English Native Governor / Tutor

Current location: Moscow, Russian Federation

My name is Jake. I'm an American living in Moscow and I've been teaching English professionally for more than 3 years. I have a TEFL certification as well as a certification in primary teaching (British education system). I have a degree in Computer Science as well as a minor in psychology. I have taught English both online and offline; I’ve taught English in groups, as well as in private lessons. I have always been fascinated with English, learning about its rules and its exceptions. It was my favorite subject when I was in school. I started teaching English not too long after I started to learn Russian, which was during the start of the pandemic. Ever since then, I have been improving my teaching abilities, using my helpful knowledge of Russian to aid me in my explanations when English alone doesn’t suffice. In 2023, I took a break from teaching to study Russian abroad in Riga, Latvia. I lived with a host family and went to a language school every day for a bit over two months. At the end of the course, my level of Russian was evaluated to have been B1. Upon my return to the United States, I shifted my focus back to teaching English. This time, I explored self-employment and worked with students one-on-one in private lessons, crafting lessons around their weaknesses. Some students even found it useful to learn English with me through gaming, which really helped them with on-the-fly thinking and reasoning in their target language. I’m an easygoing and patient person. I have two younger brothers and have experience working with kids, so I’m quite familiar with teaching manners and life skills. I always try to get the point across as clearly and concisely as possible, and I don’t sugarcoat my feedback. I use a straightforward and honest approach with teaching. When my students tell me they feel their English isn’t good enough, I remind them: language learning is a slow process, not a race. If you compare your present self to your past self, you’ll see how far you’ve really come. My interests include rock climbing, chess, guitar, video games, tabletop games, programming, football, and veganism.