learning a second-language myself, by studying Spanish in Guatemala, and having my own private 1:1 tutor. Here, I spent five-days a week (four-to-five-hours per day) studying Spanish, while living and being immersed in a small community that has helped me to realize how much time needs to be dedicated to truly improving and developing a second-language effectively.
I have taught in both Public and Private Schools, Hagwons (학원) also known as Private English Academies. I have taught all ages from kindergarten (three-years-old) to working professionals in their 50s, including CEOs, Managing Directors, Doctors, Software Engineers, University Professors, Government employees, and more. Please don't take just my words, but read what my previous students have said about my abilities and effective methods of English tutoring (CLICK HERE).
Since, I am LEGAL to work as a private tutor in Korea I can also provide reimbursement/repayment receipts for working professionals. I also have NDAs (Non-Disclosure Agreements) that I am more than happy to provide for sensitive clients.
I have a very simple, yet extremely effective method through teaching English as a Second Language (ESL). I have also taken the time of learning a second-language myself, by studying Spanish in Guatemala, and having my own private 1:1 tutor. Here, I spent five-days a week (four-to-five-hours per day) studying Spanish, while living and being immersed in a small community that has helped me to realize how much time needs to be dedicated to truly improving and developing a second-language effectively.
THE SIX FUNDAMENTAL PILLARS OF MY TEACHING PHILOSPHY
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1. Preexisting Knowledge and Understanding of English
2. The Social Functions of Language 3. The Entire Language Approach |
4. Encouraging Individual Creativity
5. Building a Strong Rapport 6. Self-Reflection and Evaluation |
1. PREEXISTING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF ENGLISH:
I believe that before I can begin teaching any student effectively, I need to have a strong understanding of their preexisting knowledge and understanding of English, which means I need to personally evaluate the individual's proficiency and comprehension. During this time I also want to clearly understand the person or persons goal, and whether this is realistically achievable in the amount of expected time desired. Through my professional experience, managing areas or levels of expectations, needs to be clearly communicated from both the teacher and the student's perspective until there is a mutual agreement and understanding, even in lessons that are in perpetuity.
2. THE SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF LANGUAGE:
Since English--just as with any language—is continually changing and adjusting to social norms, I feel that it is important to understand the mechanics in how English is changing and often has a list of 'exceptions to the current or previous rules of English.' Depending upon each individual students needs, I try to create 'real world' settings for them to fully understand the different in the linguistic genres and discourses that exist in the present by emphasizing the various styles and how the language functions in society. An example of this change has been recently over the past 10-15 years with the proliferation of the Internet and the major difference in writing for print versus writing for web content. The same example applies to the verbal aspect of English and helping students understand this fact is highly important for them to become more proficient and/or fluent.
3. THE ENTIRE LANGUAGE APPROACH:
I customize my lesson plans to specifically meet the current needs of each student by incorporating a range of exercises based upon their current level and that of which they would like to improve on the most and work upwards from this point. Also, after the first orientation meeting or lesson—once I've gained a relative understanding of the individual's proficiency and comprehension level as well as interests and/or employment industry—I seek to engage the student by encouraging them to participate by having them try and do 70% or more of the verbal speaking in future lessons. At the same time, I understand that sometimes students will have more questions in a lesson, which requires my ability as their educator to provide either a simple or clear example of their questions and this may cause for more of a balanced level of verbal communication in the lesson.
4. ENCOURAGING INDIVIDUAL CREATIVITY:
In order for a person to learn effectively, I feel that creativity is often overlooked in significant ways, especially in the aspect of the learning process of a secondary language. If you have an opportunity to immerse yourself in an environment where rapidly learning a new language becomes a type of 'survival skill' this has been the most effective method in my opinion. However, this is not always possible, and therefore by encourage individual creativity and through expressive manners—I feel—allows for a more rewarding and a higher possibility of being able to understand and use English more efficiently because of the direct association with individual creativity in this important learning process.
