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Contact me today to schedule a free 1/2 hour lesson & discuss your learning goals. I look forward to hearing from you!

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Testimonials:

Hello Deborah. I'm writing to let you know I passed the IELTS. I got 7.5 in speaking. Thank you for all your help, I am very happy! (Kelly V. Peru) -November 2009

Hi Deborah, I passed the IELTS exam!!! Thank you!!! I really appreciate all your help and I am going to recommend you to all of my colleagues! (Nanci - Argentina) - August 2009

Dear Deborah,

I am writing to let you know that I passed the IELTS exam. I would like to thank you for your help. I couldn't have done it without you. You encouraged me in each of our classes. My spoken, writing and listening skills improved a lot with your teaching method. I enjoyed the lessons and I feel more confident now. I really appreciate your dedication, patience, and your punctuality. You are a great teacher!.
Patricia Mochon (Argentina) May 2009

Dear Deborah,
I would like to thank you for the quality of your course. I really appreciate the way you handle each lesson. It has been really difficult to find a teacher able to point out each weakness and to provide the answer to correct it. I have been learning so much about grammar and pronunciation that I now feel comfortable to handle a conversation with my English colleagues. The way I speak now is much more natural and sophisticated.
Thanks,

Laurent (Belguim)

Thank you so much Deborah for everything. You helped August to become what he is when it comes to english. His scores were really good, even in speaking,..more sessions with you will really make a difference. God bless you.
Januarie (Kansas)

"Deborah is a perfect English teacher. The interesting thing is that she is more than a teacher, she is a very awesome lady, who encourages us. The way she spoke to me the first time and told me which country I was from just by my accent, surprised me. She makes English very easy for anybody who seeks her classes. All the best to every one who wants to learn English. I can tell you that in Deborah's classes you will see that "learning English is not a Rocket science."

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to write a testimonial about you.

Dr. Lakshmi ( India)

Hi, I am Yushi. I found Deborah's site through the internet and we began our lessons.
I am on a business trip to the US. At first ,I felt a little afraid of talking to people in English but after a few lessons, my spoken and listening skills improved very quickly. I can talk to my US colleagues in English now.
Thank you Deborah! (Yushi, China)

"Online learning is very convenient. We do the same things as you would in a classroom. I feel very comfortable talking with Deborah, she is a great teacher. I don't have to go anywhere to do my lessons, it's great." (Jennifer, New York)

"Hi, I contacted Deborah by browsing the Internet; I was tired of trying to find the perfect English school with the perfect schedule and price and I just didn't want to lose my money or my time. I was afraid of trying a tutor by Internet because I thought it would be too impersonal but it wasn't true. She is great! We contact each other through messenger, we write and speak in our class, we do home work, the sound is very good and she corrects my pronunciation. It's like being in a personalized class but better because I do it from my comfortable home. I am very excited about our classes and I feel very confident she will help me to perfect my English. Of course she doesn't do magic, I have to study by myself too! " (Victoria- East Coast)


" Just three lessons with Deborah, I started seeing an improvement in my speech and pronunciation of words. My co-workers and supervisors noticed immediately the change in my speaking. I highly recommend Deborah, she is great." Crystal (CA)

" After just a few lessons with Deborah I notice that I am speaking more confidently and now I am catching myself before I make mistakes." Miguel Contreus ( Peru)

"My English improved quickly learning with Deborah. I became more confident and learned a lot of new vocabulary" - Thubten (Tibet)

"I am writing to let you know that I passed my exam with flying colors. I couldn't have done it without you.... "Anabel (Madrid)

" ...I never thought learning over the internet would work but this turned out to be the most convenient method for me and my English improved quickly. Thank you so much. This was just what I needed...." Aleck (California)


I have taught students from:

• Spain
• France
• Mexico
  
• Germany
• Italy
• Japan
• China
• Tibet
• Nepal
• India
• Russia
• Slovenia
  
• Czech Republic
• Argentina
• Brazil
• Turkey
• Israel
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• Belgium
• Kurdistan
• Pakistan
• Afghanistan
• Cyprus
• Greece
• Hungary
• Denmark
• Saudi Arabia
  
• and more
  

Qualifications:

I am a qualified & experienced English Language Teacher offering private tutorials to help improve your understanding and spoken English. Grammar, conversation practice, reading and listening skills will improve after just a few lessons.

