Magdalena S.

Learning about the world and the reality surrounding it will help us to become better at our skills, and better at just being human. My vocation is to help students reach their best potential through using different materials from several resources and encouraging them to keep moving forward in their studies and personal interests. Mistakes do not exist: they are opportunities to learn about ourselves and the subject that interests us. A good class is one full of mistakes!! I use them as beautiful excuses to explain grammar and vocabulary that elsewhere would pass unnoticed.

First of all, I will get to know you in the language that we are learning. I will ask you some general questions so I can understand your level and your needs. Also, we can practice a topic you chose in order to see my teaching style with activities, or we can do a full grammar and speaking assessment to set our targets more thoroughly.

To become an independent learner you only need energy, motivation, and the internet. I can help you by providing official materials like books and a list of websites where you might find other resources needed. In this case, I would offer to be a companion in your travel, giving advice and some guidance if requested. In addition, I am a very flexible teacher: If you explain to me your interests and needs, I can tailor lessons according to them so you can improve faster.

Motivation has no language. Motivation means that something excites us: we first need to find what is it and then use it to accomplish our goals. For example, If you need to pass a DP paper 1 in Spanish but you don't feel like studying, maybe you could explain what topics interest you the most and I might be able to find online series, books, or even video games in Spanish so you can practice the language or the contents needed. You would be surprised to know how many mandatory books from DP Spanish literature have their own video game!!

I believe that difficulties are just a poor choice of materials. We will always look to adapt ourselves to the need of the student. We can reinforce some knowledge with online activities as well as tailored materials according to the subject. If wished, we can also offer optional homework to keep practicing and improving at home. There is no challenge we cannot achieve together.

Reading must be an enjoyable activity. If there is any struggle, we would look for texts which topic or subject might honestly interest the student, and we will play the "detective game" trying to guess the meaning of its different parts according to the few concepts that we might understand. Struggles can easily become games where we test ourselves and try to outcome our last results. I would encourage the student to do some deduction and comprehension activities on easier texts by him or herself, and then together we would increase the level of difficulty.

My main strategy is empathy and flexibility. I listen to what the student needs and how to adapt that to his likes. At the same time, we relate it to the IB curriculum creating our own tailored methodology. Every student prefers or needs something different (more reading, speaking practice, less writing, and more listening comprehension) that is why basically I make an analysis at the beginning and I look for the best class style that will be more suitable for the student.

I would show them how the subject is related to them. I would help them discover to see themselves reflected in the subject in a way that they would feel drawn to it. For example, if you hate Spanish but you need to study its grammar or vocabulary, but you do love heavy or rock music, I would look for music of your taste in Spanish, and I would include some lyrics in class in order to make it more enjoyable for you. Maybe, through music, you would engage with the subject. The secret is to find a liaison, a link between you and what you want to learn, so you can use it as a bridge and go conquer it!

The techniques to understand if you are following correctly the subject and understanding the questions are oral conversation and some control activities to have an idea of the level that you have already achieved. Communication is key in a good class and a good learning procedure, the best weapon that we have.

Sometimes students might be shy or afraid of failure. In this case, I would explain very carefully the tools to achieve an activity, and I would offer the student the possibility to achieve from the easiest task, step by step increasing the difficulty, to the most difficult one. If we do progressive learning, I can assure you that confidence in oneself will be built. You are capable to do it! You just need the right tools :)

The first step is to listen to the student, see how they feel about the subject and what they think they must improve. The second step is to make concrete questions looking for specific mistakes or knowledge, and from that first interview, I can make myself an idea of the language level. Of course, this will be intuitive, so I would ask for a written composition as homework and during class, I would have some assessment activities following the communicative methodology to understand better the needs that the student explains and the ones that they even might not know that they have.

I adapt my tutoring through different methodologies and mainly the communicative one. I have a database of different books and resources that I can visit to pick the most suitable textbook to follow. Also, I can create our own tailored material if needed. I have experience creating games for class and using improvisation with the most energetic students :)

My preferred materials are the ones that will work better for the student. I can use my textbooks, the textbooks of the student's school, communicative and visual games, videos, music, tailored material in pdf or PowerPoint, and different online websites. Depending on the student's needs we might use different kinds of materials. It can be under the request of the student, or according to my assessment of their needs. Of course, we can talk in advance and discuss what will be better to accomplish our goals.