5. BUILDING A STRONG RAPPORT:
While some people may have heard the statement, "there is no such thing as a bad student, it is a bad teacher," this is, of course, absolutely false. A students desire and ability to learn must also be their and this is done through building a strong rapport of trust in the teacher-student learning relationship. Unfortunately, I have seen students that are very stubborn in their ways and in this refusal to listen to my instruction—even when providing scientific and/or legitimate resources to reinforce my advice or direction—this is where I would sadly discontinue teaching the student if they continue to refuse to heed any of my educational assistance. Of course I will try through all of my efforts by helping them to see the value in my instruction through maintaining a neutral position, but if this continues, sadly I feel that the student may not be ready due to their unwillingness to accept valid instruction and direction. I will say that when there is a growing strong rapport between myself and the student, their ability to improve can be developed at a much more rapid rate, and this is only achieved when the student both accepts the instruction AND spends time outside of our lessons practicing these exercises and/or methods.
6. SELF-REFLECTION AND SELF-EVALUATION:
Taking time to both as a teacher and as the student to pause for moments of self-reflection and self-evaluation are very important in the overall process when learning a new language or working hard developing ways to improve it more effectively. This can often be done through finding ways to either maximize the lesson time to the fullest and/or devoting more time in practicing and using English in a variety of environments to create a mental association with the learning process. I feel that again both the teacher and the student realize that they are on a continual journey together and as this process continues to progress it is necessary to create breaks from time to time and evaluate performance levels from both parties. Understanding the cultural differences is also necessary in the self-reflection and self-evaluation aspect, and as both parties continue to do this, there will be a higher chance of success and achieving realistic goals.
I believe that before I can begin teaching any student effectively, I need to have a strong understanding of their preexisting knowledge and understanding of English, which means I need to personally evaluate the individual's proficiency and comprehension. During this time I also want to clearly understand the person or persons goal, and whether this is realistically achievable in the amount of expected time desired. Through my professional experience, managing areas or levels of expectations, needs to be clearly communicated from both the teacher and the student's perspective until there is a mutual agreement and understanding, even in lessons that are in perpetuity.
2. THE SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF LANGUAGE:
Since English--just as with any language—is continually changing and adjusting to social norms, I feel that it is important to understand the mechanics in how English is changing and often has a list of 'exceptions to the current or previous rules of English.' Depending upon each individual students needs, I try to create 'real world' settings for them to fully understand the different in the linguistic genres and discourses that exist in the present by emphasizing the various styles and how the language functions in society. An example of this change has been recently over the past 10-15 years with the proliferation of the Internet and the major difference in writing for print versus writing for web content. The same example applies to the verbal aspect of English and helping students understand this fact is highly important for them to become more proficient and/or fluent.
3. THE ENTIRE LANGUAGE APPROACH:
I customize my lesson plans to specifically meet the current needs of each student by incorporating a range of exercises based upon their current level and that of which they would like to improve on the most and work upwards from this point. Also, after the first orientation meeting or lesson—once I've gained a relative understanding of the individual's proficiency and comprehension level as well as interests and/or employment industry—I seek to engage the student by encouraging them to participate by having them try and do 70% or more of the verbal speaking in future lessons. At the same time, I understand that sometimes students will have more questions in a lesson, which requires my ability as their educator to provide either a simple or clear example of their questions and this may cause for more of a balanced level of verbal communication in the lesson.
4. ENCOURAGING INDIVIDUAL CREATIVITY:
In order for a person to learn effectively, I feel that creativity is often overlooked in significant ways, especially in the aspect of the learning process of a secondary language. If you have an opportunity to immerse yourself in an environment where rapidly learning a new language becomes a type of 'survival skill' this has been the most effective method in my opinion. However, this is not always possible, and therefore by encourage individual creativity and through expressive manners—I feel—allows for a more rewarding and a higher possibility of being able to understand and use English more efficiently because of the direct association with individual creativity in this important learning process.
