Tony 先生

Hello, everyone!

My name is Tony. I'm from the northeast part of USA, a green, hilly area called The Berkshires. I started teaching and tutoring in high school, taught some music in college, and then started teaching English, mostly to Japanese students.

I really love language. It's so difficult to understand and yet is the only way we can understand each other. My lessons tend to focus on learning how to "decode" difficult English. There are many tools we can use in English to uncover the meaning. Meaning is the most important part of language to me. Meaning is natural; second language learning tends to be unnatural.

I like to use etymology to look at the roots of words. I think grammar, while sometimes boring, is important for being accurate (and personally I think it's kind of fun). I also like to use Conversation Analysis, a part of Communication Science, to under-stand how people get their meaning across - no matter what words they use.

One of the biggest challenges in my classroom is balancing the different kinds of language we study. It's important to know the "correct" way to express an idea. I think it's as important to examine how native speakers express that same idea. I would be surprised if anyone could tell me that their friends and family only use "cor-rect" language. How can we achieve natural language through unnatural examina-tion? This is my favorite challenge.

Outside of the classroom, I really enjoy making and listening to music. I also like film and television series. I also somehow rarely avoid talking about food in my lessons. I look at almost everything as an art; human expression is so beautiful to me. 

I love to imagine and create. I try to incorporate this passion in my lessons to open people up and help them find their voice. It's hard when the world is always giving us limitations. Come try a lesson with me and let's see what limits we can break!