
Geoffrey
Certified Tutor
I received my undergraduate degree from Cornell University in 2004. After graduating, I moved to Madrid, Spain, where I worked for a non-profit organization for three years, and then enrolled in a full time Masters Degree program in International Relations at the Universidad Pontificia Comillas. All of my classes were given in Spanish.
Having lived in Spain for a total of over five years, I achieved fluency in Spanish, and I have since tutored students of all ages in Spanish, and I have also worked as a Spanish to English translator for several large companies.
I have studied Spanish since eighth grade, so I understand the challenges involved in learning a new language, and I love to see students begin to understand Spanish in ways they may have never thought possible. I am an effective Spanish tutor mainly because I have studied and have possibly even stumbled over the same concepts that my students are studying, so I understand how to explain these ideas in easy to understand ways.
I think that it's very important to understand that Spanish is not just a subject in school to be passed, but a living, breathing language, and as the second most spoken language in the world, it will become more and more important to be bilingual in the future.
Outside of tutoring, I enjoy playing guitar, reading, playing video game, skateboarding and snowboarding.
Connect with a tutor like Geoffrey
Undergraduate Degree: Cornell University - Bachelor of Science, Industrial and Labor Relations
Guitar, Snowboarding, reading
- AP Spanish Language & Culture
- AP Spanish Literature and Culture
- Conversational Spanish
- Guitar
- Languages
- Music
- Spanish
- Spanish 1
- Spanish 2
- Spanish 3
- Spanish 4
What is your teaching philosophy?
Spanish is not just a subject in school to be passed, but a living, breathing language. And as the second most spoken language in the world, it will become more and more important to be bilingual.
I try to express how important Spanish is in the real world, outside of the classroom.
What might you do in a typical first session with a student?
In the first session I like to gauge the student’s abilities, and after a few minutes I am usually ready to get started. For a student in school, I will check their understanding of the current topic they are learning about, and then see how they are with older material which they have already gone over but might not remember.
How can you help a student become an independent learner?
I try to help students to become independent learners by teaching them how to identify patterns that are useful to learning Spanish.