John W.

John is an English teacher with a passion for literature and writing. John studied at the Legion of Christ College in Cheshire, CT, where he was the valedictorian of his graduating class. John’s teaching experience is diverse, including a role as a fifth-grade religion teacher at St. Anthony’s Parish in Prospect, CT. During his years in Connecticut, he tutored international students in English, Art history, Biology, Geometry, and ancient languages such as Koine Greek and Latin.

Currently, John teaches high school English literature and Creative Writing at Mary Mother of God School in Toronto. John brings a wide variety of practical experience to his teaching as well. He has contributed a number of literary articles to various publications and also worked as a journalist for The Catholic Register. John combines his experience and education to help his students get excited about writing, literature math, science and art. John’s teaching style is marked by joy and energy, and he seeks to help his students develop their interests along with a love for their studies. He is fluent in Spanish, which complements his academic interests and teaching.

Sylvia D.

Sylvia D. is a dedicated individual with a passion for tutoring students of all ages and abilities, aiming to help them reach their maximum psychosocial and academic potential. While serving as a full-time certified teacher in Chicago, Illinois, Sylvia taught all levels of mathematics. Leveraging her clinical background in Psychology, she implemented strategies to enhance self-esteem and foster confidence among her students.

As a trained behavioral specialist, Sylvia has valuable experience working with students with special needs. Beyond her commitment to education, she is also an avid animal lover, using her knowledge to care for them. Sylvia looks forward to the opportunity to serve and make a positive impact on the academic and emotional growth of those she works with.

LAURA R.

Laura is an aspiring high-school math and science teacher who has a passion for education. She is currently completing a Master of Teaching from OISE and has a Master of Education in Educational Leadership and Policy with a focus on diversity in education. Over her 8 years of experience, Laura has worked with students of all academic backgrounds and lived experiences. As she is bilingual, Laura has tutored many students in Spanish, in addition to working with students in her future teachables of math and science. Given her experience, Laura can adapt to any student’s learning style and work in tandem with their curriculum to create a personalized learning plan for each student. Her love for education and math has fueled her desire to reduce math anxiety and dispel the idea that there is such a thing as a “math person”. She fervently believes math is always achievable, with just a little encouragement and some hard work. Laura is looking forward to working with you and finding ways to make learning more fun!

Natalia G. M.

Natalia is a dedicated educator with a passion for empowering students with the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in school and in life. At age 18, she started teaching while she was still pursuing her Bachelor of Education in Foreign Language Teaching; throughout her 21 years of dedicated service, she has come to believe that education should not just be about memorizing information but should instead focus on developing critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity skills, and fostering the whole child. She is adept at tailoring instruction to accommodate students’ unique learning styles and preferences as well as crafting personalized curricula that foster comprehensive language acquisition and meaningful learning through the relationship and culture. In 2023, Natalia, originally from Colombia, relocated to Miami, where she finds joy in contributing to her local church community. Her passions extend to Cuban salsa, felines, savoring sushi, and appreciating the artistry of Van Gogh. Interestingly, she doesn’t share the same enthusiasm for coffee, not even the Colombian variety!

Meryl R.

I am Meryl R. and I tutor French, Spanish, English, Writing and English as a Second Language. I am a licensed and experienced teacher. I am comfortable working with students of all ages. Teaching and learning has always been my passion. Exam coming up? Assignment due? Need an update on your work? Feeling overwhelmed or lost? Need to write an essay or college entrance exam? I can help! I make learning fun and easy. I am an animal lover. We share our home with three dogs (a Golden Doodle and two Brussels Griffons) and parrots. The house is rarely quiet, but we wouldn’t have it any other way! Two parrots are excellent talkers and have a prolific vocabulary. So I teach people as well as birds! I also love to travel and just returned from Cabo, Mexico, with my family and a few friends who are family. There is nothing like spending quality time with people I love. Knitting and needlepoint are passions of mine. An outstanding accomplishment was teaching a 16-year-old student to knit. I’m a teacher at heart. I teach mah jongg and canasta, too!

Mark F.

Mark is a nationally recognized dynamic and results-oriented language instructor and bestselling author and with 35 years of experience in teaching and tutoring Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Business English and ESL. Mark has a proven track record of motivating his students to want to learn. Mark is talented at increasing student academic performance and improving fluency by providing creative, engaging, and immersive language learning environments that foster student participation and academic excellence.

Mark, a former keynote speaker for the Illinois Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language, is gifted in relating to and erasing students’ insecurities regarding language learning. Mark himself was denied access to a French class in middle school because his Algebra scores were too low, and when he finally made it to a French class, he found that he did not understand the grammar.

From these humble beginnings, Mark found the key to mastering languages and went on to earn a BA in Spanish/French Education from Illinois State University and a master’s degree from the University of Illinois where he was rated as an excellent instructor by his language students. He is currently certified by the State of Illinois to teach Spanish and French at grade levels 6-12. Mark also holds a Master Certificate in TEFL/TESOL awarded by Bridge Education Group.

