Personal Description:

Hello! My name is Fraser and I am an instructional designer and freelance editor/writer. I have a PhD in English from Queen's University and over 7 years of direct experience in grading papers at the post-secondary level. I have taught university tutorials and courses, and have hundreds of hours of experience with one on one tutoring.

Tutoring Experience:

In terms of essay writing, I've served as a TA (teaching assistant) for seven different professors during my time at Queen's, which means I have a lot of experience grading essays and teaching students how to write at the university level. I've even taught my own course at Queen's; "The Postcolonial Novel". Additionally, I did my BA at Queen's, so I know the pressures and expectations of the institution from both sides of the equation. My thesis is on South African literature and representations of city spaces. As a result,I have a lot of experience writing and thinking about urban development, history, and politics.

In terms of TESL, between my BA and MA degrees, and again after completing my MA, I taught English full time as an ESL instructor in Japan for a combined total of about three years. I taught at a private conversation school, (American Language School) and my students' ages ranged from 3 years old to the elderly. My time teaching in Japan is the core of my TESL teaching experience. As a result, I am experienced in teaching grammar and composition at a variety of skill levels, from beginners to advanced students. Teaching people to compose essays in English when English was not their first language was central to this position.

Although much of my experience is in a classroom setting, I also have a lot of tutoring experience in one-on-one situations.

Tutoring Approach:

For me, the first step is to discuss with the student what their expectations are regarding their work. Once we've established that, we can work together to create a game-plan for how we use our time together. Much of what I do revolves around developing sound rhetorical strategies for essay writing, which includes both how to formulate an argument and how to effectively communicate it. I prefer to help a student throughout the essay writing process as opposed to just at the end, but am more than happy to help edit drafts of work as well.