Greetings! My name is Dr. J and I'm an English teacher and literature professor from Colorado, USA. I had a long career at the University of Colorado Boulder and I'm now working at an International Baccalaureate School in Bursa, Turkey. My doctorate is in English Literature and I have taught literature, college writing, and leadership courses. I have a certification in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) from the University of Toronto in Canada, and my degrees are from the University of Colorado and the University of Southern California.

In Turkey, in addition to working with elementary, middle school, and high school students, I have specialized in assisting medical doctors and engineers with improving their abilities to speak English professionally. My clients include neurosurgeons, ENT doctors, and general practitioners as well as a variety of Engineers. Because I have a lot of experience at the university level I am comfortable assisting students with learning to use academic English in their profession.

My training is in communicative language methods and these emphasize the importance of getting a clear message across. This is a much more natural way to learn a language and my clients have found it really helps them to build their confidence, one of the most difficult and most important language skills.

I love teaching and meeting new people! I'm really comfortable working with people of all ages, and for any interest or professional reason. I speak some Spanish and German, and limited Turkish, French and Italian. This helps me to understand when people are having problems with learning English and why they might be having those problems.

For years I have worked with English as a Second Language students attending university in the United States and I taught college composition and also provided support services to these students.

Currently I am working with adult professionals and with K-12 students.

One of my best skills is in improving students' confidence in communicating using both spoken and written language. Lessons with me will feel conversational and easy-going, with minimal correction. This is because I am developing your ability to communicate first. Over time I will start to gently provide corrections to your speech or writing in a way that supports your confidence.

My clients who are medical doctors have been really impressed with my methods because I work so hard to make them feel comfortable. One client in Turkey went from lacking confidence about his ability to speak to serving as the English language translator for his hospital.

With young students I am able to adapt my conversations to things relevant to their lives and schoolwork, and these students are eager to continue working with me.