Katrina Tutor Interview

Q. Hi Katrina! Would you introduce yourself briefly to the Cafetalk community?: A. Hello Cafetalk! My name is Katrina Joy, but my family, friends, and students call me Katrina. My name means pure happiness and that is how I feel whenever I meet new and current students in Cafetalk. Recently I have graduated from high school and I’m eager to offer my students the knowledge that I have accumulated throughout years of learning in different countries. Please don’t let my young age fool you as I have a strong belief that wisdom comes from unexpected sources! I am currently living in a little Australian town several hours away from Sydney called Parkes where a famous tourist attraction is located. Parkes is famous for the “Dish”, a huge satellite dish that showed the pictures and videos of the first space landing on the moon during the late 1960s. In fact, it was so famous that it was made into a movie in 2000. If you ever visit Parkes, I recommend the Elvis Presley festival where the entire town has concerts and dresses in 1950s clothing and a little Italian coffee shop and restaurant here called “Bella’s”.
Q. You are originally from the US, but moved to Australia during your high school years. Can you talk a bit about your life and the experiences you’ve made in both countries?: A. America was my home ever since I was a little girl. I remember this one memory of my first day of high school where I showed up late for my first class right after the teacher said to not be late to class. As it was a small town, I was forgiven and it was a friendly joke for most of my 9th grade year. Growing up in one place creates bliss whenever you come home to it from any place in the world. However I felt that more that one place can be a home to me. My mother was offered a job in Australia and decided to take the family with her. Being in a new country and starting a new school absolutely frightened and excited me. Let me tell you, Australians are super confident! I got to learn another type of humor and I got to meet such independent and spirited people. In fact, Australia is where I began my first job and got my first driver’s license. I found a welcoming new home down under!
Q. What are you usually up to when you’re not teaching on Cafetalk? What are your hobbies or interests?: A. Whenever I have free time, I always travel and cook new food. The places that I have been to are Canada, Japan, USA, Philippines and Australia. Because I was encouraged to be curious, whenever I went to a new place, I would do as a famous saying says: “When in Rome, do as the Romans do!”. When I was in Canada, I had my first taste of Tim Hortons. This led me to experiment making recipes from around the world. My current challenge is making good old American chili.
Q. Can you tell us a bit about the atmosphere in your lessons? You receive a lot of amazing feedback about being well-prepared and efficient, and yet make the lessons fun – how do you manage that?: A. Lessons should be an enjoyable experience and be able to leave the student learning something new everyday. To make my students comfortable, I often start with a funny story or joke. Once they feel relaxed, we often talk about what they wish to learn and I make a lesson plan for that. Another key thing to do is to have a variety of activities. If one topic is too stressful and difficult, I calmly explain the idea to the student and then teach them something that will help them understand the lesson’s theme better. It’s important that there are other ways to learn!
Q. What can students look forward to in your classes that is unique to the way you conduct your lessons?: A. I think that what I uniquely offer to my students is my experience. Having grown up in three countries (Philippines, USA, and Australia), I was conditioned to have an open mind and the patience to understand the culture around me. These characteristics are what my lessons embody. Each lesson has a plan that is made to help the student prosper and since the curriculum is set, all I ask for is participation and enthusiasm. The rest is trying new things in order to understand a language in an entirely new point of view.
Q. Next to English, you also tutor students in different subjects for primary, middle and high school students, and you also offer English lessons for kids. How do you like working with children and young adults?: A. Children are a blessing and adults are the ones that give blessings to the world. Recently I’ve been teaching my children how to create a story. I taught one student that a story has a beginning, middle, and end. Finally she asked if we could make a story for her parents since Christmas was coming up. So it was very sweet that the lessons we have were spent to benefit the people around her. In terms of adults, they offer such insight about the world that I would have never thought of. One gave me advice for the future. He explicitly said to take care of myself and the rest will follow. Elders know best and how they perceive a translation for example is very endearing. Overall, the answers to the questions that I ask are always positive and I on numerous occasions am proud of all my students. It’s always a joy to work with both adults and children and I always say that I hope to see them soon.
Q. Finally, would you like to leave a message for your current and future students?: A. One of my favorite things to do is to connect with someone from another language and culture. For example there are so many stories and jokes that are lost in translation so proper expression is needed. I often felt this when my family had Filipino friends and they would make “kwento” or have a storytelling session. To quite honest it was embarrassing when I had trouble making a sentence in Tagalog. However I was not alone as many people felt this way. After hard work, I was able to master Tagalog to a proficient level in about 10 months. This led me to teach others the language that I am best in… English! I believe that everyone can start from somewhere. Even if your level of a language is not that high, then always remember that the only way now is up!