5. BUILDING A STRONG RAPPORT:
While some people may have heard the statement, "there is no such thing as a bad student, it is a bad teacher," this is, of course, absolutely false. A students desire and ability to learn must also be their and this is done through building a strong rapport of trust in the teacher-student learning relationship. Unfortunately, I have seen students that are very stubborn in their ways and in this refusal to listen to my instruction—even when providing scientific and/or legitimate resources to reinforce my advice or direction—this is where I would sadly discontinue teaching the student if they continue to refuse to heed any of my educational assistance. Of course I will try through all of my efforts by helping them to see the value in my instruction through maintaining a neutral position, but if this continues, sadly I feel that the student may not be ready due to their unwillingness to accept valid instruction and direction. I will say that when there is a growing strong rapport between myself and the student, their ability to improve can be developed at a much more rapid rate, and this is only achieved when the student both accepts the instruction AND spends time outside of our lessons practicing these exercises and/or methods.
6. SELF-REFLECTION AND SELF-EVALUATION:
Taking time to both as a teacher and as the student to pause for moments of self-reflection and self-evaluation are very important in the overall process when learning a new language or working hard developing ways to improve it more effectively. This can often be done through finding ways to either maximize the lesson time to the fullest and/or devoting more time in practicing and using English in a variety of environments to create a mental association with the learning process. I feel that again both the teacher and the student realize that they are on a continual journey together and as this process continues to progress it is necessary to create breaks from time to time and evaluate performance levels from both parties. Understanding the cultural differences is also necessary in the self-reflection and self-evaluation aspect, and as both parties continue to do this, there will be a higher chance of success and achieving realistic goals.
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ENGLISH ASSESSMENT TEST
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*Please note that since there are many Third Party links listed I cannot verify the authenticity of the information entirely*
ENGLISH FOR BUSINESS
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JOB INTERVIEW PREP (U.S. RESIDENCY)
JOB INTERVIEW PREP
BUSINESS LINKS CONTINUED
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BUSINESS LINKS CONTINUED
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BUSINESS LINKS CONTINUED
FLIGHT ATTENDANTS & AVIATION
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WESTERN BUSINESS SUCCESS COACH
Besides being an American English teacher (without any type of an accent), I am also here to help you reach your goals by helping YOU become more successful! While I am still relatively young at 35-years-old, I was fortunate enough to begin my career at the age of 18 before retiring at the age of 30. During this time I built a professional career with a large American company while completing my Bachelor degree from a top U.S. University, and I have also started businesses in both the United States in abroad, both of which were profitable within seven-days! I have also traveled to more than 30 countries and lived abroad in 19 countries. Currently I am currently living in Seoul and I'm ready to share my knowledge and experiences through effective methods, such as;
• Risk Managements
• Business Modeling
• Market Strategy
• Developing a strong foundation of your future goals and how I can assist you in achieving them
• Utilize creative ways to continue to motivate and inspire you to be perseverant
• Set your goal(s) one by one by defining exactly what you hope to gain
• Helping to recognize and avoid any obstacles
• Challenging traditional methods of creative-thinking
• Build a step-by-step model/plan with an overall timeline to complete your goal
• Hold you accountable in the road a map towards success
• Risk Managements
• Business Modeling
• Market Strategy
• Developing a strong foundation of your future goals and how I can assist you in achieving them
• Utilize creative ways to continue to motivate and inspire you to be perseverant
• Set your goal(s) one by one by defining exactly what you hope to gain
• Helping to recognize and avoid any obstacles
• Challenging traditional methods of creative-thinking
• Build a step-by-step model/plan with an overall timeline to complete your goal
• Hold you accountable in the road a map towards success
ARTICLE LINKS SUCCESS COACH
ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC
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TOEFL® STUDY MATERIALS
OPIc® STUDY MATERIALS
IELTS
UNIVERSITY & EXAMS
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TOEIC® STUDY MATERIALS
ACADEMIC LINKS
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GRE, GMAT, MBA PROGRAMS
MORE ACADEMIC LINKS
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ENGLISH FOR GRAMMAR
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ENGLISH GRAMMAR
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ESL EDUCATIONAL LINKS
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ENGLISH GRAMMAR
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eBOOKS & AUDIO FILES FOR DOWNLOAD
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ENGLISH FOR WRITING
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WRITE FOR BUSINESS
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WRITE FOR PRINT
GENERAL WRITING TIPS
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WRITE FOR WEB
WRITING TOPICS
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WRITE FOR ACADEMIC
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ENGLISH FOR PRONUNCIATION, ACCENT REDUCTION & INTONATION
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PRONUNCIATION
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ACCENT REDUCTION
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INTONATION
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RAPID or QUICK FIRE Q&A EXERCISE
(*Intention: this is one of the most pure test forms in truly evaluating ESL, especially American culture based terminology, because it does what English is, which is leaving much of the wording and phrases ‘open to interpretation’ as well as how each person may ‘define’ the word(s), phrases, or questions.)
