Background

I am a qualified teacher with over 20 years of international experience teaching in a Canadian school in Hong Kong as well as several English learning centers in California, USA, plus much English teaching experience at the HK British Council. At the moment, I am also a Brain Training Coach helping children with special educational needs. I am experienced in working with both young children and adults, with much specific knowledge and experience in teaching advanced phonics skills such as THRASS, which is a phoneme-based phonics system (as opposed to a one-letter-one-sound phonics program).

Currently I am based in Toronto, Canada, teaching and creating materials for phonics and ESL teachers and learners, as well as brain-coaching children with special educational needs and creating materials for parents and teachers of children with special needs.

Beliefs and Passion

I believe in raising children’s early literacy, and take pleasure in helping ESL students (both children and adults) build confidence in their journeys toward greater success in using the English Language at school, at work, and also in their everyday lives. Phonics and reading, as well as teaching pronunciation and conversation, are my passion and specialty subjects.

I believe in parents and the huge impact they can have on their children’s lives. As a brain training coach, a teacher and a parent myself, I am passionate about helping children reach their potential in different aspects and according to each of their own needs. Even more, I am excited to help parents help their own children achieve that potential. I am a firm believer that parents are the first teachers and models in their homes for their children. Years of experience in the education field have taught me that, the most rewarding thing for me, is when I hear a word of hope coming from a parent’s mouth, telling me that they saw “improvement” in their child’s social interaction, or in their language and communication skills, or in the way they manage their own emotions…

Vision

The only way to teach or learn English properly is to use a comprehensive phonics system and teacher/learner-friendly materials. My vision is to create English phonics and ESL materials that are helpful for reading and spelling as well as English pronunciation for children and adults alike. My desire is to empower children to learn to read and spell, and just as importantly, to enable ESL learners to acquire the sounds they need for accurate pronunciation, and hence improve their English speaking and listening skills. All four English language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) eventually work together and are often intertwined in most of our language experience, and a good knowledge of phonics will lay the foundation to help build a lifetime of good language usage and communication.

Recently, I have also been excited to create materials for parents and teachers of children with special needs, especially materials that could empower parents to help their own children at home, such as games for improving their children’s social interaction and communication skills, and activities for understanding and monitoring their children’s emotional states. My hope is to help parents help their own children at their own home, because ultimately parents are the ones that can, and usually do, have the greatest influence on their children… my desire is to enable you to engage them, enhance them, and enjoy them! And most of all, to empower them!