Personal Description:

I am an English Lit graduate living in Montreal. While at Concordia University, I specialized in modernist and post-modernist North American literature with a minor in philosophy. Here, I cultivated my writing skills through academic work, and by contributing to several creative writing groups. I have worked professionally as a freelance editor in various contexts including editing legal documents, academic articles and development reports. I also written for a food blog and have contributed pro bono writing work to mental health charities. I am passionate about language, from the way it creates different lenses for looking at the world, to its power to create and change meaning. I am always excited to share this passion with other people, and enjoy encouraging their abilities in it.

Tutoring Experience:

I have been working with Prep Academy Tutors for the past 6 months as an English tutor at University level. I also run a private editing service for academic and personal work. I work closely with my clients to help them achieve their vision for the piece in question. This involves a process of copy editing, then communicating with the client to develop their ideas and helping to translate those into the writing. Though this is not strictly tutoring work, it involves a lot of teaching, structuring and guiding techniques.

Tutoring Approach:

I aim to teach the structures and techniques of good writing and reading. When I first start working with someone, I talk with them to determine their level, what their strengths and weaknesses are, and what they would like to improve on. I will then tailor the sessions to suit their particular needs. Finding out what they are excited about in language is key to improving their ability with it. When working on writing, my approach involves five key areas: clarity of expression, sequencing of ideas, syntax and grammar, structural organisation and focusing. I also recognize the importance of good reading skills. I will teach techniques like visualizing, synthesis, interpretation of metaphor, note taking and recognizing linguistic patterns.