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My name is Alia. I grew up on a small island in the Pacific Northwest here in the USA. I love to travel and have had the opportunities to visit Canada, the Bahamas, Peru, Guatemala, Egypt, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Cambodia. In addition I have lived and worked in both Turkey and China. I went to the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California for my first degree. I have always loved animals and grew up surrounded by wild creatures as well as pets. I also love to read and go to the movies. In addition, my life is incomplete without a gym to go to. My favorite food is sushi. If there's a sushi bar in town, you'll find me there at least once per week.

I have a 100-hour TEFL certificate and two bachelor's degrees, one in Spanish and one in Communications. I have been teaching English for about 5 years. I've taught in Turkey, China and via another online platform. I have experience teaching all age categories, from age 3 to adults. I've taught with a wide variety of material and over the years have picked out bits and pieces of each curriculum that I found the most useful and tried to carry them forward as I enhance and sharpen my teaching ability.

I will ask lots of questions and give lots of discussion time so the student will have plenty of opportunities to practice his or her verbal fluency. I believe the best results come when the students are enjoying themselves, so I try to make the lesson about something the student is genuinely interested in. I teach with the goal in mind of my students being able to use the language effectively in a practical, real-world setting, and in the real world effective communication is usually more important than perfect grammar so I care more about being comfortable and confident with the language that memorizing grammar rules.