David D. Tutor Profile

Tutor Personal Information

I am a proponent of the Socratic method. I am convinced that simply loading a student with information will not help him/her truly master a subject. Rather, I find that, by guiding a student through his/her intellectual inquiry and asking questions that support that inquiry, a teacher/tutor can most effectively help the student to internalize and personalize knowledge.

My major academic focus for my BA was Ancient (Attic and Biblical) Greek and Latin. I have supported this with significant study in theoretical linguistics, English language and literature, anthropology and social studies, history, and more. I have a reasonable command of Russian and Arabic, and am able to help with the study of those languages on the beginner to intermediate levels.

I was home-schooled, and finished my BA at UC Berkeley at age 18 -- my main areas of expertise are with the home-schooled and with gifted/talented/accelerated students.

I am an active competitive fencer. I am "C" ranked in epee and "E" ranked in foil. I have competed in the Junior Olympics (under 20 national championships), the Junior National Championships, the Division III and Division II Summer National Championships, the German University National Championships, and numerous college and national division tournaments.

Before taking up fencing, I competed as a swimmer.

I have played classical and folk guitar for four years, and have sung in several church choirs. I am currently auditioning for a college concert choir.

My tutoring experience:

I taught ESL and music at orphanages and schools in Indonesia on a three-month volunteer project in 2010.

I tutored 6th grade students at Willard After School Program in Berkeley California from 2008-2009. Subjects included mathematics, social sciences, and English. Also at Willard After School, I volunteered in the program Future Leaders for Peace, a program that "teaches young people positive leadership and interpersonal skills, and creates a movement of change by inspiring them to share these skills with others."

n summer of 2008, I participated in a three-week volunteer project in Albania.
Along with 4 other volunteers, I designed a summer camp for fifty Albanian middle-schoolers, teaching subjects as various as English as a second language, arts and crafts, and music.

I worked as a college Latin, math, and English as a second language tutor from 2005-2007 at the Santa Rosa Junior College Tutorial Center.

I have tutored social science, Latin, Greek, English, and German privately to students as young as eight and as old as forty.

*** N.B.: I am currently based in Germany and spend a great deal of time travelling, so I am only available for online (especially Skype) tutoring. ***

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