Mark is friendly, approachable, energetic, and vibrant. A true expert multilingual language teacher, Mark is fluent in English, Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese. He created and recorded the entire foreign language program line for Macmillan Audio of New York in 9 different languages, including the bestselling “Behind the Wheel Spanish” program. For over a quarter of a century, Mark has created and produced many bestselling language programs in Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese and ESL for Spanish speakers.

Mark happily brings to your student thirty years of language teaching success. He has studied and/or taught and tutored languages at the private school, high school, and university levels at institutions such as the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana Illinois, Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois, the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, l”Université de Grenoble in St. Martin d’Hères, French, la Universidad Ibero-Americana in Mexico City, and the Universidad Católica in Quito, Ecuador. He now warmly welcomes your student(s) to learn with him.

Victoria M.

Victoria is a Chilean woman that has a Bachelor Diploma in Education and a certification in ESL teaching. She worked for 3 years in an IB International school with kindergarten, planning, teaching and evaluating students with a diversity of conditions. She also worked during summer in an International Summer Camp in charge of the youngest student from all around the world as an ESL teacher, teaching english from scratch and creating a space of joy and acceptance over cultures.
She is a passionate, enthusiastic and dedicate teacher that loves seeing her students grow and be part of their learning process.

Gissela V.

Born in Ecuador and raised in Chicago, Gissela began her education career at the age of eighteen tutoring middle school math and reading. Deciding to pursue education further, she traveled to her home country where she worked as an ESL Teacher for three years. It was during this trip that she fell in love with teaching and returned to Chicago to graduate with a Bachelor’s in English Literature and Secondary/Middle Ed. with an ELL endorsement. Eight years of classroom experience has taught Gissela that relationship building, goal setting and collaborative learning are essential for a students’ growth. Gissela considers herself a lifelong learner, which is why she is not only continuing a postgraduate degree but she loves to attend local classes to learn new skills such as sewing or health and body mobility. Being an avid reader and a lover of hot cocoa and winter weather – she enjoys reading poetry, manga and biographies of people who inspire her. She loves to host Book Clubs with her friends and travel with her husband – anywhere as long as it has mountains and a body of water!

Beth F.

Beth grew up on the east coast and moved to Texas as a young adult.  She first thought of teaching after working with special needs kids at summer camp, and that led her to study special education.  Not long after, she got married and started a family, and stayed home to teach her four children, two of whom received generous scholarships.  She originally started tutoring as a way to make some extra money while still homeschooling her kids.  After her own kids were launched, she spent three years as a math interventionist at Great Hearts Classical Charter School.  Her students often say that she makes math less scary, that they don’t cry any more, that she explains things in a way that makes concepts more clear. Prior co-workers have exclaimed, “This was the most engaging example of math tutoring I have ever seen. The pacing was quick and vigorous, but the scholars were met just at their right level.”  Her students at Great Hearts showed definite improvement in test scores, and her private students often bring up their SAT or ACT scores, or raise their grade in class.   Though math is her strongest subject, she has also taught Spanish and some ELA.  She lives for the moment when the light goes on and a student “gets it”!  She also loves giving cooking classes and sewing lessons.   In her free time, Beth enjoys gourmet cooking, gardening, and swing dancing.

“We are so happy with the progress of our daughter. Taira with Prep Academy found the best tutor for her college prep and her SAT results prove it. Ms. Beth is a great teacher. Thank you”

– Parent

Anita M.

Anita M. is a Texas Certified teacher.  She was born in San Antonio, TX. and Valedictorian of her high school.  Anita went on to be a teacher, teacher trainer and now, in retirement, a tutor.

Anita received her Bachelor’s degree, with a double major in English and Spanish from Our Lady of the Lake University. From the University of Texas in San Antonio, she received her Master’s Degree in Bilingual/ESL studies.  Both degrees were achieved with high honors.  Anita’s education prepared her for a successful career in teaching.  Her education in Bilingual / ESL gave her the ability to learn how to differentiate instruction for different learning styles.

Anita taught for twelve years in San Antonio, where she also enjoyed helping teachers create individualized instruction packets for their students with different learning styles.  While presenting at an education conference, she was approached by education publishers.  For the next twenty years, Anita trained teachers throughout the United States for different major education publishers (CTB/McGraw-Hill, Pearson, Harcourt).  Her workshops included theory/methodology, test interpretation/test taking skills and different manipulatives (hands-on activities take-aways) to use in their class instruction.  After her travels training teachers, Anita was an ESL Transition Coach.  She coached teachers on how to teach students that had English as a Second Language, due to resettlement students on the campuses. Anita also tutored these students before, during lunch and afterschool.

After retirement, Anita continued tutoring students on English Language Arts that included Reading, Writing, College Essays, and State Testing Skills.  With her strong background on differentiating instruction and testing, she assesses the student’s present skills to identify areas of need.  Instruction is then accommodated for the students.  This also allows Ms. Muriel to show growth of the student to parents.  Ms. Muriel also enjoys teaching Catechism to 3^rd grade students preparing for Holy Communion.  She also creates the power point slides for her church Rosary Prayer Group.

Her hobbies include gardening, antique browsing, DIY projects, as well as, babysitting her two grandchildren and tutoring them in areas of need.