Tutoring, Conversation, & Study Lab

Melisa is a junior at Hunter and she’s majoring in Economics, minoring in Computer Science and pursuing the Business Certificate. She was born in Tarana, Albania and lived there for most of her life where she also started her studies of the German language. During her sophomore year, Melisa studied abroad in Berlin for a month where her interests and skills for the language peaked. During her free time she lieks to play volleyball, listen to music, and travel (or, whenever possible, combine all three!)

Why she decided to tutor, and her best advice for studying German

“Learning languages ahs been an interest of mine for as long as I can remember, and learning German for just as long. The road to fluency can be quite bumpy, but my goal at a tutor is to make it as comfortable as possible for the students, and most importantly, to help them feel confident in their skills. The best advice that I’ve been given for learning German is to word-vomit! Try speaking as much as you can with whatever words you can! If you like writing beter, try doing that in German – even replacing a word or a sentence is extremely helpful!”

Daniel is a German major at Hunter who is originally from Macon, GA, and now lives in Ridgewood. He is a musician and poet, with a love of experimental art, film, music and writing.

Why he decided to tutor, and his best advice for studying German:

“I decided to tutor in order to have even more exposure to German myself, and to impart some of the knowledge I have gained during my studies in a way that is helpful to students whose position I was once in. My best advice for learning German is to find places to relate it to in your life outside of school. Learn how to talk about your everyday activities and daily tasks, as well as your personal interests, and listen to casual spoken German as much as you can, whether it be modern news or podcasts or osmething more niche. The amount of learning that can happen passively will surprise you!

Sam majored in Computer Science and History, with minors in both Mathematics and German; they graduated from Hunter in the Spring of 2022. They’re an aspiring polyglot with hopes of traveling abroad to gain more exposure to foreign languages. Outside academics, Sam enjoys practicing muay thai, reading, skating and drawing.

Why they decided to tutor, and their best advice for studying German:

“I like learning languages a lot, but I know the process can be frustrating at times and I want to help people find the joy in learning a new language. Plus, it gives me a reason to keep practicing and improving my German. My advice would be flashcards combined with German-language media. Flashcards keep new words fresh in your mind, and media lets you discover new words and lock old ones into place. Personally, I hate making flashcards, but I’ve found the app Reword to be super helpful!”

Jacob is a non-traditional student enjoying his time studying German and history at Hunter College as a German major. Previously, he worked for over a decade in the performing arts. He hopes to join a PhD program in European history after finishing his studies at Hunter; you can often find him tutoring and dinking yet another cuf of coffee at the Rockowitz Writing Center on the top floor of the library. Outside of school, you can run into him on the train with his head buried in a book, or taking walks around his neighborhood!

Why he decided to tutor, and his best advice for studying German:

“I want to tutor to both help students gain confidence in their ability to learn and practice their German, and to hopefully make learning German as fun an experience as possible! My advice to students, especially when they’re trying to speak German, is to be strong & wrong. The more you attempt to articulate something in a foreign language – no matter the accuracy of the Dative ending – the more you gain in your confidence to be understood.”

Sumiko is a recent graduate of Hunter College, having majored in Psychology with a German language minor. Originally born in Frankfurt, she lived in Germany for most of her life while also traveling around a great deal before settling in New York. Sumiko loves to read, and that’s most likely what you’ll find her doing when she’s not working! Travel is another of Sumiko’s passions, although in light of the recent pandemic it’s been more difficult to pursue. Sumiko minored in German to help keep herself connected to her roots, and her language abilities sharp.

Why she decided to tutor, and her best advice for studying German:

“I know how complicated it can be to learn a new language, especially German because the sentence structure is so different from English. I was learning German at the same time as when I was learning English, and I know that having a tutor would definitely have helped, so I want to be that person for somebody else.”

Sayuri Beaumont is majoring in German Language and Literature. She has a passion for languages and photography. She aspires to attend graduate school in Berlin for photography and work in photography or media. She enjoys watching movies, taking photos, cooking and trying new foods.

Why she decided to tutor and her best advice for learning German:

“I decided to tutor because I enjoy helping others on their language learning journey. I find language acquisition very interesting, and so getting to be a part of that process by tutoring is really rewarding. When it comes to learning German, most of us consume media in one way or another, and so I think a great way to learn German is to consume German media, whether it’s music or a TV show/movie in German. Or do you prefer YouTube? There are so many German-speaking YouTubers out there! Hearing people speak or sing is a great way to pick up on colloquialisms and improve pronunciation.”

Andrew Wenger is majoring in German and Biochemistry.  He aspires to become a geneticist and perhaps conduct research in a German based laboratory.  Andrew enjoys reading and reads lots of philosophy books.

Why he decided to tutor and his best advice for learning German:

“I decided to become a tutor to help reinforce the fundamentals of grammar and help others in the process. I’ve found it fun tutoring people since each person brings a new set of skills and presents a unique set of challenges to overcome.  The best and only real way to learn German, or any language for that matter, is to keep practicing it in free form conversation with other speakers.“

Aruna’s ultimate career goal is to own her own private practice in the field of psychology. Aruna is a foodie and is always up for trying new foods from different cultures.

Why she enjoyed tutoring and her advice to German learners: “Tutoring is a fulfilling experience because it allows me to help students at their pace until they master the ideas and concepts that are troubling them. We are students together trying to master this language, so just keep going! It will take time and a lot of practice, so don’t give up! Also don’t compare yourself to others, and before you know it you’ll be able to see the significant improvements you’ve made.“