Online English Tutor Audrey

On Spires, I have taught English grammar and speaking skills to students learning English as a second language, and English analysis and essay writing to secondary school students. Before Spires, I worked as a tutor at the Languages and Math Learning Center in San Jose, CA. I taught an English as a second language class to three students, 3-5 years old; when I began working with these students, only one of them knew any English, and very little, but by the time I left the tutoring center they were all able to form full sentences in English. I tutored elementary school students one-on-one in English and math, as well as a class of five 4th- and 5th-graders struggling in English, who all gained confidence in these subjects through my work with them. I also tutored two middle school students together in essay writing to prepare them for high school writing standards.

As a member of a Shakespeare troupe at Sarah Lawrence College, I led a workshop on text work in which I explained the components of accentual-syllabic verse, taught how to scan verse, examined Shakespeare’s use of rhetoric, and demonstrated how analyzing a text is conducive to memorization and textual understanding. I also gave a talk on the early publication history of Shakespeare’s plays, explaining the differences between the quarto and folio editions, the importance of collation practices in modern Shakespeare scholarship, and the agency performance groups/directors have in selecting which texts they use.

My area of expertise is in English: I can help you improve your essays, explain literary and rhetorical devices, discuss key English texts, as well as explain English grammar rules and aid in English speaking skills. Any questions or problems you're struggling with in English, I can help. I also have creative writing experience, both in prose and verse, so I can offer guidance and feedback on the creative side of English, too.

My academic expertise ranges from the Medieval to the Modern, and is focused primarily on British literature and history. My final undergraduate research paper, titled 'Counseling Henry III: Kingship in Matthew Paris’s La Estoire de Seint Aedward le Rei​,' was an interdisciplinary examination of relationships between medieval hagiography and history. I have studied Chaucer extensively, as well as the literature of the medieval cult of sainthood. On the other side of the spectrum, I have an essay, ‘“If discordant, producing harmony”: Wholeness from antithesis in Virginia Woolf’s Between the Acts,' published in the Virginia Woolf Miscellany; I studied Woolf within the context of Bloomsbury and Modernism during my time at Oxford. My passion for and knowledge of Shakespeare has been well-established, having taken a Shakespeare paper at Oxford and a Shakespeare course at Sarah Lawrence. I likewise have a strong grounding in late 17th/early 18th century British satirical literature, with a particular interest in the works of Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope. I have a thorough historical knowledge of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, and have studied 19th and 20th century dramatic texts and movements extensively, as well as the Victorian novel.