DeAnna

Certified Tutor

I received a Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in Linguistics and Spanish from the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon. I studied three languages - Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese, - and am fluent in Spanish. More recently, I returned to school to work on a graduate degree in Elementary Education and TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) at Concordia University in Portland, Oregon, which is still in progress.

As an undergraduate, I tutored English to college students from Asia and the Middle East. For the last several years I have continued to privately tutor adults, primarily in English as a Second Language (ESL), but I have also taught Spanish literacy to native Spanish-speakers. I taught ESL to immigrant adults for six months at a local community college, and spent a year teaching Spanish-speaking adults at a private language school in Vancouver, Washington, where classes were conducted in Spanish. Most recently I worked for a company that provided tutoring to public school elementary children in reading, phonics and math. I taught children from kindergarten through grade 8.

I'm so excited to be working for Varsity Tutors because it allows me to put so many of my interests and skills together into one job working with children and adults, teaching languages and math, and relating to cultures and life stories other than my own. I believe that everyone can learn, no matter their age, background, or learning disabilities. I try to approach each student as an individual and adjust learning tasks to fit a student's learning style. My goal is to present learning material in a logical and orderly fashion and to explain concepts in a way that can be easily understood. Students should have concrete examples and practice using the concepts in relevant contexts in order to make learning memorable and permanent. I am dedicated to building my students' confidence and success.

Some of my personal interests and hobbies include gardening, hiking, international cooking, and making craft projects with paper and rubbers stamps. I also enjoy identifying and protecting native plants and animals in my region of the U.S., learning and supporting ways of protecting the environment, and developing sustainable business and home-life practices. When I can find appropriate ways to incorporate these interests into my lessons, I try to do so in order to make lessons more interesting and educational for my students.