I am University educated with a BA(Honors) in English. I am an accredited ESL teacher and have taught English to foreign learners for over 15 years.

My goal is to help you achieve excellent results in your exams. I will tutor you in all areas of exam practice to ensure your success. My expertise in teaching includes :

• Language skills for the work place
  
• Beginner , intermediate and advanced levels.
  
• Preparation for exams including TOEFL, IELTS, FCE
  
• Experience with teaching children , teens and adults .
• Grammar
• Conversation practice
  
• Pronunciation
  
• Accent reduction
• Business English
• Proof -reading and editing : essays, business letters, course work and more
  
• Comprehension
• Confidence building
• Weekend tuition available

I am available for online tutoring or in person if you are within traveling distance . For online tutoring you will need access to a computer, headset and the internet. I offer competitive rates and flexible hours .

For further information and to redeem your free lesson please contact me via email or phone. I look forward to helping you improve your English .

To schedule your free introductory lesson, contact me today!

• email : shambhala_sedona@yahoo.com
• or simply fill out the contact form below
  

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Conversation topics for ESL classes

One of the areas that ESL students need plenty of practice in, is the art of conversation. Often times they do not get a lot of time to practice their English outside of the classroom , so it is a very helpful activity for them to engage in as much as possible. In my own ESL classes I like to choose topics that are meaningful in real life, where hopefully some new vocabulary can be practiced and the students can contribute their own thoughts and feelings upon the subject at hand. This type of activity , over time can help increase fluency, confidence and is hopefully a stimulating activity that engages their interest.
Some of the topics that I have covered recently are:

• Alternative energy sources- some of the vocabulary we included was solar energy, green house gas emissions, hybrid cars, electric cars, fossil fuels, lithium batteries, EM technology.
• Voting and Government - included vocabulary such as Democrat, Republican, congress, senate, senator, land-slide, ballot box, electronic voting, robo calls, election year, campaign contributions, President -elect, Vice president, nominee, candidate, swing state.
• Movies - useful vocabulary that was pre-taught included blockbuster, commercial hit, box office flop, comedy, romantic comedy, action flick, action hero, Sci-Fi, thriller, lead, character actor, leading lady, genre.
• Favorite technological gadget that you simply can't live without! - I-pod, Internet, Blackberry, cell phone....
  

This is just a sample list of topics that have elicited some enthusiastic conversations so far. The students seem to have a lot to say on these particular issues. It can also be a productive exercise to look at some of the vocabulary involving how they feel about a certain issue too. Take movies for example. A useful list of words might be hilarious, sad, creepy, thought provoking, shallow, deep. You can expand this list as you see fit to best suit the needs of your students. I enjoy giving a class that will enable the student to go out into the world and be able to use the vocabulary in a real life situation.

I am a qualified ESL tutor. If you need help with the English language please contact me.

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Vocabulary learning tips for ESL

The right choice of word can make the difference between being understood and being met with a puzzled expression. I bet you have encountered this situation yourselves, when struggling to find the perfect word to express your thoughts. This illustrates the importance of having a fairly extensive vocabulary so that you can pull the right word out at the right time! It is good to have synonyms at the ready so that even if the perfect word escapes you , there is always another word you can substitute. A rich and varied vocabulary makes what you have to say more engaging and precise, it gives your listener more information and you can be more confident that you are getting your message across.
There are many ways to learn vocabulary and often it is a matter of discovering the method that works best for you. I personally like to teach new vocabulary in my ESL classes in groups of words. For example I might take the topic of weather and then elicit from my students the vocabulary they already know. After this I will often give them a video clip or article to read regarding weather. There is always an ample amount of information on this subject , via yahoo news, you tube or any other media page. For example the other day I gave one of my students a video to watch , with the headline "Arctic Blast sweeps across the Midwest!"
We had a lot of fun deciphering the meaning of this and naturally the article had a lot of new vocabulary. We covered:

• Deep freeze
• Cold snap
• Bone- numbing cold
• Black ice
• Biting cold
• Bitterly cold
• Snow drift
• Snow storm
• Frigid temperatures

As you can see the above list will enrich any conversation you may have about the weather. I also hope it develops a love of learning new words and gives you the confidence to use this in your daily conversations.

