Harper

Certified Tutor

I have been informally tutoring my classmates in French since I began studying the language, about six years ago. I would help them understand grammar and pronunciation mainly in the beginning stages of learning the language. I was hired last year as the French tutor at my college and I have experience tutoring students in beginning and intermediate level French. I am very comfortable with the language and my experience has shown me what does and what does not work when tutoring a student. I have also attended several lectures regarding the ways in which students learn, which I incorporate into all of my tutoring sessions. I believe that my general experience studying and teaching a foreign language has prepared me to be able to tutor Mandarin Chinese also, as I have been studying that for three years. As for French tutoring, I tend to focus on classwork if a student is struggling with a specific area in their current lesson. With more advanced students, I like to hold conversations with them to expose their linguistic ability and help them speak the language more comfortably and naturally. I recently had the privilege of taking two years of cultural immersion courses at the Alliance Franaise de Chicago, and I have been to France multiple times, so I am very familiar with French and Francophone culture. I sometimes like to explore current events in the French world if I am having a conversation with a student. I can teach lessons around French and francophone film, literature, and music. In Mandarin, I have experience speaking with friends and acquaintances completely in Mandarin. Living in Chicago has given me access to Chinatown, a wonderful neighborhood overflowing with rich Chinese culture that I have been exposed to since birth.

Currently I am a sophomore at Beloit College, majoring in International Relations and French, and minoring in Mandarin Chinese. I am working towards an undergraduate degree, which will be followed by a graduate degree. I am anticipating studying abroad in the future in both China and France in an effort to use those languages to study International Relations. Outside of school, my favorite thing to do is travel. There is no better way to understand another culture than to visit it. I also like to cook, take pictures, and explore Chicago.