From Marco (in his own words, unedited):  My name is Marco De Angelis and I moved with my family to Bellingham in August 2008 due to an international assignment of two years.  I started the tutoring sessions on April 2009 and my tutor is Julianne Dickelman. Due to my full business calendar and we meet at lunch time around one hour, two or three times a week. We can manage it very flexible and change the day and the time according to our appointments. Before starting the session, Julianne and I set the goals I would like to meet as soon as possible. I focused on reading and writing, because I need to write emails or summarizes of business cases for my current job.
 
Our regular session takes place as following: I bring an article of "USA Today" or "Time" that I have already read and looked the dictionary up for some words I didn't know. During the session I read the article loud and Julianne correct my pronunciation and ask me for the meaning of some expressions or non common words to make sure I understood the sense of them. I find very helpful that she explains to me the different meaning or pronunciation between West-coast and East-coast, too. Before reading the printed article, we go over the email I wrote and sent during the day or the week. Julianne read my answers or requirements and give me very helpful suggestions for improving my writing skills. I ask her for some expressions I read in the email and received from native speakers and I don't have a clue about. This is very helpful, too; because I can catch the informal language faster and create a deep relationship with the other coworkers.
 
Julianne make notice of the issues I can improve and at the next session give me some paperwork I have to look at it after our session. I find this very helpful for me, too; because I am able to go over grammar and expressions issues again. Other important item of our session is the conversations time. When we meet we start to talk about the day before and to tell what it happened. If I don't know some words Julianne says, I will ask her for it and she write down it and I can understand the right pronunciation and the right spelling. On the other hand, if I don't know the right word for describing a situation I will try to explain it with other words and then I ask Julianne for the appropriate word.
 
I must say this session is for me an excellent asset for improving my reading and writing skills and I use the meeting time is a very effectively way. I would like to keep on meeting Julianne and shaping the session in this way. If the lunch time should be changed, I will try to adjust my calendar in order to continue to attend these sessions.

 

 

From Julianne:  Learner-centered tutoring is both challenge and delight with Marco. He brings specific goals (and self-generated homework!) for becoming more proficient in English along with fluency in two other languages as well as a classical education in his youth that included Latin and Greek.  Our "action/reflection" meeting style works well because it gives me time to research more complicated questions and find supportive materials that address identified issues.  Although this "saves" me from needing to create lesson plans from scratch, responding to Marco's accelerated and higher level abilities requires an equivalent amount of time.  As a tutor, I offer my ability to listen carefully, identify patterns and problems and then choose resources that can assist Marco in meeting his goals.  His motivation is a joyful catalyst and inspiration for me.