I have a BA in Asian Studies, an MA in East Asian Studies (emphasis on Japan), and an MBA in International Management.

I have experience in teaching ESL classes in Japan, have been a faculty member of the Faculty of Education at a university in Thailand where I taught reading, reading comprehension, and English conversation. In addition, I have taught at the U. of Maryland in Japan courses in the Asian Studies and Business Management programs. Lastly, I held remedial reading sessions, on a one-on-one basis, for 4th grade students at a charter school in Colorado. This was , in essence, a tutoring program for about ten students that had been selected by the Language and Literature teacher for such remedial work. The primary reading material consisted of reading many of the classics such as Treasure Island, Swiss Family Robinson, etc.

So far as private tutoring is concerned, I have conducted a summer session for a student who I had in my previous 4th grade class whose parents wanted her to get more prepared for transitioning to the 5th grade by substantially improving her English reading and comprehension. We read one novel in class,; in addition, she also read, on a nightly basis, a second novel for which she prepared a short verbal summary as well as answering questions from me concerning the characters and the story plot. I would occasionally have some workbook exercises that would target the student's ability to make inferences, to draw conclusions, and to solve contextual clues. Depending on the individual student's current ability, I then evaluate what level of literature would be the best fit.

I want to ensure that the student is comfortable with the homework assignments and feel that the parents can be of great assistance in determining if there might be some other methods or resources that may perhaps be additionally effective.