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Maria-cristina

Spanish, ESL tutor and Etiquette Consultant

My name is Cristina. My first language is Spanish. I have taught Spanish for over 20 years in private and public schools in the main land and Hawaii. I have taught middle and high school age students. I believe that in order to master a language, one must learn the culture along with the language. I graduated from University of Berkeley. I also teach teen etiquette, and was certified by The Protocol School of Washington. Why do young people need Etiquette or Social Skills? "Our world is f...

ESL/ESOL

My name is Cristina, my first language is Spanish. When I came to the United States, they did not have ESL programs. Therefore, I was immersed into the English language. It was sink or swim. I learned to speak English and then later learned the grammar and culture. Right out of college, I taught English as a Second language to elementary school children. I was able to use ESL teaching material and my personal experiences. It was very rewarding to see my students excel and be able to communicate in the English Language in a very short time period.


reading


Spanish


vocabulary


TRACY D. from Aiea, HI

My 7 year old boy has been receiving tutoring services from Cristina for over 3 months and I'm amazed by his knowledge of new vocabulary. She's working on his conversational skills and is very patient with him. Being a native speaker herself, I know that he is learning from the best; not only in pronunciation, but also with non-verbal language and cultural cues. Cristina is highly recommended!


Mary Kate F. from Honolulu, HI

As a new transfer student to the University of Hawaii at Manoa on my very first semester, I had a lot going on. I was enrolled in Spanish 101, which proved to be an extremely challenging class for me. I knew with in the first few weeks a tutor was in great need. I found Maria on WYZant.com. We worked for the remaining part of the semester together. Mrs. Y and I worked on grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. My class demanded 150 word papers on specific topics. My grades on theses compositions skyrocketed with Mrs. Y's help. I went from getting 80% to 100% on every written composition. Over all in the class, my grade went from a very low C, and not passing, to a high C and passing onto the next level of Spanish. Mrs. Y was a great help to me. She had endless patience for my lack of understanding and was willing to take a lot of time to repeat herself. When there was a certain word, I could not remember or say correctly she would often repeat it throughout the entire session. Once that session was over, I had it down. It was little tricks like that, that really helped me remember what the words where and how to say them correctly. Mrs. Y took a personal interest in my progress in my class. She was always personable and understanding and overall wonderful to work with. She taught me so much and helped me out tremendously. I highly recommend Mrs. Y to anyone needing to learn a second language.