Tutoring Philosophy

Growing up, I was always scared of seeking help during the writing process. I didn’t want people to see my ideas or drafts—I was embarrassed. I thought every piece of writing I did had to be “perfect”; I wanted to seem like I was a good writer but I lacked confidence in my own work. After becoming part of the studio, through various sessions and talking to my peers and the professional consultants, I’ve come to realize that being vulnerable in your process is part of being a good writer. It amazes me to see countless students come into the studio with works in progress from any part of the writing process. Some people walk in with nothing but ideas, requesting help with putting their thoughts into words. Others come with pieces ready to submit, just wanting someone to read it over. I will always be inspired by the bravery of students that allows them to ask for help and trust another person to look at their works in progress.

My goal at the studio is to facilitate a welcoming environment for students from various backgrounds, regardless of where they are at in their writing journey. By coming into the studio and allowing their unfinished work to be seen, these students all embrace vulnerability and accept the possibility of change. I deeply appreciate being able to converse with students who share an abundance of precious experiences and I strive to continue connecting with others through the personal processes of writing and speaking. Through working with the studio and experiencing all that we do, I have been able to gain confidence and self-respect in my own writing and become more comfortable with communicating in numerous ways, including speaking. I hope to share all that I’ve learned and build up students’ confidence, just as the studio did for me.

May 2026 Update:

My participation in Language Exchange and FITLingo has become a monumental portion of my experience here at FIT. Before I arrived at the Writing and Speaking Studio, the form of communication that has always been the most difficult for me was speaking. I struggled to project my voice and felt anxious in most speaking situations. I was the person everyone would have to ask to speak up.

When I first started participating in Language Exchange as Julie’s assistant, I was excited, but the task was also daunting knowing that I would have a primarily speaker role for incoming students. As each Language Exchange session went by, I felt myself slowly gaining confidence in my speaking abilities through practice.

Then, for the first time, I was a guest speaker for an event here at FIT. I developed a Japanese presentation teaching the basics of Japanese in reference to the different difficulty levels of FIT’s Japanese course curriculum. I enjoyed making my slides and producing the lesson, but what scared me the most was actually having to present it in front of people. I felt that there was a lot of pressure on me to present professionally as someone who would be more knowledgeable on the subject at hand. Also, all of my previous experience with being in front of the classroom and teaching a subject was with young children. This time, all of the people listening to my presentation would be college students.

I was anxious, but it was such a rewarding experience. I moved on to doing this presentation a total of three times here at FIT, each time being stronger than the last. The last time I presented, I felt like the leader of the classroom for the first time. People were repeating the words I was trying to teach and everyone was so eager to participate and interact with my presentation. I never would have thought that I would be able to achieve something like this.

Speaking is still difficult for me from time to time, especially being a neurodivergent individual. But my experiences here at the Writing and Speaking Studio, especially those surrounding language learning and cultural exchange, have increased my confidence tenfold. I am eternally grateful for all that I’ve learned here and hope to continue supporting the growth of other students so that they too can experience the joy and strength that comes with confidence in speaking.