I am an American citizen, born in the state of Ohio, but finished high school and university in New York and in California.

I love traveling and living in cultures that are different from my own. I have lived in many places in the U.S., including New York, San Francisco, Alaska and Hawaii. I have also spent 4 years in Western, Central and Eastern Europe (including Switzerland, Germany, Poland, Russia and Ukraine), and 11 years in Asia (Thailand, South Korea and Oman).

I presently enjoy watching movies, listening to music, meeting with friends and exploring Thailand.

I also enjoy writing and have completed a trilogy (3-part) novel about Russia in 1992.

I have a Bachelor of Arts in Russian language and literature, and a Master of Arts in Russian technical translation. I speak Russian fluently. This has been a very useful tool for teaching English to Russians.

I finished a TEFL certification in 2005, which qualifies me to teach adolescents. I finished a CELTA certification in 2009, which qualifies me to teach adults.

I taught English for 10 years in schools in Asia. I have experience teaching in Thai and Korean high schools, in a university in Thailand and in a college in Oman. I also have experience teaching individual (or private) students in language schools. I have been teaching English online for 3.5 years.

I enjoy the one-on-one approach. I love preparing and helping people to meet their goals. I have helped students prepare for university and for business ventures, as well as to meet their personal goals. Helping students reach their goal always gives me a deep sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.

I prefer to teach students who have already finished the A2 level (Basic User) or above in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. However, I can help A2 students get to the B1 level. I have good teaching materials to do that.

PLEASE NOTE: During your first lesson with me, I need to spend some time getting acquainted with you, determining your goals and explaining my procedures (15 to 20 minutes) before I show you my teaching methods. This is so we will better understand each other and so you will understand my system, should you decide to continue lessons with me.

I normally teach conversation to intermediate (B1 and B2) and advanced (C1 and C2) students who already have a good foundation in English. However, I recently found some excellent teaching materials for A2 students that can help you move into B1 (lower intermediate) in a few lessons.

Over the past year, I've started teaching several younger students, aged 10 to 14. Their skill levels were generally A2 to B1. I have really enjoyed teaching them, and am willing to work with more students in that age range.

Now a little about the introductory lesson and subsequent lessons:

If you are an intermediate or advanced student of English, then I want to first find out what your goals are, as well as your strengths and weaknesses. My two methods are role-plays (essentially written conversations) that involve a lot of speaking for you, as well as free chat with me based on discussions of topics that you choose. In the role-plays, I will correct your errors in pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary and also check your comprehension of what you have read. In the free chat, you and I will have a chat on many different topics in a natural way and with only limited correction. As a result, your listening and speaking skills will improve simultaneously.

There are real physical reasons to explain why someone is not pronouncing a sound correctly. I will show you how to correct that.

(Note: If you relocated to an English-speaking country, you may not need the free chat on topics, since you probably already can get that practice on-site. In that case, we will concentrate on the role-plays.)

Another method that I am using with a few of my B2 students is reading a novel that is fairly easy to read and understand, and is written completely in the past tense. Those students have found that this actually helps them to practice and perfect their use of the past tense (useful when telling stories about the past in the narrative form), as well as learning other valuable issues in English, such as pronunciation and vocabulary.

I am a patient person, so please don't be afraid to make mistakes because that's how you learn and improve your English skills.

I also worked for 5 years for an American export company as a sales representative, so I can help you with your business English as well. My writing skills are quite high, so you can ask me for help with editing your own writing.

If you want to study with me, but you don't see a time slot available that fits into your schedule, please send me an email in Verbal Planet to tell me when you can study with me. I will then do my best to reserve a time slot for you and get you on the road to improving your English!