Learn More about the GLS Team
Fei Fei
What do you enjoy most about tutoring?
For me, tutoring really allows me to get to know the students more out of classroom. When they, especially the international students, turn to me to share their feelings, struggle and frustration in life, I feel being trusted and needed. At the same time, it is fulfilling to witness their progresses and success.
What is one of your most memorable teaching experiences?
I had helped one student throughout every step of his job hunting: from resume writing, mock interviews to interview follow-ups, which lasted more than 3 months. And he nailed a few job offers in the end. We still chat online during conversation tutorials now. It feels more like a friendship than between a tutor and a student.
What is your favorite way to unwind outside of work?
Reading and travel. The book that has great influence on my love for “raw nature” is Thoreau’s Walden during my college years. More recently, it was Krakauer’s Into the Wild. As a matter of fact, a coherent theme of the books is “the need of escape life” and unsurprisingly, travel has always been a means to fulfill that need. Born and raised up during the 1980’s in China when the social feelings of discontent were so intense, reading and travel (sometimes through reading) had helped me to escape to the inner world, to introspect, or to “transcend” in Thoreau’s term. Fun facts: My last trip before the pandemic was to the Red Rock Canyon Park in Nevada’ Mojave Desert where the West wilderness always calls. Also, Jon Krakauer, the author of Into the Wild is a mountaineer and had lived in Seattle for more than a decade.
What is a quote that inspires or motivates you?
“There is no such thing as work-life balance. Everything worth fighting for unbalances your life.” ― Alain de Botton
I am a big fan of Alain de Botton, especially his How Proust can Change Your Life. And there are subtle traces of ancient Chinese philosophic thoughts found in his books and lectures. My favorite quote addressing “work life balance” comes from his book The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work. Since graduate school, I’ve lived in four states from Midwest to the Pacific Northwest, and to the South due to work or family. Every move for me means “leaving something behind.” The belief that “everything worth fighting for unbalances your life” isn’t pessimistic, whereas it taught me how to prioritize and live in the moment.
Jacob Ayala
What do you enjoy most about tutoring?
I enjoy listening and talking to students about their language experiences. I learn more about their individual journeys as English students, or how they evolved into fluent speakers.
What is one of your most memorable teaching experiences?
When I taught university-level composition, I had my students create a collage of quotes about writing. They posted quotes from their favorite writers, and I found their posts to be memorable, inspiring, and even thought-provoking. I saved their quotes and plan to share them with other students when I teach ESL writing.
What is your favorite way to unwind outside of work?
Outside of work, I like to write short stories and poems. I wish to publish a novel someday once I have mastered the conventions of storytelling.
What is a quote that inspires or motivates you?
One quote that inspires me is from one of my favorite writers, Rudyard Kipling: “If you can dream – and not make dreams your master.” I like this line from his poem “If” because it reminds me to be realistic about my future. We should aim in life according to goals that are fulfilling, but also achievable.
Jeremy Walter
What do you enjoy most about tutoring?
I really enjoy getting the chance to connect with students on a more personal level during group conversation tutorials. We discuss a variety of topics from life as an international student to observed cultural differences. Through these conversations, I can learn more about the students, their cultures, and their experiences in the U.S and Canada. Quite honestly, these weekly discussions are the highlight of my week!
What is one of your most memorable teaching experiences?
When I started at Northeastern University, I was asked to teach a course called Culture & Communication. The purpose of the course was to introduce students to topics specific to American culture while enhancing intercultural communication skills. An additional component to the course was neighborhood visits to help students learn more about Seattle and the Pacific Northwest. I was fairly new to Seattle when I first taught the course, so I benefited from organizing these trips and learned right alongside my students. I’ve been able to teach this course many times over the past six years and it’s been a memorable experience each and every time!
What is your favorite way to unwind outside of work?
I have quite a few hobbies that I thoroughly enjoy, such as playing the piano, rowing, cooking, and traveling, but one that always brings me peace is enjoying nature! I chose to live in the Pacific Northwest for a reason–its beauty! With mountains, trees, and water available to me in every direction, I am constantly reminded how lucky I am to be living here. When the weather permits, I can be found kayaking, rowing, and hiking with a smile on my face!
What is a quote that inspires or motivates you?
“The best way to take care of the future is to take care of the present moment.” -Thich Nhat Hanh
“The mountains are calling and I must go.” -John Muir
“Real education consists in drawing the best out of yourself.” -Gandhi
Richard Landowski
What do you enjoy most about tutoring?
I really enjoy the relationships that develop over time with students. Learning about their hopes, their families, where they’re from, and exchanging cultures is, for me, the heart of language learning. It is what motivates me to tutor, and also to learn languages!
What is one of your most memorable teaching experiences?
After college, I spent several months teaching English in a rural region of France called Auvergne. It was a difficult but very memorable experience. At one point I had all my classes memorize the William Butler Yeats poem “The Song of Wandering Aengus” as a way to practice English pronunciation. Ultimately it had the opposite effect as now I can’t help but hear the poem in a heavy French accent.
What is your favorite way to unwind outside of work?
Guitar is one of my favorite hobbies. I’ve actually been learning the Flamenco style since the beginning of the pandemic, but I also enjoy writing songs and playing other styles of music. Apart from that, I unwind by reading, writing poems, creating fictional worlds, and hiking/backpacking. I also love watching silly television with my fiancée!
What is a quote that inspires or motivates you?
“Grown-ups love figures… When you tell them you’ve made a new friend they never ask you any questions about essential matters. They never say to you ‘What does his voice sound like? What games does he love best? Does he collect butterflies?’ Instead they demand ‘How old is he? How much does he weigh? How much money does his father make?’ Only from these figures do they think they have learned anything about him.”
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
“Before I had studied Zen for thirty years, I saw mountains as mountains, and waters as waters. When I arrived at a more intimate knowledge, I came to the point where I saw that mountains are not mountains, and waters are not waters. But now that I have got its very substance I am at rest. For it’s just that I see mountains once again as mountains, and waters once again as waters.”
– Seigen Ishin
“Frodo: I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.
Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
Ruth MacKechnie
What do you enjoy most about tutoring?
I love to see the students improve in their language and grow more confident in their speaking skills day by day!
What is one of your most memorable teaching experiences?
Each student is memorable, and I love learning from them all!
What is your favorite way to unwind outside of work?
I like to watch shows about famous people, documentaries! I love documentaries because life is much stranger and more interesting than any planned TV show or novel. I love to read biographies for the same reason – the world is stranger than we know! I love all animals, and I have had various cats as pets all my life, in all the places I have lived in the world. I also love dogs, and I wish so much I could have a farm filled with happy animals who felt safe, and who could live in peace. I also really love elephants and went on a photo-safari trip to Tanzania in 2019 to see them living in their own country. It was a wonderful experience.
What is a quote that inspires or motivates you?
I loved Eleanor Roosevelt and Ruth Bader Ginsberg and think they were wonderful, strong women who had the confidence to speak their truths, who loved their country, and who were both trying to leave a better world for their children and grandchildren. I would love to have such an amazing legacy! I don’t have a quote that I keep in front of me, but I like these two gems of wisdom:
From Eleanor:
“No matter how plain a woman may be, if truth and honesty are written across her face, she will be beautiful.”
And, from Ruth:
“So often in life, things that you regard as an impediment turn out to be great, good fortune.”