TEACHING PURPOSE (To observe a series of Q&A in a specific set amount of time):
A) How many questions we can get through rapidly?
B) How many interruptions the student creates?
C) Measuring the student’s; body language, intonation, and overall physical reaction to words and questions.
D) How the student does with ‘listening’ to a native English speaker ask these questions with a faster pace of speaking and gauge how the student responds to this pace.
(*Through attempting to create a relatively stressful situation mixed in with rapid response timing through critical-thinking done in English [thought-processing, listening, and verbal response] all of these will allow for strengthening the student’s communication level, because the student does have the luxury of time to translate my question from: English→Korean→*time to think of an answer that is formulated in Korean→verbalize in English)
LINK: 250 UNIQUE RAPID or QUICK FIRE QUESTIONS
VIDEO CLIP: *Previous Broken Link (Thanks YouTube!)
TEACHING PURPOSE (To observe a series of Q&A in a specific set amount of time):
A) How many questions we can get through rapidly?
B) How many interruptions the student creates?
C) Measuring the student’s; body language, intonation, and overall physical reaction to words and questions.
D) How the student does with ‘listening’ to a native English speaker ask these questions with a faster pace of speaking and gauge how the student responds to this pace.
(*Through attempting to create a relatively stressful situation mixed in with rapid response timing through critical-thinking done in English [thought-processing, listening, and verbal response] all of these will allow for strengthening the student’s communication level, because the student does have the luxury of time to translate my question from: English→Korean→*time to think of an answer that is formulated in Korean→verbalize in English)
LINK: 250 UNIQUE RAPID or QUICK FIRE QUESTIONS
VIDEO CLIP: *Previous Broken Link (Thanks YouTube!)
ENGLISH FOR GENERAL CONVERSATION
‒ FREE TALKING
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INTERESTING TOPICS
AMERICAN FOOTBALL
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Q&A DEBATE
MATERIAL |
CURRENT EVENTS & NEWS
LAW MATERIAL
Q&A DEBATE
MATERIAL |
ENGLISH RESOURCES
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VARIOUS
REFERENCE LINKS |
AMERICAN SLANG TERMS
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VARIOUS &
MISC LINKS |
CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
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INSPIRATIONAL & MOTIVATIONAL MATERIALS
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INSPIRATION
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MOTIVATION
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QUOTES AND VIDEOS
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DOCUMENTS FOR DOWNLOAD
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INTERVIEW PREPARATION PDFs
CASE STUDIES FOR TEACHING DOCTORS
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EXAMPLE & INSTRUCTION
PRONUNCIATION
ENGLISH GRAMMAR
LAW CASE STUDIES
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NON-DISCLOSURE / CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT
TERMS AND POLICIES
PSYCHOLOGY
EXAMPLE DIGITAL RECEIPT
ACADEMIC MATERIALS
BUSINESS ENGLISH MATERIALS
ENGLISH FOR WRITING
SPORTS
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