ABOUT ME

Thank you for visiting my page! After graduating from the University of Tulsa, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, with a Bachelors of Arts in Communications and Art History, I was ready for my next phase in life. Since moving to Spain to pursue my dreams of both living abroad and teaching in August of 2018, I’ve embraced every new challenge with a sense of enthusiasm and creativity. With a careful balance of ambition and patience, teaching has lead to countless unique experiences and relationships both in and out of the classroom. If you’re interested in learning more about me and my involvement in ESL teaching abroad, please read on, or scroll down to learn how to contact me personally.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

TEACHING EXPERIENCE AND GOALS

I graduated from the University of Tulsa in May of 2018 with a BA in Communications, Art History and Spanish. Fresh out of school myself, I approach teaching with a deep level of empathy and understanding for my students. I come to each class with fun ideas and enthusiasm. I have several years of experience working with young children. From 2014 to 2018, I participated in a weekly volunteer effort at a local elementary school in my area called “Bike Club” that aimed to instill confidence in 5th through 8th graders by teaching them to ride bicycles. Through this experience, I learned the virtues of patience, humor, and respect when guiding children towards their goals. I am currently working towards obtaining the prestigious TEFL (Teach English as a Foreign Language) certification from CIEE, an internationally recognized and accredited ESL program. My class will be based off of pattern set in the CIEE TEFL course, which emphasizes unique, specific, and diverse teaching methods and ideas.

INTERACTIVE AND DIVERSE LESSONS

I believe that the formative years of childhood education are the most crucial in the road to lifelong success. For that reason, I approach each student with empathy, understanding, and respect. With experience in both teaching children, and being a learner myself, I understand the potential hurdles that confront a young learner. I combat this by utilizing a variety of teaching methods, individual attention, and diligent preparation for class. As a kinetic and visual learner myself, I understand the need for diverse teaching styles. My class will use a combination of creative expression, songs, visuals, games, dialogue, reading, and writing to insure that each student’s specific learning needs are met, and that they never leave class feeling bored.

CULTURE, SONG, AND DANCE IN TEACHING

When students come to my class, they are expected to participate in a diverse series of quick-learning activities. One activity I incorporate in my course is showing students images that stimulate the visual memory. Implementing my personal American culture is important in my teaching approach. Whenever it is relevant, I show my students images from my own life—such as my home, my dog, and other places I like to visit. These real-life visuals will be incorporated appropriately within each lesson and help students grasp an accurate picture of American culture.

Songs and dance are especially important in my lessons. Fun and catchy songs easily capture the interest of a young learner’s naturally short attention span. Together as a class, we learn and sing songs with beginning conversational vocabulary like colors, days of the week, or numbers. I will also use dance and other physical activities to activate the kinetic memory when learning new concepts. The “head, shoulders, knees and toes” song and dance is a great example of how music and movement can successfully teach necessary english vocabulary, and the catchy tune will ensure that they retain what they have learned beyond their time in the class room. They will be singing these songs for years to come!

MY CLASSES

What a Typical Day is Like for Me

FIRST GRADE SCIENCE

First grade science is a very basic introduction into the bodily functions and parts. It is typical for the teacher to begin by introducing new concepts to the entire class through song, dance, and videos. Once the class is familiar with the week’s theme, I help them to complete the activities in their individual workbooks. Throughout the class hour, I give individual attention to any student in need. Simple visual flashcards help to reimplement concepts during small, group review sessions (usually 4-5 students) held by me in the hallway.

SECOND GRADE SCIENCE

My first class on Monday starts at 11:30 in science class in 2B (one of the second grade classes). Topics have ranged from body operational systems to animals classifications. We typically work together by following along in the class workbook. All content is taught in English with occasional clarifications made my the professor in Spanish. It is common for me to pull groups of 4 or 5 outside in the hall to review core concepts to that week’s chapter. These mini-sessions in the hall are spent playing games that I have prepared with the teacher’s flash cards. They usually last about 5-10 minutes.

FIRST GRADE ENGLISH

Each first grade English class is started with an introduction to the students. I encourage them to express themselves by asking “How are you feeling today?” We focus on using “feelings” vocabulary that correspond with the emoji icons in my hands. When a student says she feels happy, for example, I stick the happy emoji icon on the whiteboard to reinforce the spoken vocabulary with the visual representative of the word. Following comes the “Daily Calendar Routine” where I ask a student to volunteer to update items such as the date or weather. Every Tuesday I lead the class in the “Sound Lesson”, where I teach them a new sound from the English alphabet and pass around small toys that represent an example of that sound in real life.

SECOND GRADE ENGLISH

Grammar takes a frontal role in second grade English as students are thrust in to the formulaic composition of constructing sentences in English. A combination of videos, lectures, and visuals usually precede the students’ individual worksheets. Often, my job is to provide individual support to students as they complete the worksheet on their own. “Sound Lessons” are also an important part of the second grade English curriculum as proper pronunciation gains priority. As a native English speaker, students are encouraged to listen carefully to how I pronounce the objects in the Sound Boxes (small toys corresponding to their sound theme) and they each repeat after me as we pass around each example object.

HIGHLIGHTS