Kai - Bristol tutor






Information About Kai:


Personal Description:

Hello.
I am 26 studying sustainability, peace, and systems sciences. I was born and raised in Japan and left at 18 to study in the United States at the University Of California Santa Cruz. I graduated with honors in 2005, and was hired for 2 years as a Teaching Assistant for the university. The role of a Teaching Assistant is to facilitate smaller classes to explore the topics in more detail, resolve questions, and support the students. I enjoyed that experience very much, and had many opportunities to experiment with creative and fun ways to learn the target materials.

During my position as a Teaching Assistant, I also developed a curriculum and engaged with a student-centered pedagogy for a course organized by students on Sustainable Living. That lead to a class I co-initiated on our university's relationship with nuclear weapons. The central elements of both classes revolved around students teaching each other and utilizing academic research for tangible actions. With the right scaffolding and goals, students as a community of learners can create an extremely enjoyable and meaningful learning environment that exceeds the university standards. I believe we all are continuously learning in diverse ways, and most of the time all we need is a little direction and a positive environment to maximize our educational experience.

At the moment, I spend most of my time cooking Japanese food, translation, reading and writing in Japanese, and doing research. In addition to academic tutoring, I am open to teaching Japanese cultural classes such as traditional Japanese food (beyond sushi), tea ceremony, and other topics.

Best way to contact me is via email.
The phone number requires and extension number when the dial tone changes. 213 is the extension number.



Teaching Experience:

UNIVERSITY
My first experience teaching a class at a university was during my junior year as a psychology student. My interest in education has steadily grown since, leading to 2 years of working as a Teacher's Assistant at the University of California Santa Cruz in the psychology and education departments. Courses include, Introduction to Psychology (psyc), Personality Assessments (psyc), Human Sexuality (psyc), Introduction to Educational Theories, Introduction to Education: Socio-cultural theory, and intermediate Japanese.
I have also designed and implemented courses on sustainable living, nuclear weapons, and student facilitated action-research education.

SUMMER SCHOOL
For 3 summers I worked as a English guide for Japanese children in an all-English speaking summer language immersion program. We aimed to develop the seeds of English in these Japanese elementary schoolers by using simple repetitive vocabulary, gestures, and minimal translation.

FREESKOOL
I have also taught a community organized Japanese cooking class and tofu making class.



Tutoring Approach:

Student directed with guidance where needed. I am comfortable with both a casual approach or a structured approach depending on the student's needs. We will assess what is working and what is not, and how the tutoring can be most effective. I hope to help develop appropriate study skills, and explore with the student what is most needed in the situation. In any learning endeavor we are always learning about learning, and I hope to bring this metacognitive element into the tutoring session.



Map showing Kai's location

Qualifications:

  • B.A. in Psychology (Honors)

Further Information:

Availability:  Weekends / Weekdays (all times)
Types of Tutoring:   Travels to you / From their home
References Supplied?   Yes
Additional Languages Spoken:   Spanish, Japanese