Dara E.

I was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA. I attended a high school for creative and performing arts, and then Brown University, where I studied Theater Arts and effectively minored in Biology and Japanese Studies. When I’m not tutoring, I’m either wrapped up in the arts–writing, dancing, acting, or cooking–or relaxing by playing video games! I’m an aspiring polyglot, so I love to study languages in my spare time; I’m currently learning Korean!

I lived in Japan for a year teaching English, and the experience instilled in me a love for both teaching and English grammar. I’ve been teaching since 2015, and I spend most of my time teaching test prep for ISEE, SAT/ACT, and GRE. While all of my students see score improvement, what gives me the most pride is watching their confidence build as they tackle areas that they used to dislike or struggle with. My biggest success was working on college essays with a student who didn’t believe they could get into Vassar–and she got in!

My teaching style reflects my personal philosophy: any subject can be interesting to learn–even fun–if I find a way to connect it to the student. My “strict-fun” approach means that lessons are entertaining, high energy, and full of good humor, but there are still clear rules that must be followed, such as completion of homework and focus during instruction. In addition, I utilize the Socratic method to elicit answers from students and both reinforce newly learned knowledge and show them that they know more than they think they do!