I am a qualified ESL tutor. If you need help with the English language please contact me.

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Lesson plan for weather

This is a lesson that I covered recently in light of the severe weather the mid-west and the east coast were getting. The great thing about the Internet is that a lot of the material you need for a successful lesson can be found online .
I used this lesson plan for upper intermediate level students, but you could easily adapt to suit the level of your students.
As a warmer and to get the ball rolling I asked the students what kind of weather they were having in their home countries. This opening exercise elicited a lot of the weather vocabulary they already knew. Next I asked them how the weather was right now. We then looked at a worksheet I had prepared with some important vocabulary for weather. This included:

breeze, breezy, bright, cloud, cloudy, damp, dull, fog, foggy, hailstone ,lightning, rain, raindrop rainfall, rainy, snow, snowfall, snowflake, snowy, storm, stormy, thunder, wet ,wild winds, windy, severe winter weather, chilly, cold, freezing, bone numbing cold, freeze, deep freeze, frigid temperatures, black ice , hail, pour with rain, snow drift

A lot of this vocabulary was new to the students and they had fun practicing the more colorful descriptive phrases.
Next I played them a short video that I found on Yahoo news about the severe arctic weather in the mid west . The link is http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090115/ap_on_re_us/winter_weather . You can also find many short videos on you tube for this purpose.
Finally , for homework I gave them the newspaper article to read that accompanied the video.
As you can see in this lesson I used real life material and we covered reading, listening, conversation and new vocabulary. One of my students commented , "very interesting!" This made me happy as that is what I aim to do in each lesson, to provide an interesting topic that practices real life skills .

I am a qualified ESL tutor, please contact me if you need help with your English studies.

Click here to send me email.

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Idioms - Body parts

There are many idioms to learn in the English language and a good way to practice them is to learn them in groups. Today I am going to give you some popular idioms that use different body parts. In my ESL classes I like to give the students a quiz so that they can have fun with the different expressions. See how many of the following idioms you can remember!

• To learn/know something by heart - meaning to memorize something. The students know these idioms by heart.
• To lose heart - to become discouraged or to lose faith in something. Jackie began to lose heart in the stock market. Overnight she lost everything she owned.
• After one's own heart - someone who is the kind of person you like because of shared interests . Jenny loves cooking , she's a person after my own heart.
• A heart of gold - a kind person. Andrea cares a lot about children. She adopted four kids , she has a heart of gold.
• A heart of stone - a cold, uncaring person. Barbara has a heart of stone. She didn't offer to help me , even though she could see I was crying and upset.

• Face the music - to have to deal with the consequences. Toby stayed out late last night and didn't get his homework finished. Now he will have to face the music with his tutor!
• Face value - to accept something as true or genuine. I trust Harry , I take him at face value.
• Put on a brave face - to bravely go about your business even though you may be suffering a great upset. I really admire Sarah, she just lost her job but she is putting a brave face upon it and is getting on with looking for a new job.
• Two faced - a deceitful person. Don't believe a word she says, she is two faced and doesn't tell the truth.

• Bite your tongue - to stop yourself from saying what you truly think and fee. Martha's children behave horribly, but I have to bite my tongue and not say anything when they are here!
• On the tip of your tongue - to try and remember something, but not quite succeed. Oh what is the title of that new movie...it's on the tip of my tongue but I just can't remember it!

• The bee's knees - to be the best or to be thought highly of. Mindy thinks she's the bee's knees now that she got a big pay rise.
• Pull somebody's leg - to kid or fool someone . Don't take it so seriously, I am just pulling your leg!

• Turn up one's nose up - to look down on something, to be superior about something. Zoe turned her nose up at the offer of coming to the movies with me. I guess she has better things to do!
• Keep your nose to the grindstone - keep focused and working hard on a project. We will be here all night finishing off this paint job. We will have to keep our nose to the grindstone.

For more idioms click here.

I am a qualified ESL tutor. If you need help with the English language please contact me.

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Idioms - Colors

There are so many idioms in the English language, we use them frequently to express ourselves and I like to encourage my ESL students to practice them so that they feel confident when using such expressions. Lets take a look at some common expressions using color.

Blue - I feel blue today . (Sad)
Blue blood - His family has a lot of money, in fact he's a bit of a blue blood. (Royal or Old lineage)
Blue collar workers - The union needs to protect the rights of blue collar workers. (Laborers or manual workers)
Once in a blue moon - We rarely go out to eat, once in a blue moon in fact.
( Rare occurrence)
Out of the blue - "Then out of the blue she told me that she was moving to Canada!" (Unexpected)

Black humor - Some comedians go too far with their jokes and their black humor offends some people. ( Making humor out of sinister or sensitive subjects, for example death.)
Black sheep - Joe is the black sheep of the family. (The person in the family who is seen as a failure, or not fitting in with the family's beliefs and expectations.)
In the black - Thank goodness we paid off our debts and we are finally in the black.( To be in credit financially.)
Black tie event - We have been invited to a black tie event so we have to dress up! (To dress formally - normally the men wear ties and the women wear dresses.)

Gray matter - The teacher told the students to use their gray matter! (Brains)
Gray area - The rules are not clear to me, there seems to be a lot of gray area. ( An unclear situation, or area regarding what is correct or not.)

Green thumb - Joy grows the most incredible roses, she has such a green thumb! ( A gift for growing plants.)
Green light - I was overjoyed when I got the green light from my boss to start on my new project. (Given permission to do or start something.)
Green-eyed monster - You had better be careful around Dave, his girlfriend Sally has a bit of the green- eyed monster! ( to show envy or jealousy.)

To be tickled pink - I was tickled pink to hear about your new baby. ( Happy and excited about something.)

In the red - I spent too much money this week and now my bank account is in the red. (To be in debt.)
Red-handed - I caught the thief red-handed stealing my money. (To be caught in the act of wrong doing.)
Red carpet - They are are a rich and famous couple and always receive the red carpet treatment wherever they go. ( Special and preferential treatment.)
To see red- I was so angry with him, I just saw red and screamed at him. (To be very angry.)

White collar worker- My father is a white collar worker and works in the city. (Management level worker, office worker.)
White as a sheet - I was so shocked when I found out I was adopted that I went as white as a sheet! ( To show shock and surprise.)
White lie - I told her a little white lie about her new dress. I said it looked nice , but in fact it was hideous, I didn't want to hurt her feelings though. ( A small lie to save someone's feelings.)

For more idioms click here.

I am a qualified ESL tutor. If you need help with English please contact me for private lessons.


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Online ESL Tutor

The thought of learning ESL online can seem a little daunting for a prospective student , especially if they consider themselves not very computer savvy. They wonder how they will learn pronunciation, how will their efforts be corrected, will they need to be a whiz with the mouse and an adept with using various software.... This can deter the student from ever taking virtual English classes and this I think is a pity. I am going to outline some of the reasons why many people prefer online tutoring over meeting face-to-face

1. Flexible hours : Generally you will find the hours very flexible. It is absolutely possible to hold down a job, care for a family and still have personal tuition at hours that are convenient for you.
2. Easy : You do not need to be an Einstein with your computer skills. If you can move a mouse and plug a headset into your PC then you can learn online! It's a simple as that...almost..
3. Convenient : No more having to venture out into whatever weather is happening to attend your class. You can remain warm and snug at home, wear your pajamas if you must...no-one will know!
4. Less effort : You will probably find that you learn more this way as you won't be canceling so many classes. The effort to attend on your part is minimal , compared to going out of the house to the nearest ESL class.
5. Effective learning : As you are receiving one-on-one tuition you may find that you need less lessons. You will be receiving all the attention versus competing with your classmates for attention.
6. Economical : You may end up saving money in the long run. Less lessons, no travel costs, possibly lower class costs.
7. Less stress : My students all feel less pressure learning in this way. We can take our time and cover the areas that really bother them. If they need an entire lesson to master a certain point then that's fine .
   

The main thing to be aware of is that online learning is becoming the fastest growing area in education. It is in no way a lesser method, think of it as a virtual classroom. With today's technology it is very simple to talk over the PC with other PC users , just like over the telephone. All the work that you traditionally would do in a classroom , can be done online with the teacher right there helping you.
Of course if you are taking ESL to meet people , then online might not be the best venue for that!

I am an ESL tutor, please contact me if you would like to find out more about learning English online.